San Francisco Giants Look For Revenge Against Colorado Rockies

May 18, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum (55) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies put the San Francisco Giants in misery last weekend. San Francisco pitchers totaled a 7.91 ERA, which doesn’t include four dreadful performances from their starters, all of whom—except Madison Bumgarner–are scheduled to pitch in this weekend’s three-game set.

Tim Lincecum, who allowed six runs to the Rockies about a week ago, will look to limit Colorado’s powerful offense on Friday night. The Arizona Diamondbacks’ pitching certainly confounded them over the week, as they were held to just a .202 mark and a total of 10 runs over three games. Colorado still won the series, but not in their normal swing-for-the-fences fashion. Instead, their pitchers compiled a 2.89 ERA.

Tyler Chatwood will oppose Lincecum. He surrendered just one run over 5.2 innings of work against the Giants in his last start–he opposed Lincecum. Chatwood has made just three starts this year, but sporting a 2.55 ERA, he’s been impressive in those three outings. Perhaps his role in the major leagues will begin to become a bit more defined.

May 18, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies pitcher Tyler Chatwood (32) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

Scouting Tyler Chatwood

Chatwood boasts a very good fastball, but for him, it’s always been a matter of commanding it. He had a BB/9 rate of 4.6 in 2012, and while he’s lessened that this year to a 3.6 mark, he still hasn’t displayed the razor-sharp command that will ultimately keep decide his fate in the majors. Of the five pitches he has in his repertoire, only his fastball has a walk percentage greater than zero (12.8 percent).

Chatwood’s fastball generally sits in the 90-93 MPH range, but he can ramp it up to 95 MPH on occasion. So far in 2013, opponents are hitting .300 against it, which is fairly high. But you must consider that he’s made only three starts. He can use the small sample size excuse.

Chatwood’s off-speed arsenal mainly consists of a big, sharp curveball that opponents are hitting .182 off of. Outside of his fastball, which he throws 72.6 percent of the time, he throws his curveball 16.5 percent of the time. His change-up and slider have a combined usage percentage of 10.9. So, he is indeed a fastball-curveball pitcher.

Along with wobbly command, Chatwood is prone to giving up hits in bunches. His hits per nine rate is 10.7, or 21 hits in 17.2 innings. He’s always been one to allow hits, as he’s compiled H/9 rates north of 10 in each of his first three seasons. However, his BABIP of .375 suggests that he’s been a victim of bad luck. If the Rockies don’t send him down, that will obviously level out.

Notes

• The Giants are 10-2 at home this year against National League West opponents.
• Marco Scutaro has hit safely in each of his last 15 games against the Rockies, his former team.
• The Giants’ offenses leads the NL with a .272 batting average entering Friday.
• The Giants have hit 22 home runs this year AT&T Park. They hit a grand total of 31 last year.