Players · G · Pitcher · 2017

A.J. Griffin

Age: 29
B/T: R/R
Height: 6' 5"
Weight: 230 lb
Number: #64

Born: January 28, 1988 in El Cajon, CA, United States
MLB debut: June 24, 2012

dbWAR: -1.3
IP: 77.1
ERA: 5.94
FIP: 6.26
K/9: 7.1
FIP−: 144

A.J. Griffin was a starting pitcher for the Texas Rangers. In 2017 he struck out 61 batters over 77.1 innings across 18 appearances, 15 of them starts, going 6-6. His ERA of 5.94 was 36.2% higher than the league average of 4.36 — the second worst on his team, and 457th of 527 among MLB pitchers with 20+ innings. Stripping out defence, his 6.26 FIP suggests that his ERA had some help behind him. He missed bats on 20.1% of swings (9.2% of every pitch he threw), walked 8.3% of the batters he faced and struck out 18.0%. His -0.7 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, 2017.

FIP6.26

K/97.1

WHIP1.34

WAR-.7

WAR by season

Pitching

Standard and advanced, by season.

																				Trend
2017	TEX	18	15	77.1	6	6	0	76	51	61	28	5.94	6.26	1.34	7.1	3.3	136	144	-0.7
2016	TEX	23	23	119.0	7	4	0	116	67	107	46	5.07	5.74	1.36	8.1	3.5	121	137	-0.6

Batting

Standard and advanced, by season.

																					Trend
2017	TEX	2	6	0	0	0	0	1	5	.000	.167	.000	.000	—	16.7%	83.3%	.118	-1.0	-39	-0.0
2016	TEX	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	—	0.0%	100.0%	.000	-0.5	-112	-0.0

Platoon splits

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

Season

Opponent batting by the side the hitter bats from, 2017. 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	140	120	29	7	17	21	.242	.343	.467	.351	15.0%
vs RHB	198	180	47	13	11	40	.261	.313	.567	.367	20.2%

Hot and cold zones

Batting average by pitch location, 2017.

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 .254.

Pitch sequencing

What A.J. Griffin throws in each count, and what he follows each pitch with. Select any cell for the breakdown.

ShowBatter

Four-seamCurveballChangeupCutterSinker

Select a count to see exactly what A.J. Griffin throws in it.

Pitch arsenal

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

Season


Four-Seam Fastball	51.7%	683	87.3	2,252	47.9%	13.6%	152	.296	1.052
Curveball	30.3%	401	66.1	2,586	47.1%	31.8%	92	.217	.585
Changeup	11.0%	146	80.0	1,778	36.3%	25.7%	39	.128	.512
Cutter	5.7%	75	82.5	2,229	41.3%	11.5%	13	—	—
Sinker	1.1%	15	86.6	2,212	26.7%	0.0%	4	—	—

A.J. Griffin'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

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A.J. Griffin

Similar players

Nearest 2017 seasons by command, run prevention and role, on rate statistics rather than totals.

Edwin JacksonWSH

ERA: 5.21
FIP: 6.14
SO: 60
WAR: -0.7

Very close

Tim AdlemanCIN

ERA: 5.52
FIP: 5.87
SO: 108
WAR: -0.9

Very close

Aríel MirandaSEA

ERA: 5.12
FIP: 5.73
SO: 137
WAR: -0.7

Jharel CottonOAK

ERA: 5.58
FIP: 5.68
SO: 105
WAR: -0.3

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.