Kendall Graveman: Kendall Graveman was drafted in the 8th round of the 2013 draft as a senior out of Mississippi State University. Graveman, 23, was a four-year starter and shortstop at Alexander City’s Benjamin Russell High School in Alabama. In his junior year, Graveman recorded 42 strikeouts over 54 innings pitched (7 K/9 IP) to go along with a 5-2 record, 3 saves and a 1.83 ERA. In his senior year, Graveman recorded 90 strikeouts over 63 innings pitched (12.86 K/9 IP) with a 6-3 record, 3 saves and an astounding 1.19 ERA.
MILB 2013 Stats: Graveman pitched a total of 39.2 innings over 10 starts for the Low Single-A Lansing Lugnuts. He had a 4.31 ERA, 4.12 FIP, and 1.36 WHIP. He also struckout 25 (14.6%) while walking 13 (7.6%) allowing 41 hits, a .266/.324/.351 triple slash line, and a .295 BABIP. Graveman had a 2.37 GO/AO, and a 59.8% ground ball percentage. These are decent numbers, but the small sample size of just 10 starts is too little to judge.
MILB to MLB in 2014: The young right hander climbed through five levels in 2014, starting the year in Low Single-A and finishing it in the majors with five appearances in the Toronto bullpen. Graveman spent the majority of his time in High Single-A ball. His combined totals in Single-A include a 1.83 ERA, 6.51 K/9 rate (18.2%), 1.68 BB/9 rate (4.9%), and a 0.07 HR/9 rate... yes, that's not a typo (0.07). His combined totals in Double-AA, and Triple-AAA include a 5.56 K/9 rate (15.3%) , 1.5 BB/9 rate (4.1%), and a 0.21 HR/9 rate... again, not a typo (0.21). I combined the totals for Double-AA and Triple-AAA because Graveman only had 1 start in Double-AA. The 'Bama native made a total of 27 starts in the minors over a course of 167.1 innings of 1.83 ERA and 2.81 FIP ball, while fanning 115 (17.5%), walking 31 (4.7%), allowing 142 hits, and allowing just 2, count em, 2 home runs. The opposition slashed .231/.270/.278 against him with a .280 BABIP. Graveman induced a 1.95 GO/FO rate, and generated 57.9% ground balls in the minors. Interestingly, he showed a wide platoon split, right handers slashed a .197/.241/.235 over 372 PA's while left handers slashed a .272/.305/.331 clip. Knowing this, the A's might consider Graveman as a potential bullpen option if his role as a starter doesn't pan out. Graveman made his major league debut on August 5th, 2014. He made a total of 5 appearances out of the Jay's bullpen, posting a 3.86 ERA, and of course, did not allow a home run.
Will he fit in?: One might ask, where will Kendall Graveman be a good fit in the A's pitching rotation? Well, that's a good question. Out of curiosity, I wanted to analyze how the A's starting pitchers (who had at least 10 GS) performed in terms of K/9, BB/9, HR/9, BABIP, LOB%, GB%, HR/FB, and FIP over the past 3 seasons. I also analyzed the velocity at which starting pitchers threw in terms of vFA, vFT, vFC, vSL, vCU and vCH over the past 3 seasons. I chose these factors because they are comparable Kendall Graveman's stats in the minors. I posted my spreadsheet of this data, but here are the main conclusions I came up with: The A's pitching rotation often ends up being on the ends of the spectrum in terms of stats. For example for the past 3 years, the A's were ranked 23rd (K/9), 25th (BB/9), 29th (BABIP), 4th (LOB%), 27th (GB%), 24th (HR/FB), 27th (vFA), 23rd (vCU), and 28th (vCH). Just looking at this from a statistical perspective, it seems as though that the A's rotation is "built" a certain and specific way. The A's 'don't care about the K/9 ratio. The A's do care about the BB/9 ratio. The A's don't care about HR/9, but really care about BABIP, LOB%, GB% and HR/FB ratio. The A's don't care about guys who can throw hard, they'd rather have guys who can throw a slower, more effective and controlled curve and change-up. This is interesting to me. Going back to the question at hand, where does Kendall Graveman 'fit in'? Well, based on his stats that he put up in the minors, he seems to fit the pattern of not striking out a huge number of batters, he had an excellent BB/9 ratio (1.91), his BABIP average was on par to the A's starters, his HR/FB rate was almost nothing, his GB% was outstanding, and his vFA, and vCH fit the mold too. Yes, there are many, many other sabermetrics pitching factors that the Oakland Athletics may or may not account for when evaluating pitchers, but this is just what I came up with. Is this legit? Maybe. I see some trends. Not saying I'm right, but the numbers are just interesting to say the least. Lastly, I analyzed the A's pitching rotation for just 2012-2013, to basically subtract the past additions of Jon Lester, Jeff Samardzija, and Jason Hammel because Beane acquired them for the "all-in" push for the pennant. Maybe the A's philosophy of pitching has changed, but I doubt it. I feel that the 2012-2013 A's pitching rotation is going to look more like the 2015 rotation. What I found was that yes, the A's were even more at the 'ends of the spectrum' in terms of every stat I analyzed, except for vCH, barely (28 -> 26). The A's definitely have a way of coaching and selecting their starters. From what I researched, Graveman will be totally fine, as long as he keeps the ball on the ground and in the ballpark.
