Brett Myers Pitching Analysis

So after Day 1 Brett Myers looks like the Myers of the first half of 2008. Before July last year he had given up 24 homers in only 17 games started. He followed that up with only 5 homers in 13 games to finish the season. Myers had a lot of bad luck in the first half by pitching in hitters parks for almost all of his starts. His second half included many NL West starts on the road and more weak lineups. You can't expect much different for park factors in 2009, but what else can we find that Myers did differently in the first and second half to get such better results.

Strikeouts and Walks
Regardless of what park he is in Myers should be dominating hitters by striking out at a minimum 8 batters per 9 innings. Lets take a look at Myers K/9 by game.

Myers was all over the place in the early part of the season with games going from dominating to abysmal. The key to August though was those six games in a row with K/9 all around 10. He seemed to drop off a bit as the season ended, but I'm sure fatigue was a factor in his first season returning to starting. Now lets look at how he did keeping batters of the bases.

We can see he just wasn't a good pitcher in the first half and his fluctuating BB/9 was constantly bad going as high as 6 not including the games before and after his demotion to AAA. After August started though his BB/9 was as high as 4, but often below or at 2. He was very efficient in those last few games and this was reflected in his home run rate and overall performance.

Groundball Rate
Myers isn't often thought of as a groundball pitcher, but he does supply a solid rate around 47%. This could be a huge factor in his home rune prevention. Lets take a look at his GB% in 2008.
Again Myers was definately two different pitchers before and after the time in the minors. His GB% was very up and down and that leads to excess flyballs and many more homers. The only effect a pitcher has on limiting homers is by getting the hit balls on the ground. He was able to do this in the second half and turn his year around.

Conclusion
Brett Myers was throwing at a decreased velocity in the early goings last year, but was also adjusting back to starting. All this really played with his numbers and he was very up and down in his skills. He appeared ready to carry over his strong finish, but Sunday night struggled again with the long ball.

The good news is Myers met all of the numbers we should hope for, but had to deal with the factor of pitching in Citizens Bank Park. His K/9 was 9 and his BB/9 was 1.5 giving a K/BB of 6, which should give strong results most games. He also had a GB% of 45% right near career levels. All of this leads me to believe that Myers is still going well and will have success this season. He is going to have his struggles pitching in Philly, but he can be the second half Myers of 2008 for all of 2009.