Players · S · Pitcher · 2018

James Shields

Chicago White Sox American League Central

Age: 37
B/T: R/R
Height: 6' 3"
Weight: 210 lb
Number: #33

Born: December 20, 1981 in Newhall, CA, United States
MLB debut: May 31, 2006

dbWAR: -1.2
IP: 204.2
ERA: 4.53
FIP: 5.09
K/9: 6.8
FIP−: 123

James Shields was a starting pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. In 2018 he struck out 154 batters over 204.2 innings across 34 appearances, 33 of them starts, going 7-16. His ERA of 4.53 was 9.2% higher than the league average of 4.15 — 12th of 18 on his team, and 343rd of 530 among MLB pitchers with 20+ innings. Stripping out defence, his 5.09 FIP suggests that his ERA had some help behind him. He missed bats on 24.5% of swings (11.1% of every pitch he threw), walked 9.0% of the batters he faced and struck out 17.7%. His 0.1 dbWAR is built from that FIP rather than runs allowed, so it credits him for what he controls and not for the defence behind him.

League context

Percentile among qualified pitchers, 2018.

FIP5.09

K/96.8

WHIP1.31

WAR.1

WAR by season

Pitching

Standard and advanced, by season.


2018	CWS	34	33	204.2	7	16	190	103	154	78	4.53	5.09	1.31	6.8	3.4	109	123	0.1
2017	CWS	21	21	117.0	5	7	116	68	103	53	5.23	5.83	1.44	7.9	4.1	120	134	-0.5
2016	CWS/SD	33	33	181.2	6	19	208	118	135	82	5.85	6.01	1.60	6.7	4.1	140	143	-1.8
2015	SD	33	33	202.1	13	7	189	88	216	81	3.91	4.45	1.33	9.6	3.6	99	112	1.1

Batting

Standard and advanced, by season.


2018	CWS	3	7	1	0	0	3	.167	.167	.167	.000	.333	0.0%	42.9%	.146	-1.0	-19	0.0
2016	SD/CWS	12	23	4	0	0	12	.190	.190	.190	.000	.444	0.0%	52.2%	.167	-2.8	-4	0.0
2015	SD	34	74	9	2	1	28	.132	.145	.162	.029	.225	1.4%	37.8%	.137	-10.5	-27	-0.1

Platoon splits

How left- and right-handed hitters fare against him.

Season

Opponent batting by the side the hitter bats from, 2018. Counted from play-by-play, so totals can differ from the box-score season line by a plate appearance or two.
Split	PA	AB	H	HR	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	K%
vs LHB	447	393	84	15	48	84	.214	.302	.384	.304	18.8%
vs RHB	424	382	106	19	30	70	.277	.336	.487	.355	16.5%

Spray chart

Where every ball he put in play landed, 2018.

Loading 4 batted balls…

Hot and cold zones

Batting average by pitch location, 2018.

Below averageLeague averageAbove average

Batting average by location of the pitch that ended each plate appearance, catcher's view. The bordered square is the strike zone; the outer band is chase territory. Cells with fewer than 8 at-bats are left grey rather than shown as signal. League average on the same attribution is .247.

Pitch sequencing

What James Shields throws in each count, and what he follows each pitch with. Select any cell for the breakdown.

ShowBatter

Four-seamCutterKnuckle curveChangeupSinkerEephus

Select a count to see exactly what James Shields throws in it.

Pitch arsenal

What he throws, how hard, how often it misses, and what hitters do with it.

Season


Four-Seam Fastball	25.6%	845	89.5	2,271	44.3%	12.1%	162	.284	.968
Cutter	23.1%	765	86.4	2,342	42.5%	21.1%	177	.288	.829
Knuckle Curve	19.0%	629	78.2	2,478	44.7%	34.0%	162	.247	.731
Changeup	17.6%	581	83.4	1,664	37.3%	29.2%	150	.220	.622
Sinker	11.1%	366	89.0	2,178	36.6%	21.3%	82	.183	.582
Eephus	3.4%	114	68.5	2,477	44.7%	36.6%	44	.114	.403

James Shields's arsenal by usage. Velocity is average release speed in mph, spin in rpm, and whiff rate is misses per swing — the cleanest single measure of whether a pitch beats hitters. BAA and OPS are what hitters did against each pitch, credited to the one that ended the plate appearance, and are left blank under 15 at-bats.

Head to head

Put James Shields beside up to three others.

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James Shields

Similar players

Nearest 2018 seasons by command, run prevention and role, on rate statistics rather than totals.

Dan StrailyMIA

ERA: 4.12
FIP: 5.11
SO: 99
WAR: -0.1

Very close

Michael FulmerDET

ERA: 4.69
FIP: 4.52
SO: 110
WAR: 1.0

Very close

Ian KennedyKC

ERA: 4.66
FIP: 4.61
SO: 105
WAR: 0.9

Very close

Heath FillmyerKC

ERA: 4.26
FIP: 4.75
SO: 57
WAR: 0.3

Very close

How these are computed

wOBA uses linear weights measured from this season's own play-by-play rather than published constants, and wRC+ is park-adjusted against that same league. dbWAR is our own open implementation — not fWAR or bWAR — and the full derivation, including its simplifications, is on the methodology page.