It happened again.
On Wednesday night, Tigers starter September 18, 2014
Just four pitchers have allowed more extra base hits this year, and he's given up 25 homers in 2014, fifth-most in baseball, and the most he's ever given up in a single season (previous high was 22 in 2011).
Price's walk percentage the last two years (3.7% in '13 and 3.8% this year) is below the 7.1% he put up in 2012, and far below the 9.7% he had in 2009. He's pounding the strike zone more often, and his strikeout rate of 26.9% this season is the highest of his career. That's all good, however, that means he's allowed more contact, with hitters batting .241 against him this year, and .251 against him last year. His career batting average against is .232.
One of his chief problems has been dealing with left-handed hitters. For his career, Price has held lefties to a .209 batting average with a .253 weighted on-base average (wOBA), with righties hitting .240 with a .299 wOBA. This year, the splits are reversed, with lefties hitting .256 with a .297 wOBA and righties hitting .235 with a .287 wOBA. It's the first time in six full seasons as a starter his platoon splits have reversed.
Price has also had particular trouble this year in the first inning, a new phenomenon for him.
| Season | 1st Inning ERA | Innings 1-3 ERA |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 5.52 | 4.70 |
| Career | 3.49 | 3.64 |
On Wednesday night, his early-inning issues resurfaced. He gave up three runs in the first after he was staked to a 2-0 lead, which is just a momentum killer for any ball club. If he can get past the early hurdles, he's largely been very good, with a 2.15 ERA in innings 4-6 this year and 2.31 in innings 7-9. Teams have an OPS of .748 in the first three innings against him, which drops to .567 in the middle innings and .599 in the final three frames.
For the first time in his career, he's simply had a hard time finding his groove early in ballgames.
Despite some negative trends, there is some good news for the Tigers. His nERD of 2.32 is tops among all Major League pitchers, meaning Price would give up 2.32 runs per game less than a league-average pitcher over a 27-out game. He's still striking a lot of guys out and walking fewer, which are both very good things. And you could assume a lot of the batted ball numbers will start to normalize.
For Detroit's sake, they hope that turnaround will begin soon, as they try to fend off the hard-charging Royals for the AL Central crown.