Henderson: Ray should 'continue to excel' in 2021
Colin Henderson explores Toronto Blue Jays SP Robbie Ray's bounce-back season, most notably his improved command and control, and how he will fare the rest of the season.
Video Transcript
COLIN HENDERSON: Blue Jays starter Robbie Ray continued his excellent bounceback season on Saturday, going six scoreless against the Red Sox in a no decision, striking out five while giving up only two hits, and two walks. The strong outing improved his season line to 9 and 5 with a 2.90 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 159 strikeouts across 130 innings.
This is the lowest ERA he has recorded since 2017, when he went 15 and 5 with a 2.89 ERA with the Diamondbacks. A major reason for this nearly career low ERA is his sudden ability to control the baseball. He is currently walking just 6.7% of the batter he has faced, which would easily be the best mark of his career by some distance.
For reference, he walked batters at an 18% clip last season, nearly three times worse than his current mark. Always a great source of strikeouts, Ray continues to miss bats, striking out just under a third of the batters he has faced. He is currently in the 86th percentile in strikeout rate and the 84th percentile in whiff percentage.
Ray still needs to figure out how to keep the ball in the ballpark, serving up 23 homers on the year, which is tied for the fourth most across baseball. But with his high strikeout totals, low walk rate, and phenomenal offense behind him, Ray should continue To excel in 2021 before becoming a free agent at season's end.
