Scouting report: Rays-White Sox Game 4

Starting Pitchers

Sonnanstine

• Hitters put 48 percent of their swings in play against Andy Sonnanstine, well above the 42 percent league average, which makes the righty especially reliant on the soft-handed Rays defense. Opponents are batting .490 on grounders hit in the middle of the field against Sonnanstine, well above the .363 league average.

• Sonnanstine lowered his ERA from 5.85 in 2007, his rookie season, to 4.38 this year. Most of the gain resulted from his improved skill at stranding baserunners. Opponent average with runners in scoring position decreased from .358 to .280, while batting average against Sonnanstine stayed about the same in other situations. Better defense gets some of the credit, but Sonnanstine has helped his fielders by using more of the plate. Last season, he located three-quarters of his pitches on the outer portion with RISP. This year, he's jammed hitters inside a third of the time in potential scoring opportunities.

Floyd

• The White Sox are a better team at home and that applies to Floyd, who allowed a .685 OPS at home compared to .797 on the road. He induces more ground balls in home games, with a 45 percent ground ball rate at home versus 39 percent in away games. Floyd gets most of his grounders with his fastball, but he needs to keep the ball down. When he locates the heater above hitters’ knees, two-thirds of in-play balls are hit in the air. More than half of the 30 home runs Floyd surrendered were hit on fastballs that finished middle-up in the zone.

• Floyd rounded out his repertoire by adding a changeup last season, which he usually throws only to left-handed batters. He typically throws first-pitch fastballs the first time through the batting order, but Floyd tries to counter aggressive hitters with 0-0 changeups later in the game. He delivers first-pitch changeups 15 percent of the time to lefties after the third inning. Right-handed batters are more likely to get a slider, but they have hit .600 off Floyd’s first-pitch sliders after the third frame.

Bullpen

• Chad Bradford was drafted – twice – by the White Sox and bounced around the league before landing in the Rays bullpen in August. The sidearmer struggles against left-handed hitters, but holds right-handed batters to a .176 average against his inside submarine fastball. When he gives righties too good a look at his low-voltage heater, though, Bradford gets into trouble. Right-handed batters hit .329 off his fastballs on the outer half of the plate.

• The White Sox bullpen has the worst caught stealing percentage in the league at 11 percent (23 percent league average), even though Chicago relievers are less likely to throw off-speed pitches when runners are on base. White Sox relief pitchers throw slower pitchers 28 percent of the time with runners on, compared to the league average 34 percent. Catcher A.J. Pierzynski does a poor job holding runners, however. His 18 percent caught stealing rate is lowest in the league.

Hitters

Navarro

• In the Division Series, Rays batters have hit well in early counts while generally struggling in deeper counts. Catcher Dioner Navarro has hit regardless of count, though, going 3-for-6 in early counts and 2-for-5 in late counts. This year, Navarro slashed his strikeout rate from 15 percent to 10 percent of plate appearances, and he’s whiffed just once in the ALDS on five at-bats that reached two strikes. He’s made contact on all but two of his 19 swings.

Baldelli

• Rocco Baldelli has put the ball in play every time he’s stepped up to the plate in the ALDS, though he has just one hit to show for it. He’s a .292 fastball hitter over his career, but Baldelli has some big holes in his swing and collects most of hits on heaters above the beltline. Only four of the 28 pitches the White Sox have thrown Baldelli have been high fastballs. His lone single came off one of them.

Konerko

• Although the Rays have outscored Chicago 15 to 11 in the series, the White Sox have more hard hits. Paul Konerko, who carried the Chicago offense through September, has put the barrel of the bat on three balls in 12 at-bats, all pitches that finished middle-up in the zone. Rays pitchers have kept the ball down half the time and also gotten Konerko to chase a couple of high pitches. He’s stayed alive in the count by fouling three of four swings on bad pitches, though.

Dye

• Jermaine Dye has three well-hit balls in the series, too, and he’s forced Tampa Bay pitchers to labor. Dye has made only a couple of quick outs while working six of his 12 at-bats to five pitches or more, including a 13-pitch marathon AB in Game 2 that resulted in a ninth inning hit. So far in the ALDS, Dye is batting .714 (5-for-7) when he works his way into hitter’s counts, and .000 otherwise..

Rays hitters who match up well vs. Floyd

Carlos Pena

Pena is slugging .843 in 51 ABs against pitchers similar to Floyd since last year.

Dioner Navarro

He doubled and walked in his only two plate appearances against Floyd. Navarro is also batting .400 against pitchers who are similar to Floyd this season.

Rays hitters who could struggle

Eric Hinske

He hasn't faced Floyd, but is batting .167 (5-for-30) against pitchers with similar repertoires since last season.

Gabe Gross

Gross is 0-for-2 against Floyd and has 2 hits in 13 ABs (.154 Batting Average) vs. pitchers like Floyd since last year.

White Sox hitters who match up well vs. Sonnanstine

A.J. Pierzynski

A.J. clearly sees the Rays starter well -- he's 6-for-9 against him and has hits against his fastball away, middle, and inside.

Jermaine Dye

Slugging .595 in 173 ABs versus similar middle-tier, right-handed pitchers since last season.

White Sox hitters who could struggle

Juan Uribe

Has 1 hit in 8 ABs vs. Sonnanstine since last season. Uribe has seen 10 sliders from Sonnanstine, swinging at 9 of them and going 0-for-5 in the process.

Nick Swisher

Swisher is just 2-for-12 against Sonnanstine with 3 punchouts. He's seen 12 fastball strikes on the outside part of the plate, offering at only 5 of them and has yet to hit one.