Heading into this year's Spring Training, I think I was like most Yankee fans when it came to David Robertson. We saw glimpses last year of a consistent, powerful pitcher out of the Yankee bullpen but I certainly would not have called him dominant. This season I figured his role would be once again to get out some tough hitters and be part of the bridge that would get us to Rafael Soriano and, eventually, Mariano Rivera. I certainly expected the 2011 D-Rob to be better this year than last but I have to admit, I never expected him to possibly make history.
If D-Rob continues to dominant American League hitters like this, his name will be among the greatest Yankee pitchers of all time: Names like Whitey Ford, Ron Guidry, Andy Pettitte, Catfish Hunter, Mariano Rivera, to name a few.
Okay, so let me give you some of DRob's amazing stats so far this season:- Including last nights game, DRob has appeared in 53 games this season and pitched 49.2 innings. In those 49.2 innings DRob has given up only 31 hits and struck out 74 batters! That breaks down to an average of 13.5 strikeouts per 9 innings. How sick is that? But wait, there's more...
- DRob has given up a total of 7 earned runs and has a 1.27 ERA.
- Of the 31 hits he has given up, only 7 have been extra base hits and, he has yet to give up a HR.
- Opposing hitters are hitting only .175 against him.
- And, he has yet to hit a batter.
- D-Rob is actually getting more dominant as the 2011 season progresses. I'll break down for you the key stats by months:
- April: In 11 games he faced 37 batters and gave up 9 hits and struck out 12.
- May: In 12 games he faced 44 batters and gave up 7 hits while striking out 23. Opposing batters his just .159 against D-Rob in May.
- June: In 11 games he faced 39 batters and, again, only gave up 7 hits while striking out 17 batters.
- July: In 10 games D-Rob faced 36 batters and gave up just 6 hits while striking out 16.
- August: So far in 9 games this month, he has faced 23 batters and only given up 2 hits. Opposing hitters are only hitting .167 against Robertson in August.
So as you can see DRob is only getting stronger as the season moves forward. More stats that stood out for me were his numbers against right handed hitters & left handed hitters. DRob has shattered the notion that he is simply a righty specialist. In fact, he has faced more left-handed-hitters this year than right-handed. DRob is an equal-opportunity dominant reliever!
- Vs. Right-handed-batters: DRob has faced 83 batter and given up just 16 hits, which comes to a .193 Avg. Of those 83 right handed batters he struck out 28.
- Vs. Left handed hitters: DRob has faced 94 batters while surrendering only 15 hits and striking out 45. Yep, he has almost struck out half of the left handed batters he has faced! Just a reminder, DRob is a right-handed pitcher!
Look, right now David Robertson is a middle reliever so no matter what kind of numbers he finishes with this year chances are he won't win the AL Cy Young. But in my opinion he deserves, at the very least, some consideration. Even some votes from the writers. It is hard to ignore and not reward a guy who is putting up statistics like the ones DRob is compiling as we speak. So here's to you DRob! If I had a vote for the Cy Young award I wouldn't think twice about throwing it your way! Thanks for an incredible season so far and we look forward to you helping us get #28!
DRob is one of BYB's favorite Yankees, not just for his on the field dominance but for the class and compassion he has off the field. For more on Roberstoson including BYB's exclsuive interview with D-Rob, please check out our previous articles:
WHY HITTERS RESPECT DAVID ROBERTSON
HELP ROBERTSON MAKE A DIFFERENCE
WHY ROBERTSON MAKES US PROUD
WHY ROBERTSON DESERVES AN ALL STAR BID
WHY KINDNESS MAKES THE WORLD GO 'ROUND
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: HIGH SOCKS FOR HOPE
WHY ROBERTSON'S AN INSPIRATION
WHY ROBERTSON DESERVES MORE CREDIT
WHY ROBERTSON WILL DOMINATE
--Mikey Blue, BYB Senior Writer
Email: DonnieBaseball2323@gmail.com
Twitter: @MikeyBlu23
Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.
Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.
Agreed.
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