At 6 games into the season, we are starting to gather more and more data to establish some early season trends. Obviously 6 games is nothing to swear by, but can certainly be useful when combining the early season stats with last year's stats to find plays. Perhaps the most interesting early season trend for me is the Reds strikeout percentage vs righties. They have struck out 47 times in 136 at bats vs right handed pitchers so far, an attractive 34.5% rate. Tonight they face off against one of the best right handed pitchers in the NL, Walker Buehler.
Walker is coming off a terrific season where he was 16-4 with a 2.47 ERA. He struck out 212 in 207.2 innings and saw a slight uptick in K at home with 130 in 123 innings. He averaged more strikeouts per inning and innings per start in home games in 2021. Walker was able to strike out 5 Rockies players in his season debut at the dreaded Coors field in 78 pitches. I think we should see him work closer to 90ish pitches tonight and with the Reds incredible K rate, I like Walker to punch out at least 6 tonight.
