The Pastime

Yes, you read that right, it's a preview of the umpires in the ALCS.Here are some of the stats that umpires have some effect on. They call the balls and strikes, of course, so to a certain level, the K/9, BB/9, and K/BB rates tell us more about the umpire's strike zone. The ERA is less indicative of the umpire than those rates, but can show how those rates effect the game.

IP    ERA   K/9   BB/9  K/BB

Jerry Crawford     - 580.0  5.90  6.36  3.69  1.62

Mike Reilly        - 596.3  4.23  6.60  2.78  2.38

Derryl Cousins     - 631.0  4.98  6.80  3.61  1.89

Chuck Meriwether   - 584.0  4.16  6.55  3.36  1.95

Gary Cederstrom    - 560.0  4.97  6.48  3.60  1.80

Hunter Wendelstedt - 589.3  4.92  6.69  3.27  2.05



MLB Average        - 550.8  4.50  6.54  3.30  2.01

Here are their rates against the MLB averages. A number above 100 indicates that they have an above average rate, and below 100 is below average. For instance, Jerry Crawford has an ERA of 5.90, and the MLB average is 4.50, so his ERA+ is 131.

IP+   ERA+  K/9+  BB/9+ K/BB+

Jerry Crawford     -  105   131    97   112    81

Mike Reilly        -  108    94   101    84   118

Derryl Cousins     -  115   111   104   109    94

Chuck Meriwether   -  106    92   100   102    97

Gary Cederstrom    -  102   110    99   109    90

Hunter Wendelstedt -  107   109   102    99   102

Jerry Crawford is the biggest outlier in this group. He has an ERA 31% above league average, which actually leads MLB. He calls as many strikeouts as most, but he walks a lot of people. His K/BB rate is 19% below the league average, indicating to me that he tends to favor the batter.

Mike Reilly is well within normal range on most of his stats, but it appears that he doesn't hand out many walks. I'd tab him as favoring pitchers.

Deryl Cousins is within normal range on all of his stats. He may very slightly favor batters, but it's not a very large effect.

Chuck Meriwether is as close to league average as you're going to find. All of his rates are within 8% of the league average.

Gary Cederstrom seems to favor batters by about 10%, on ERA, walks, and K/BB.

Hunter Wendelstedt has been around baseball for a long time, and he seems to be calling the game like everyone else does.