Can someone explain 1) what this is?, 2) how important are they?, 3) if I have a P who is 95 stam, 60 control & 25 L - 23 R is this a good pitcher?

Thanks!

1) The pitcher's effectiveness at getting Left Handed Batters out and Right Handed Batters out
2) Pretty important; I look at them as the 2nd most important pitcher attribute (with VR more important than vL) after Control
3) Not even a remotely good pitcher.

In general, I look for pitchers with splits at least in the 60's.  Though you can get away with lower splits (50's) if the pitcher has great P1-P5 (at leat 2 70+, another 2 or 3 of 50+) pitches to support them.

Splits of less than 50 will generally be ineffective.

Splits are the main determinant in opponents' batting average.  Fella you listed might be a decent Low A pitcher.

Thanks. I thought is was stamina & control that determined how good a pitcher would be. So when I'm looking at my International Prospects I should look at their Projected ratings to determine if I should sign them or not?

Yes.

Stamina only determines how deep pitchers can go into games.  Has nothing to do with effectiveness.

Splits and pitches get outs.

Man I've got a lot of work to do. I only have a handful of pitchers in my whole organization that even comes close to being even mediocre!! So I have to rebuild my pitching at all levels. So I need to be looking for pitchers who: #1 have good control numbers (60+), #2 LHP & RHP needs to be in the 60's (at least) & have their 1st & 2nd pitches at least in the 70's. If I'm missing anything, please advise.  Thanks for all & any advise!!

Yeah, pretty much.  There's some give and take on everything, but for the most part a guy is going to need to be at least in the ballpark of that stuff to be serviceable.  Velocity and GB:FB count too, but come second to everything else.

Take this guy for example...his vR ranged from 54-57 during his prime (he got hurt a lot so his ratings bounced around), which is very bad for a LHSP, since they are generally going to face > 3/4 righties.  But he managed a very respectable career ERA of 4.05 because he had three pitches in the 80's.  But if he vR was down around 40-45, he likely would have gotten shellacked.

whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx

But also keep in mind that if a guy meets all of those criteria, he's not necessarily good, just OK enough to use.  This guy fits all of the criteria by the slimmest of margins and has a career ERA of 4.92, albeit in a smallish 157 IP sample.  Nevertheless, I use him as a Mop-up/Long B as the last resort in my bullpen.

whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx

So don't be afraid to aim high.  At the end of the day, take what you can get but you gotta reach for the stars to build a top notch pitching staff.

What about a pitcher with low control and good splits? I assume this means that the pitcher will walk a lot of players but not give up a lot of hits?

It depends how low the control...If a pitcher has a control of 50 and splits in the 80's, I take him all day and he's probably quite good.  Case in point:

whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/PlayerProfile.aspx

Of course you should also note that this guy has awesome pitches, vel, and GB/FB, but a 3.28 career ERA is pretty awesome.

But as a pitcher's control drops under 50, his overall performance is really going to tail off on a steep curve.  Can't recall ever seeing a serviceable ML arm with a control under 40, and really the ones under 50 are quite rare.  I'd be curious to see how a guy with 35 control and splits in the 90's with a couple pitches in the 90's performs, but other than that, control that low is a death wish.

For what it's worth i look for a MINIMUM of 75 control for a starting pitcher. It's easier to get by with a reliever with less control in my experience. That doesn't mean that there aren't exceptions like the one above. But if you get one of those guys with 90+ control he usually performs a lot better than he looks. I've seen pitchers with no velocity and questionable pitches and splits perform very well just because they have great control. I would agree with the earlier statement that control is probably the most important thing. With that said, i'd love to have deanod's pitcher. He's one of the exceptions. But he does walk a lot of batters.

One thing that really sticks out to me about the pitcher above is his split against left handers. A right handed pitcher with an 82 split against lefties is VERY RARE. All the other numbers aside I think this may be the biggest reason for his success. A right hander who shuts down both righties and lefties is tough to find.

Posted by deandg on 9/13/2010 2:58:00 AM (view original):
For what it's worth i look for a MINIMUM of 75 control for a starting pitcher. It's easier to get by with a reliever with less control in my experience. That doesn't mean that there aren't exceptions like the one above. But if you get one of those guys with 90+ control he usually performs a lot better than he looks. I've seen pitchers with no velocity and questionable pitches and splits perform very well just because they have great control. I would agree with the earlier statement that control is probably the most important thing. With that said, i'd love to have deanod's pitcher. He's one of the exceptions. But he does walk a lot of batters.

This is just a great way to miss out on some quality SP's.  With control in the 50's or 60's you need higher splits/pitches to compensate, but you're getting lost in details by disqualifying all pitchers with a control under 75.  You wouldn't take the 51 control guy that I posted with a career 3.28 ERA?

I love it when owners disregard pitchers with sub 60 control.