So here's a bunch of statistics. I focused on four categories: ground-ball percentage (GB%), fly ball percentage (FB%), infield fly ball percentage (IFFB%), and strikeout percentage (K%). Those stats are all just the percentage of times the given result happens when a pitcher faces a better.
Click the jump for all the goods.
As a whole, this group of pitchers has been pretty good at avoiding line drives. Charlie Morton and Kevin Correia (just barely) are the only ones above the league average. Erik Bedard, James McDonald, Jeff Karstens, and Kevin Correia all get less ground balls than the average pitcher, but McDonald is the only one that is significantly below that threshold. A.J. Burnett and Morton are the only ones below average in FB%, although Bedard and Correia are both within a percentage. The Pirates have more strikeout pitchers than they have had in a long time this year with Burnett, Bedard, and McDonald all being over the league average. That'll be nice change of pace.
Here's the individual pitcher data broken down year-by-year. You'll see that Bedard hasn't been getting as many ground balls as he did in the beginning of his career, but his strikeouts have gone up with it. Burnett also had a very good ground ball and strikeout year in 2011, which is surprising considering his poor ERA. If he can keep those numbers up he'll be a really good pitcher for the Pirates.
