Arizona Diamondbacks Editorial: Rubby De La Rosa is Clutch

Rubby De La Rosa is the Arizona Diamondbacks ace this season, and he continues to prove that every time he takes the mound.

4.32

In 25 starts this season across 156.1 IP, that is De La Rosa’s earned run average.

For most fans, that follow the game of baseball closely, that isn’t exactly ace material.

However, when you consider that the Arizona Diamondbacks rotation for the year has a 4.42 ERA as a staff, which is the fifth worst mark in baseball, then it makes sense that Rubby’s ERA is the lowest.

3.82

In 34 starts as a staff across 190.2 IP, that is the ERA for the Diamondbacks staff since the start of the second half, a huge improvement.

So, while the pitching, and in particular the rotation has been the weak link of the staff thanks to their inability to go deep into games, the rotation has actually done a nice job since the middle of July.

2.54

That is De La Rosa’s ERA over his past seven starts and his record is 5-0.

With Zach Greinke‘s loss to the Dodgers tonight, De La Rosa is the only starter in the majors with five wins and no losses after the All Star Break.

De La Rosa has been at his best on the mound after the break, and it seems to be rubbing off on the rest of the staff.

Its plain and simple: De La Rosa is just getting the job done when it matters most, both on the calendar and on the mound.

The biggest difference at least for me when you look at Rubby’s last seven starts compared to his previous 18 starts is his ability to keep the ball in the ballpark.

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This season De La Rosa has given up 25 home runs, but over his past seven starts he has given up just four long balls in 46 innings pitched.

De La Rosa has one of the highest GB% in the majors (50.2%), but when he leaves the ball up in the zone, hitters hit in the air, and hit it hard.

Over his last seven starts, his GB% has increased four percentage points to 54.2%, and he is leaving 85.9% of runners on base.

De La Rosa is still giving up plenty of fly balls. In fact in his last start against the Reds last night, he surrendered just eight groundball outs compared to 14 fly ball outs and still got the win.

The difference is that when the ball is hit in the air, it isn’t as hard off the bat and as a result the baseball isn’t traveling as far compared to earlier in the season.

The best thing about De La Rosa is his ability to get big outs when it matters most. He is the definition of a clutch pitcher.

I will admit, its not always fun to watch his starts, because there is so much traffic on the bases at all the times.

However, the name of the game for a pitcher is the ability to make a big pitch when it matters, and Rubby has done that to a tee this season.

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Here are his numbers in situations this season:

BAA-Bases Empty: .256

BAA-Men on Base: .261

BAA-Men in Scoring Position: .205

His numbers with RISP and two outs are even better.

If that isn’t clutch, then I don’t know what is.

It also helps that Rubby has the seventh best run support per nine innings in all of baseball at 5.939 RS/9. Rubby’s offense has scored 103 runs for him.

De La Rosa is also the only D-backs starter currently in the rotation that can actually consistently go deep into the ball game. He leads the team in wins (11), and innings pitched (156.1) in 2015.

With tonight’s win and the Dodgers loss, the D-backs are only six games back out of first place in the West division. If the Snakes want to have any chance of winning the division, they’re going to need great performances from De La Rosa to continue.

The D-backs have De La Rosa under control till 2019, and if he continues to pitch brilliantly, Rubby has the chance to develop into one of the best starters in baseball.

Its only seven starts but it looks like Rubby is ready to breakout. Or maybe I’m just dreaming, and this will only be for the short-term. Either way, it will be fun to watch, so there’s that right?