I won’t deny that Clippard was due for a meltdown. His tendency to walk way too many batters and hang pitches isn’t a recipe for success. But given that I’ve been supporting him for years, I feel semi-responsible to make a half-assed attempt at defending him, at least when it comes to defending him.
A part of Clippards BABIP being so low is that he is an extreme fly ball pitcher (fly balls have a much lower chance of dropping in for a hit than a grounder does finding a hole) who generates plenty of strikeouts. The majority of his outs are in the air or by the way of the strikeout, thus leaving little room for grounders that might find a hole Kansas City style.
I have not yet taken a look at his batted ball statistics and will likely do so tomorrow to determine if I’m completely wrong or not with this one.
My biggest concern with Clippard is obviously his walk issue followed by his unsustainable LOB% that I believe was at 100% before the grand slam against Oakland the other day.