Ubaldo Jimenez: The Good News about an ERA of 162
The first start for Baltimore Orioles pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez was a very difficult experience.
Over the course of an entire Major League Baseball season, Jimenez would be on track to give up a run per game. No, not a run per start, a run per game — 162 of them.
That is the current spring training ERA for Ubaldo
Jimenez — 162.0. I don’t think I have ever seen anything quite like that and am surprised it didn’t bust the electronic scoreboard.
Against the Braves on Wednesday, Ubaldo allowed six earned runs on three hits and three walks in one-third of an inning. Reaching his pitch count, he was then lifted from the game. Of course, if this happened in the regular season, he would have had to throw more pitches and would have likely figured out something, at least enough to drop the ERA into double digits.
Demonstrating the very strange nature of spring training results, the quotes of Jimenez after the game are humorous in an odd way. He puts a pretty face on an ERA of 162…
“I felt good” — In his postgame interview, Jimenez said, “It doesn’t look pretty at all, but I think I feel good because my arm feels really good.” Well, that’s good that his arm felt good; we wouldn’t want to hear the opposite.
“I was close” — Again, Ubaldo reflected on the outing by saying, “I feel good. I was around the zone. I know I had walks, but I was close, really close to the zone. They were close pitches.” Unfortunately, close doesn’t count in this game. Being a few inches off the plate has been a regular feature of his game over the years.
“My mechanics were fine” — Jimenez said, “Mechanically, I’m feeling good and I went to the mound and I wasn’t thinking about mechanics. I was thinking about throwing inside with the fastball and working on the curve and changeup that I didn’t use a lot last year.” Does it make you feel better that Ubaldo evaluates his own mechanics as good? Isn’t that a target with a lot of moving parts?
So, an ERA of 162.0 isn’t really as bad as it sounds. It’s all how you look at it.
Yes, I’m jesting … mostly, though worrying about Jimenez is not unreasonable. Indeed, the first issue in spring training is getting in the work of building up pitch counts, and that was done. As well, pitchers who have a secure position on a roster (as does Jimenez) will use game situations to try new pitches in a live game situation. And Ubaldo did do this with his change, giving up two of the three hits on that pitch.
On the other hand, this was very familiar to a year ago and his first start then. Looking back to what I wrote on that occasion, I said …
Efforts were made by both Buck Showalter and Ubaldo Jimenez to couch the righty’s very nasty start in a better light than I believe can be supported by any reality. Jimenez himself said he did not need to change anything – that after giving up six runs in 1.1 innings, with two hit batters, two walks, a wild pitch and a throwing error … yes, by Ubaldo. Jimenez claimed to be just missing, getting the zone pinched. I don’t know, I was not there to see it; but even so, that does not explain the batters hit or the wild pitch, etc., etc.
Oh my, there are a lot of similar themes year-to-year. To be fair, Jimenez did better as the spring went along and had a decent season, especially in the first half of last year. And as we have often written here, life with Ubaldo is a roller coaster experience. It is up and down; it is that way it is. There will be times of greatness and times of disaster.
Next: Flaherty - the jack of all trades
We’re halfway done with Jimenez. And let us hope the ups outweigh the downs, and that the O’s offense can make up for some the crashes that will occur. But it is difficult to come back from a six-run hole before the second out of the top half of the first inning is registered.