Baseball is a strange sport. Many times pitchers may not be throwing exceptionally well and give up a lot of base runners, but you would not know it by their strong earned run average. Here are five pitchers so far this season who have a really good ERA, but a high WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched).
5) Brandon Workman–Boston Red Sox–The closer for the Red Sox has three saves this season and a stingy earned run average of 1.80. However, the native of Arlington, Texas has a high WHIP of 1.60. In five innings pitched, Workman has given up five hits and four walks, to go along with seven strikeouts.
4) Max Scherzer–Washington Nationals–The seven-time All-Star and three-time Cy Young Award winner has been one of baseball’s most reliable pitchers over the last decade. However so far in 2020, he has seen issues with his control as Scherzer has 10 walks in 19 2/3 innings. To put that into perspective, Scherzer had only 33 walks in 172 1/3 innings pitched in 2019. Due to the minor inconsistency with his control, Scherzer has a WHIP of 1.32 and an ERA of 2.75.
3) Jacob Waguespack–Toronto Blue Jays–The reliever from Prairieville, Louisiana has a very respectable earned run average of 2.35, but a high WHIP of 1.83 in 2020. A starter in 2019, Waguespack was sent to the bullpen this season as Toronto improved their starting rotation. Things were going well this season for Waguespack up until Wednesday when he was lit up by the Miami Marlins. In 2 1/3 innings, Waguespack gave up five hits and one walk in a 14-11 Blue Jays loss in Buffalo.
2) Logan Webb–San Francisco Giants–The 23-year-old starter from Rocklin, California has a record of one win and one loss and a very good earned run average of 2.81 in 2020. However, Webb has been lucky to escape with minimal damage from a statistical standpoint. So far this season he has only given up five earned runs, but has also surrendered five unearned runs. In 16 innings, Webb has given up 18 hits and six walks for a poor WHIP of 1.50.
1) Phillips Valdez–Boston Red Sox–The second-year reliever from San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic has only given up one earned run in 12 1/3 innings pitched for the Red Sox in 2020 for an excellent earned run average of 0.73. However, Valdez has given up 14 hits and four walks for a WHIP of 1.46. Opposing hitters also have a batting average of .298 when Valdez is pitching.
