Last night we went at the Rays lineup to strikeout vs Braddish, this afternoon I’m going to flip the script and target the O’s lineup vs Kluber.
Kluber has been doing this a long time. The 36 year old was once one of the elite K artists we had in this league. The past several years as age has caught up to him, he’s struggled to stay on the field/pitch with the same effectiveness he had in his prime. One thing that has remained consistent throughout all of this is his ability to miss bats. So far this season he has 35 K in 35.2 innings and coming off a season high 8 strikeout game. He has not hit his K prop in 3 of his last 4 games and worked into the 90s in pitch count for the first time all season last start. I think he is set up for success against this Orioles lineup.
The Orioles average the fourth most strikeouts per game at 9.15. They have racked up 30 K in their last three games. Last night, Jeffery Springs tore them up for 7 K in 5.1 innings, and I think Kluber can do something similar. The key motive behind this play is the Orioles tendency to chase pitches outside of the zone. They have a league leading chase rate at 31.5%. Beautifully enough, Corey is in the 84th percentile in chase rate. This should set him up well to pick up 6+ strikeouts this afternoon.
