How Good is an AL Ace?: Mean Performance of Pitchers by Slot

There is a series of articles by Jack Sackman that you can find here.  It is an idea I found interesting an often use when I describe pitchers as a certain type of slot pitcher.  I think in common use a person referring to a guy as a one slot pitcher is more or less actually saying that the guy is a one slot pitcher on a first division team.  In other words, an ace on one of the ten best teams in baseball.  In this series of posts, I plan on going through each division and describing what each slot means and how that relates to teams.

AL East | Central | West
NL East | Central | West | NL Summary

AL Summary of Slots

In this post we will go through and look at four team FIP performances for each slot: median, first division cut off, best, and worst.  The following relates to numbers produced in 2011.

Slot 1
An AL pitcher at this slot could be described as:

Median
3.26
67th
3.47
33rd
3.16
The Epitome of a Slot 1 Pitcher would be the Cleveland Indian's Justin Masterson (3.28 FIP).  Seattle Mariner Felix Hernandex (3.13 FIP) would be the threshold first division ace and fellow Mariner Micheal Pineda would be the closest to a bottom rung ace (3.42 FIP).  In our evaluations, we had the Tigers' first slot as the best last year (Doug Fister 10g 2.52 FIP; Jason Verlander 22g 2.99 FIP) and the Orioles as the worst (Chris Tillman 13g 3.99 FIP; Zach Britton 19g 4.00 FIP).

Slot 2
An AL pitcher at this slot could be described as:

Median
3.71
67th
3.91
33rd
3.51
The average Slot 2 pitcher would be the Texas Rangers' Alexi Ogando (3.68 FIP).  Fellow Ranger Matt Harrison (3.52 FIP) is the threshold first divsion second slot.  A third Ranger, Derek Holland (3.94 FIP) would qualify as a bottom threshold second slot pitcher.  The team with the best slot 2 performance was the Angels (Dan Haren 2g 2.99 FIP; Matt Palmer 3g 3.09 FIP; Jered Weaver 27g 3.20 FIP) and the worst was the Orioles (Zach Britton 9g 4.00 FIP; Jeremy Guthrie 23g 4.51 FIP).

Slot 3
An AL pitcher at this slot could be described as:

Median
4.06
67th
4.25
33rd
3.92
Mr. Number 3 in 2011 would be Detroit Tiger Rick Porcello (4.06 FIP) with Mr. First Division Number 3 as Ranger Derek Holland (3.94 FIP) making his second appearance in this column.  The Indians' Josh Tomlin (4.27 FIP) would be the bottom rung three man.  The team with the best slot 3 performance was the Mariners (Michael Pineda 18g 3.42 FIP; Erik Bedard 14g 3.70 FIP) and the worst was, once again, the Orioles (Alfredo Simon 16g 4.59 FIP; Jeremy Guthrie 9g 4.51 FIP; Tommy Hunter 7g 4.71 FIP).

Slot 4
An AL pitcher here can be described as:

Median
4.36
67th
4.45
33rd
4.24
Bruce Chen (Royals, 4.39 FIP) would be the closest pitcher that embodies the meaning of the fourth slot.  The Twins' Brian Duensing (4.26 FIP) would be your threshold 4 man and Jeremy Hellickson (Rays, 4.44 FIP) would be your lower tier line.  The team with the best slot 4 performance was the White Sox (John Danks 27g 3.82 FIP; Mark Buerhle 5g 3.98 FIP) and the worst was, oh my, the Orioles (Brad Bergesen 12g 4.84 FIP; Chris Jakubauskus 6g 5.00 FIP; Tommy Hunter 4g 4.71 FIP; Jake Arrieta 10g, 5.34 FIP).

Slot 5
An AL pitcher here can be described as:

Median
4.90
67th
5.14
33rd
4.84
The splitting image of the 5 slot pitcher would be the Angels' Tyler Chatwood last year (4.88 FIP).  Your first division fiver was the Twins' Nick Blackburn (4.84 FIP) and the bottom third gate keeper was the Blue Jays' Brett Cecil (5.10 FIP).  The team with the best back end performance was the White Sox again (Zach Stewart 6g 4.84 FIP; Mark Buerhle 26g 3.98 FIP) and the worst was, one more time, the Orioles (Jo-Jo Reyes 5g 7.12 FIP; Brian Matusz 12g 7.66 FIP; Mitch Atkins 3g 8.93 FIP; Jake Arrieta 12g, 5.34 FIP).

AL Average Rotation
1 - Justin Masterson, Indians
2 - Alexi Ogando, Rangers
3 - Rick Porcello, Tigers
4 - Bruce Chen, Royals
5 - Tyler Chatwood, Angels

AL First Division Threshold Rotation
1 - Felix Hernandez, Mariners
2 - Matt Harrison, Rangers
3 - Derek Holland, Rangers
4 - Brian Duensing, Twins
5 - Nick Blackburn, Twins