5 Starting Pitchers Quietly Having a Great Start to the Second Half

Michael Wacha, St. Louis Cardinals

Following a difficult 2016 season in which his ERA settled in north of 5.00, the St. Louis Cardinals really needed Michael Wacha to get back on track this year. It looked like that would happen after the month of April, which included a 2.55 ERA that was supported by a 23.5% strikeout rate, 6.1% walk rate, 20.6% hard-hit rate allowed, and 3.98 SIERA.

But then, May and June happened, and they weren't pretty.

During that two-month span, he produced a 5.47 ERA, 20.5% strikeout rate, 10.5% walk rate, and 33.3% hard-hit rate allowed. His 4.51 SIERA tells us he ran into a bit of tough luck, but it's not like he was necessarily pitching at a high level and not seeing results. He did start turning things around in July prior to the All-Star break, and judging from his 2.61 ERA and .257 wOBA allowed since the first half ended, he seems to be back on track.

The right-hander has seen a slight rise in his ground-ball rate to go along with drops in line-drive rate and hard-hit rate allowed when we compare the first half to the second half. However, it's not a huge difference, so something is going to have to give at some point when looking at his .247 BABIP allowed in the second half (it was .347 in the first half).

One big difference is the rise in his strand rate, which is currently 81.4% since the break (70.9% before). With a career 72.4% strand rate heading into 2017, though, it remains to be seen how long he can keep that up, too.