Series Preview: Guardians at Angels

Time to turn this puppy around

The Guardians will look to snap a three-game losing streak against another team that’s been playing pretty well so far in the Los Angeles Angels.

In this young season, the Guardians are 2-4 with a team 101 wRC+, -1.1 Baserunning Runs Above Average, -0.9 Def (fielding runs + positional adjustment), starting pitching SIERA of 5.71, and relief pitching SIERA of 3.74. The Angels are 4-2 with a team 65 wRC+, +1.4 Baserunning Runs Above Average, -2.2 Def, starting pitching SIERA of 4.01, and relief pitching SIERA of 4.87. (See glossary for these statistical terms below).

Game Previews:
Friday, 9:38PM EDT - Gavin Williams, RHP, 3.60 ERA vs. Jose Soriano, RHP, 0.00 ERA

Saturday, 9:38PM EDT - Tanner Bibee, RHP, 0.00 ERA vs. Jack Kochanowicz, RHP, 3.00 ERA

Sunday, 4:07PM EDT - Luis L. Ortiz, RHP, 13.50 ERA vs. Tyler Anderson, LHP, 5.40 ERA

Analysis: This will be an important time for Williams and Bibee to step up and stop the bleeding. Soriano is a tough pitcher who gets a lot of quick groundballs, so the team needs to find a way to lift the ball against him and to work counts to get into the poor Angels’ bullpen. Kochanowicz is also sinker heavy and has a 95 mph fastball, so not an easy task. These first two starts will be key to get players like Steven Kwan, Nolan Jones, Bo Naylor and Brayan Rocchio going. Anderson would seem to be a good matchup for the Guardians’ team of lefty mashers, but if Ortiz is still wild, they’re going to need to score a lot of runs. Hopefully, Ortiz can watch some Angels sinker-ballers work the first two days and put their lessons into practice with his contact-heavy approach.

Guardians pitchers will look to control Nolan Schanuel and Logan O’Hoppe who have started strong with a 113 and 110 wRC+ respectively. Also, Mike Trout is playing again and has a homer. Never know when he’ll get hot.

Finally, let’s see the Guardians tighten up their sloppy baserunning approach in this game, fellas. They’ve been a poor baserunning team for a full calendar year now, and I think they can be more disciplined and smart with a little effort.

GLOSSARY:
wRC+ - Weighted Runs Created Plus - A measure of determining a player’s run production value while controlling for park effects. 100 is league average.
Baserunning Runs Above Average - A metric including stolen base value, double-play avoidance, and taking extra bases to determine how many runs above average a team is on the basepaths
Def - This stat gives you how many runs above average a team’s defenders save their team, adjusted for positional value (i.e. a catcher has far more defensive value for a team than a first baseman)
SIERA - A metric to determine a pitcher’s true ERA based on strikeout rate, walk rate, and quality of batted-balls given up. This number is similar to ERA (3 and under is excellent) in determining player performance.