Fernando Nieve's Numbers as a Starter

Fernando Nieve is starting against the Milwaukee Brewers tonight and because he hasn’t started since last July and has primarily been a reliever throughout his career I thought now would be a good time to go over his numbers as a starter.

Here are Nieve’s numbers against the Brewers:

4 G, 2 GS, 1-1 record, 5.11 ERA, 12.1 IP, 19 H, 7 ER, 4 HR, 3 BB, 10 K, 1.78 WHIP.

Here are his numbers as a starter:

18 G, 5-6 record, 4.11 ERA, 96.1 IP, 96 H, 44 ER, 17 HR, 38 BB, 60 K, 1.39 WHIP.

Here are his numbers as a reliever:

68 G, 2-3 record, 4.61 ERA, 70.1 IP, 61 H, 36 ER, 10 HR, 40 BB, 62 K, 1.44 WHIP.

So his numbers historically against the Brewers have been kind of rough, but the sample size has been small. As a starter his numbers are similar to coming out of the bullpen only slightly better. He seems to cut down on both his walks and strikeouts as a starter which probably means his velocity is down a bit and he is focused more on hitting the strike zone (He’s not as wild, but slightly more hittable).

I think what you see is what you get out of Nieve. Meaning, that not much should change tonight with him out of the rotation as compared to a reliever. His biggest problem seems to always be the home run. To bad he’s not pitching in Citi Field today, but every pitcher probably wakes up and says that to himself.

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