Starts: August 7th at Los Angeles Angels, August 13th at Oakland Athletics
ESPN Ownership: 52 percent
Dylan Bundy's monthly splits trace a sharp descent from stardom to irrelevance, both in terms of ERA and more advanced metrics like walk rate (BB%) and hard-contact rate (Hard%).
| Month | IP | ERA | BB% | Hard% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March/April | 32.2 | 1.65 | 4.9% | 22.6% |
| May | 39.0 | 3.92 | 8.6% | 42.5% |
| June | 27.1 | 5.93 | 11.0% | 38.0% |
| July | 20.1 | 8.41 | 6.5% | 34.8% |
Slight improvements in the advanced numbers for July suggest that Bundy was a tad unlucky to be saddled with that hair-raising ERA, a trend that is also reflected in the abnormally low 55.1% strand rate and somewhat suspect .300 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) over that month.
That optimism has carried over into the late summer, with Bundy recently sandwiching two dominant outings against the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals (one earned run and two walks across 14 combined innings) around a seven-run pasting against the unstoppable Houston Astros.
The tepid ESPN ownership for a pitcher once heralded as a major breakout candidate should come back to life this week as Bundy saddles up for a two-start turn that sees him travelling to two favorable West Coast ballparks.
Bundy remains a high-variance play, though: Oakland's slightly above-average production against righties is a mix of respectable power and exploitable strikeout trends, while the Angels' middling offense is one of the league's stingiest in terms of whiffs and reach rate.