The Real Enright

Last night was the first time in Barry Enright's short, but solid, major league career where the pitcher allowed more than 3 runs in a single game. To the surprise and thrill of Dbacks fans everywhere, Enright had started off his major league career with a 2.45 ERA in his first 12 starts, going 6-2 and averaging over 6 innings per start. However, that came tumbling down with last nights start as he allowed 6 runs on 9 hits over 6 innings. Enright also allowed 3 home runs and struck out only 1 batter. Now one might consider this a fluky start and Enright will go back to pitching brilliantly as he's done since his call up June 30th. However, what do the numbers tell us?

First, a little history on Mr. Enright. Barry Enright was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2007 MLB draft, number 73 overall. However, he was not highly regarded amongst scouts as his fastball sits in the high 80's with just average secondary pitches. Even though he had an impressive 1.99 ERA his last year at Pepperdine, his strike out rate was an unimpressive 6.2K/9IP. I believe one of the reasons he was drafted by the Diamondbacks this high was due to Josh Byrnes' bias towards projectable college players. Scouts viewed Enright with a ceiling as a #5 starter, but most likely a bullpen arm.

Enright started his first full year as a pro in 2007 in High A, Visalia in the hitter friendly Cal league and had success with 7.8K/9IP, 1.9BB/9IP, and 0.9HR/9IP rates. However, he also had a high 4.44 ERA, but was still understandable promoted since his high ERA was a result of a high .344 BABIP (batting average on balls in play).

Enright's second year brought with positives as well as challenges in Double A, Mobile. He was still stingy with the walks and home runs (2.1BB/9IP and 0.9HR/9IP), but his strike out rate dropped to 5.9K/9IP. However, his ERA also dropped to a more respectable 3.98, partly due to his BABIP going down to a more reasonable level at .315.

Enright was assigned back to Double A once again where he improved his strike out rate to 8.0K/9IP while reducing his already stingy walk rate to 1.4BB/9IP and maintaining his home run rate at 0.9HR/9IP. He also had a solid 2.88 ERA that looked legitimate as his BABIP was .284.

Barry Enright was called up to "The Show" to start against the St Louis Cardinals on June 30th in place of the failed Willis experiment. I was shocked, as I'm sure were many Dbacks fans, to see Enright deliver a strong performance against a lineup with the likes of Pujols, Holliday, and Rasmus! Enright's line included 5 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 4 walks, and 5 strike outs. Enright continued to thrill Dbacks fans everywhere over the next 2 months, but is this something that we can continue to count on from Big Red? The numbers say, "not likely".

Even with last nights poor performance, Enright's season ERA sits at 2.95. This is mostly a result, however, of an unsustainable .259 BABIP. Even though Enright continues to be stingy with the walks (his 2.5BB/9IP would rank in the top 20 amongst NL starters), his strike out rate would be among the 5 worst in the NL if he pitched enough innings to qualify. In fact, his FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) is currently 4.68, which would be what one would expect from a #5 starter.

Enright is still reasonably young, this being his age 24 year, and hopefully he can develop an out pitch that can take his strike out rate above 6. For now, though, he looks to be a #5 starter with an upside of a #4.