Go-To Pitch: Kendall Graveman throws three different types of fastballs. He throws a two-seam fastball with a lot of sinking action, a traditional four seamer (89-93 mph) and a cutter (85-87). He also has a change up (average low to mid 80's) and a slider (mid 80's) in his arsenal. Here's something you don't hear everyday, a pitcher discovering that he can throw a cutter, one of the most unhittable pitches of thrown correctly, by accident. Yes, by accident. Graveman had an an "Ah hah" moment in the fourth inning of a game while pitching for Dunedin. He threw his regular four-seam fastball and it cut into a left-handed batter, who swung and missed. He said his fastball had never done that before. He threw it again and the ball did the same thing. He said that something felt different in his delivery, but he couldn't quite pinpoint it. "When you've had that moment, you don't forget it," said Graveman. Graveman and his catcher, Derrick Chung, worked on it in the next bullpen, and from then on out. His cutter got more and more comfortable as he practiced, and in games, it was fooling both right and left handed batters pretty well. I'm really intrigued to see his cutter in action. His secondary "Go-To" pitch is his two-seam fastball. Graveman's two-seam fastball acts like a sinker, for it has a downward sink and cutting action to it. However, in essence, both the two-seam and the sinker are gripped the same, but it depends on the pitcher's own preference in style, how hard one grips the ball, and how it is delivered that gives either the two-seam or more of a sinking style and break. One can argue that Graveman throws a 'sinker' instead of a two-stream faseball (with sinking action), but according to fangraphs, Blue Jays' scouts, and baseball terminology, Graveman throws a two-seam pitch as his secondary fastball, with above average sinking action.
Sources: http://www.minorleagueball.com/2014/12/2/7318057/toronto-pulls-of-4-for-1-deal-acquiring-3b-josh-donaldson-from-oakland
http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/08/29/blue-jays-prospect-kendall-graveman-finds-a-new-pitch-by-accident-and-surges-through-the-minors/
http://www.hailstate.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=204883266
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091004175455AAHTBrm
MILB 2013 Stats: Graveman pitched a total of 39.2 innings over 10 starts for the Low Single-A Lansing Lugnuts. He had a 4.31 ERA, 4.12 FIP, and 1.36 WHIP. He also struckout 25 (14.6%) while walking 13 (7.6%) allowing 41 hits, a .266/.324/.351 triple slash line, and a .295 BABIP. Graveman had a 2.37 GO/AO, and a 59.8% ground ball percentage. These are decent numbers, but the small sample size of just 10 starts is too little to judge.
MILB to MLB in 2014: The young right hander climbed through five levels in 2014, starting the year in Low Single-A and finishing it in the majors with five appearances in the Toronto bullpen. Graveman spent the majority of his time in High Single-A ball. His combined totals in Single-A include a 1.83 ERA, 6.51 K/9 rate (18.2%), 1.68 BB/9 rate (4.9%), and a 0.07 HR/9 rate... yes, that's not a typo (0.07). His combined totals in Double-AA, and Triple-AAA include a 5.56 K/9 rate (15.3%) , 1.5 BB/9 rate (4.1%), and a 0.21 HR/9 rate... again, not a typo (0.21). I combined the totals for Double-AA and Triple-AAA because Graveman only had 1 start in Double-AA. The 'Bama native made a total of 27 starts in the minors over a course of 167.1 innings of 1.83 ERA and 2.81 FIP ball, while fanning 115 (17.5%), walking 31 (4.7%), allowing 142 hits, and allowing just 2, count em, 2 home runs. The opposition slashed .231/.270/.278 against him with a .280 BABIP. Graveman induced a 1.95 GO/FO rate, and generated 57.9% ground balls in the minors. Interestingly, he showed a wide platoon split, right handers slashed a .197/.241/.235 over 372 PA's while left handers slashed a .272/.305/.331 clip. Knowing this, the A's might consider Graveman as a potential bullpen option if his role as a starter doesn't pan out. Graveman made his major league debut on August 5th, 2014. He made a total of 5 appearances out of the Jay's bullpen, posting a 3.86 ERA, and of course, did not allow a home run.
