Danny Boy

After pitching seven strong innings last night against the Rockies, Daniel Hudson now sits at 14 - 9 on the season with a tidy 3.61 ERA and a 144/40 K/BB ratio (and a 3.66 xFIP if you’re into that sort of thing). In his first full major league season, the 24-year-old has been a steady piece of Arizona’s rotation. I’m fond of saying that Hudson was a steal as a part of the trade that sent Edwin Jackson to the White Sox at the 2010 Trade Deadline, and I think that’s still an apt description.

Going off of FanGraphs’ PitchFx, it appears that Hudson owes his continued success this year to added velocity on his fastball and changeup, and perhaps most importantly to his slider. He’s throwing the pitch more this year and getting it to the plate 2.4 MPH faster on average (87.3 compared to 84.9). I haven’t seen a whole lot of Hudson, but when I’ve caught his starts this year, I’ve heard the same thing a few times: he looks more comfortable on the mound. Subjective for sure, but nonetheless a compliment that has some context.

Assuming Hudson can weather the innings increase, he should be a key player down the stretch for Arizona. He’s thrown 187 innings thus far through 28 starts versus 2010’s 188.2 innings between AAA and the majors. He won’t rack up a huge increase in the regular season, and assuming that the Diamondbacks get to the playoffs, it’ll be cool to see what he can do on an even bigger stage

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Danny Boy