Hamels, Cole

- Starting Pitcher, Philadelphia Phillies

0.0 (0)

Baseball Player Info

NL
Age	27
Bats or Throws	Left

Editor review

Man, that's Cole

Dollar Value:

Reviewed by SteveP
February 24, 2010
Top 10 Reviewer

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Cole Hamels has been a solid fantasy starting pitcher on a solid team. Expect to see his hit rates and road statistics stabilize and for the lefty to put in more than 200 IP. 18-0-3.50-1.20-200 in 220 IP

Positives / Upside	Although pitchers progress at different rates than hitters, Hamels is well on the good side of the development curve at age 26. Despite the rise in hit rates and ERA (see negatives) he was probably at least as good a pitcher in 2009 as he was in 2008 despite getting a slow start... Much has been made of Hamel's decline in strikeout rates each season prior to 2009, but if we view his 9.86 K/9 in 1332+ IP, his rookie season as the outlier, the following numbers 8.69, 7.76, 7.81 look stable... Oddly, Hamels fared much better in the hitting-friendly Citizens Bank park that on the road. We would expect that to turn around as it was in 2008 (see negatives re: his 2008 unearned runs at home)... If Hamels is healthy, you can expect big things from the lefty. 18-0-3.40-1.15-205 in 225 IP
Negatives / Downside	The contrast between Hamels' 2008 and and 2009 is less than it appears. Although it is true that his in-play rates were quite a lot worse in 2009 (BABIP of .325 vs. 2008's .270) the main issue here is that the home scorers decided to give Cole 8 unearned runs (vs. 3 on the road) in 2008 and a total of only 2 (1 each home and road) in 2009. Almost every other secondary number was the same or even slightly better (strikeout and walk rates, home run rates) in 2009. Like so many BABIP observations, this one turns out to be so much vapour when you examine the splits and see the line drive rates he put up while pitching early in the season having missed much of spring training... The bad news here is that Hamels is probably closer to the pitcher he was in 2009 than 2008. The good news is that that really isn't too bad, and he is reported to be healthy and on schedule to start the season. 13-0-3.80-1.25-180 in 200 IP
Recommendation	Buy at cost
Draft Position	91