Minnesota Twins pitcher Felix Jorge is having a career year. He leads the Florida State League in ERA (1.58) and K/BB (6.40) and is fourth in FIP (2.60). If the fact that his FIP is more than a run higher than his ERA jumped out at you, it should, because he has the ninth highest negative difference in the league.
Part of the difference may come from Jorge’s ability to strand base runners. Jorge is second in the league in left on base percentage (82.2), which measures the percentage of base runners a pitcher doesn’t allow to score. Prior to 2016, Jorge stranded 70.4 percent of base runners, which is average for a pitcher.
For an example of what could happen the rest of the season, consider Chih-Wei Hu, a pitcher in the Tampa Bay Rays organization. Hu had a 1.42 ERA and 2.31 FIP through May 14 for the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits. During that span he stranded 87.2 percent of base runners. His LOB% was 70.0 entering 2016, and from May 20 to June 16, that strand rate regressed to 65.3 percent and his ERA ballooned to 3.48.
Texas Rangers pitcher Ariel Jurado is having a good season in the California League. While Tuesday’s outing doesn’t inspire praise—he went four innings and allowed three earned runs on seven hits and five strikeouts—he is second in the league in FIP (2.74), third in home run rate (0.14 per nine innings) and sixth in K/BB (3.75).
Cleveland Indians prospect Yu-Cheng Chang is second in the Carolina League in slugging (.496) and hit his ninth home run Monday, which tied him for fifth in the league. He hit nine home runs all of last season.
Next: Class A