Brandon Woodruff’s first two home starts did not go as planned. He got rocked by the Cubs in his first start to the season, and then allowed 4 runs in 4 innings in a late April start. The beauty of those poor starts is it opened the possibility for us to get a 6.5 line this evening vs the Reds.
Woodruff’s road numbers have been solid for several years now, so I am not discouraged by 2 bad starts. Last season he had a 2.79 ERA in 16 starts on the road. He did this while accumulating 107 K in 93.2 innings.
Woodruff is one of the league’s most prolific strikeout pitchers. He was 11th in the league last season with 211 and despite some early season struggles this season, he has racked up 31 in 24.1 innings. He is in the 88th percentile with 1.29 K per inning and 82nd percentile in swinging strike percentage.
Oh yea, forgot to mention he is coming off a game where he struck out 12 Reds batters. He has a terrific history vs current Reds, striking out 27 in 64 plate appearances (42.2%!!). The Reds strike out the second most in the league per game at 9.43, and are fourth in strikeout percentage vs right handed pitching. I think Brandon shakes off his rust on the road and K’s 7+ Reds tonight.
