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Look Out Below!
By Deran | May 13, 2008
Duane Below was awesome last night. 7.1 innings, 1 earned run, 5 hits, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts! That is getting the job done. He’s now gone 5 straight outings without allowing more than 3 earned runs. He is also working later into games, which is a good sign. Lakeland starters just aren’t getting many innings this year, so far. He is now 2-2 on the year with a 4.04 ERA.
Looking a little deeper reveals some interesting data. Small sample size, but in six starts on the road, Duane has allowed just 9 earned runs in 32.2 innings. At home, in 2 starts, he’s allowed 10 earned runs in just 9.2 innings. Also of note, left-handed hitters are actually hitting better (.306) against Duane than right-handed batters (.262). That’s a trend that is usually reversed.
Overall, Duane has been an ok #3 starter for Lakeland this year, but he will definitely need to become more consistent if he is to be viewed as a potential major leaguer. I personally think he will at some point, but a .272 batting average against with a pretty good number of walks doesn’t look good on a resume. Hopefully his trend of good pitching lately continues. We’ll take another look at Duane in a few weeks.
Topics: Flying Tigers |