The result of a baseball game is largely decided by the performance of a team’s starting pitcher. If you can more accurately predict its performance, you will make higher-performing baseball bets. Let’s look at some tips for analyzing such an important baseball position.
Why Starting Hurlers Are So Important
While many baseball fans think sluggers and hitters are the most important baseball players, they typically only have 4 chances to bat during a game. And an amazing outfield is lucky to touch the ball more than 10 times a game. Meanwhile, in every play, the pitcher has his hands on the ball and is having a significant impact on the outcome of a game. This is why Major League Baseball pitchers earn millions of dollars and are the highest-paid position in the sport such as Dodgers’ player Trevor Bauer who just became the highest-paid player, earning $40 million in 2021.
A great hurler may carry an entire mediocre team and turn them into title contenders. Even the best hitters cannot consistently overcome a dominant pitcher. Conversely, teams with strong outfielders and big hitters could struggle if they are led by a weak hurler, as the opposite side will find it easy to rack up the runs.
If you want to be a successful baseball betting, you need to spend the majority of your focus analyzing the starting pitchers. Great games to bet often involve strong teams who are resting their top player, sometimes bookmakers won’t adjust the odds enough to compensate, and you can successfully bet the underdog. To help you analyze starting knuckleballers, we are going to show the most important statistics which will improve your ability to predict a pitcher’s performance and ultimately the result of a baseball game.
Earned Run Average
This stat tells you exactly the number of earned runs a pitcher gives up per nine innings. The earned run average will help you predict how many runs the opposing side is going totally in a match.
Walks + Hits Per Innings (WHIP)
This stat tells you many free bases a pitcher gives up based on walks and hits. You can use this stat to predict the number of runs the other team is going to score. A pitcher with a low WHIP is likely to give up fewer runs than a pitcher with a high WHIP.
A hurler with a high WHIP is also susceptible to blowing a game when the bases are loaded, and a big home-runner knuckleballer takes the plate. Betting on knuckleballers with WHIPs above 1.5 is definitely risky and would have you sweating.
Win-Loss Record
A pitcher’s win-loss record may seem like the perfect statistic, but unfortunately, it is misleading as they may leave the match-winning only to have their reliever blow the game. That loss still appears on their record. However, you might still deduce some helpful information from a knuckleballer’s record as to when you are betting on a team to win. You only care about the match result, not the hurlerr’s individual performance. Professional baseball bettors often like wagering on a side led by a pitcher with a strong win-loss, especially when they are up against an opposing knuckleballer whose record is below .500.
Time To Start Analyzing!
Now that you know the key statistics to evaluate a hurler, it is time to study the upcoming baseball games and see if you can find some strong knuckleballers who are being undervalued by the sportsbooks. Remember you should only make a bet if you find an in-form hurlers that the sportsbook is giving good odds on, there is no point betting a big favorite as the risk does not match the reward.