Maybe they can ignite the offense with some Leiter fluid … which sounds worse when you say it out loud.
Let’s take a look at how Bryce Elder has recen …
Okay, let’s not. It’s been bad. Over the course of July, his xFIP is close to 5 as his strikeouts have plummeted and his walks have stayed high. His 4.86 ERA isn’t as bad as his … *opens eyes really wide* … 8.25 ERA in June, but at least his June peripherals were better. July has been mostly a disaster, and May and June (at least the underlying stuff) seem like an aberration.
Moving on to Jack Leiter, he’s been … well not very good, either. The highly-touted prospect and former second overall pick has settled in as a not-very-good starter. His walk rate is just a tad south of 8 per 9, and his walk rate is solidly above 4 per 9. Aaand he doesn’t get a lot of groundballs, which means his expected metrics are all near 5.
Looking at Statcast …
He throws pretty hard, but that seems about it. At this point, Patrick Corbin (yes, that one) has been a better pitcher than Leiter. Actually, Corbin has been pretty good somehow this season, so we might chalk that a bit up to the Washington Nationals not being able to help their own players.
As for what to expect in this afternoon’s … showdown (?):
Leiter throws a wide variety of pitches, but they aren’t terribly effective. Leiter just turned 25, so he still has some time left to work it out as a starter, but it’s starting to look a little bullpen-y unless he can make some improvements somewhere.
Hopefully, he just doesn’t start today.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Sunday, July 27th, 2:35 p.m. EDT
Location: Globe Life Field, Arlington, TX
TV: FanDuel Sports Network South and Southeast
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan