Jake Peavy: Premier Strikeout Pitcher in the Game?

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You bet he is. Jake has faced 552 batters this season and has struck out 155 of them. That's 28.1%, tops in the Majors by a healthy margin (it's double what Livan Hernandez, a 100 K pitcher, has managed). Pedro Martinez is second striking out exactly 27%. Jake is also the only pitcher in the Majors (with enough innings to qualify for the ERA title, but that should go without saying, anyway) to strike out at least 10 batters per nine innings pitched. Johan Santana, the AL's reigning Cy Young Award winner, is second striking out 9.62, or 0.42 behind Jake. Also, it isn't as though he's piling up K's by being wild. Among pitchers with at least 100 strikeouts, Jake is tenth in walks per nine innings, averaging 1.88.

I still can't believe he's only 24.

And I'm still very pleased that KT signed him to a four-year deal prior to the season.

And another thing...

I also find it amazing just how much Jake has outperformed his PECOTA projections by.

Compared to his 90th Percentile Projection...

Jake has a K/PA .087 higher.
Jake has a K/9 1.24 higher.
Jake has a BB/9 0.76 lower.
Jake has a K/BB 2.01 higher.

That's incredible.