I'd ask this question ...
His Ks are down ... but his innings are up (last two starts). Is there an actual tactical decision here to "accept" the weak groundout more than before rather than "going for" the K -- (and creating the 8 foul marathons that have kept Bedard a 6 innings pitcher)?
I once described Bedard as a "max effort" pitcher ... not a truly literal description, but more to get across the concept that he doesn't generate "easy" innings often - and that SOP might well be related to his history of arm troubles. In looking at the Tuesday night box ...
2nd inning - 3 groundouts (8 pitches)
3rd inning - foul, ground, fly (12 pitches)
4th inning - fly, ground, ground (11 pitches)
5th inning - ground, line, K (10 pitches)
After the shaky first, his next 4 innings were not only 1-2-3 ... they were low 'effort'.
Does fangraphs keep a "foul ball" percentage? Seems like Erik's is waaaaay down recently.
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