Cole Hamels is off to quite a start in Philedelphia this season; 4-1 with a 2.66 ERA, and peripherals to match. Hamels has carried forward most of 2010’s strike-out rate (8.9 K/9) while also improving on last year’s control (2.2 BB/9) and inducing a lot more groundballs (almost half if balls in play). That last point has helped him cut down on his home runs allowed, and if it continues throughout the season their might actually be a close race for who the Phillies’ second-best Ace is (Roy Halladay is the best pitcher in baseball, after-all).
One of the things possible helping Hamels is more usage of the cutter that he added to his repertoire last year. He threw the pitch 8-9% of the time in 2010, and that’s up to 16% or so in 2011 – and the pitch is being beaten into the ground a lot (around70% of the time it’s been put into play, by my count). Combine that with all the bats he misses with his sick change-up, and you’ve got yourself quite a pitcher.
To address the title of the post; Hamels has held opposing batters to a .211/.264/.313 line, while he himself has hit .333/.333/.467. Considering he’s a career .168/.192/.202 hitter, the latter point won’t last – but it’s a nice bonus for a line-up that’s only middle of the pack, considering Hamels has only needed 3 or so runs per game the way he’s been pitching.