Will he fit in?: One might ask, where will Kendall Graveman be a good fit in the A's pitching rotation? Well, that's a good question. Out of curiosity, I wanted to analyze how the A's starting pitchers (who had at least 10 GS) performed in terms of K/9, BB/9, HR/9, BABIP, LOB%, GB%, HR/FB, and FIP over the past 3 seasons. I also analyzed the velocity at which starting pitchers threw in terms of vFA, vFT, vFC, vSL, vCU and vCH over the past 3 seasons. I chose these factors because they are comparable Kendall Graveman's stats in the minors. I posted my spreadsheet of this data, but here are the main conclusions I came up with: The A's pitching rotation often ends up being on the ends of the spectrum in terms of stats. For example for the past 3 years, the A's were ranked 23rd (K/9), 25th (BB/9), 29th (BABIP), 4th (LOB%), 27th (GB%), 24th (HR/FB), 27th (vFA), 23rd (vCU), and 28th (vCH). Just looking at this from a statistical perspective, it seems as though that the A's rotation is "built" a certain and specific way. The A's 'don't care about the K/9 ratio. The A's do care about the BB/9 ratio. The A's don't care about HR/9, but really care about BABIP, LOB%, GB% and HR/FB ratio. The A's don't care about guys who can throw hard, they'd rather have guys who can throw a slower, more effective and controlled curve and change-up. This is interesting to me. Going back to the question at hand, where does Kendall Graveman 'fit in'? Well, based on his stats that he put up in the minors, he seems to fit the pattern of not striking out a huge number of batters, he had an excellent BB/9 ratio (1.91), his BABIP average was on par to the A's starters, his HR/FB rate was almost nothing, his GB% was outstanding, and his vFA, and vCH fit the mold too. Yes, there are many, many other sabermetrics pitching factors that the Oakland Athletics may or may not account for when evaluating pitchers, but this is just what I came up with. Is this legit? Maybe. I see some trends. Not saying I'm right, but the numbers are just interesting to say the least. Lastly, I analyzed the A's pitching rotation for just 2012-2013, to basically subtract the past additions of Jon Lester, Jeff Samardzija, and Jason Hammel because Beane acquired them for the "all-in" push for the pennant. Maybe the A's philosophy of pitching has changed, but I doubt it. I feel that the 2012-2013 A's pitching rotation is going to look more like the 2015 rotation. What I found was that yes, the A's were even more at the 'ends of the spectrum' in terms of every stat I analyzed, except for vCH, barely (28 -> 26). The A's definitely have a way of coaching and selecting their starters. From what I researched, Graveman will be totally fine, as long as he keeps the ball on the ground and in the ballpark.
Go-To Pitch: Kendall Graveman throws three different types of fastballs. He throws a two-seam fastball with a lot of sinking action, a traditional four seamer (89-93 mph) and a cutter (85-87). He also has a change up (average low to mid 80's) and a slider (mid 80's) in his arsenal. Here's something you don't hear everyday, a pitcher discovering that he can throw a cutter, one of the most unhittable pitches of thrown correctly, by accident. Yes, by accident. Graveman had an an "Ah hah" moment in the fourth inning of a game while pitching for Dunedin. He threw his regular four-seam fastball and it cut into a left-handed batter, who swung and missed. He said his fastball had never done that before. He threw it again and the ball did the same thing. He said that something felt different in his delivery, but he couldn't quite pinpoint it. "When you've had that moment, you don't forget it," said Graveman. Graveman and his catcher, Derrick Chung, worked on it in the next bullpen, and from then on out. His cutter got more and more comfortable as he practiced, and in games, it was fooling both right and left handed batters pretty well. I'm really intrigued to see his cutter in action. His secondary "Go-To" pitch is his two-seam fastball. Graveman's two-seam fastball acts like a sinker, for it has a downward sink and cutting action to it. However, in essence, both the two-seam and the sinker are gripped the same, but it depends on the pitcher's own preference in style, how hard one grips the ball, and how it is delivered that gives either the two-seam or more of a sinking style and break. One can argue that Graveman throws a 'sinker' instead of a two-stream faseball (with sinking action), but according to fangraphs, Blue Jays' scouts, and baseball terminology, Graveman throws a two-seam pitch as his secondary fastball, with above average sinking action.
Sources: http://www.minorleagueball.com/2014/12/2/7318057/toronto-pulls-of-4-for-1-deal-acquiring-3b-josh-donaldson-from-oakland
http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/08/29/blue-jays-prospect-kendall-graveman-finds-a-new-pitch-by-accident-and-surges-through-the-minors/
http://www.hailstate.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=204883266
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091004175455AAHTBrm
kendall_graveman.xlsx |