Ubaldo Jimenez deserves some serious respect

There are some Rockies fans and many sports fans/analysts who believe that either 1) Ubaldo Jimenez is not an ace or 2) That he is extremely close to being one. Now let me tell you all the truth that many of you Rowbots already think. Ubaldo Jimenez is the Rockies ace. Give me any pitcher on the Rockies to start Game 7 of the World Series, and it's him. Now there are many things that prove my point: for starters, Jimenez has the best FIP on the team, he constantly goes deep into games, his WAR is 11th in the MLB (4.0) and his across the line peripherals beat any other starter on the team. However, I'm going to go even further with this, and call him one of the best pitchers in the NL. Go ahead, you can cough Rockies bias, but I'm going to prove it with some hardline stats and comparisons.

Here's the first: Jimenez is not, by any means, controlled by luck. His BABIP is very league average at .299, his line drive percentage is also league average at 19.6 %, and his infield pop up percentage is in the middle of eligible pitching rank at 10.4 %. Now one may ask, why is Jimenez's ERA (3.76) so much higher than his FIP? I can give an acceptable answer to this. He has a below average LOB % (71.5 %), has not executed the pitches when he has needed to (see Jul 22 Ari), blew up when his control deserts him (see Jul 5 Ari), or he was left in the game too long (that's a coaching issue, see Jun 23 LAA)  Many of Jimenez's runs in an outing will come in one or two innings, and he will come away with a loss or no decision of the game. This is the mark of a pitcher still learning in the MLB, and while this examination of his short-comings screams "ZOMG Jimenes sux," this means that Jimenez still has tremendous upside, especially since he is just 25, after all.

This brings me to my second point: Jimenez flat out dominates hitters at times, and when he doesn't (see blow-ups above), still comes away with a quality start. 15 of his 22 outings this year have been QS's, including 14 of his past 18 (that's excluding that horrible April start, he's been a completely different pitcher since then). Now for the whole year, that's 68%, but since the end of April, Jimenez has a whopping 77% QS %. That's a top ten in the MLB stat, meaning that Jimenez has been just as consistent as Roy Halladay. (75 %) Then again, as I had been stating before the QS rate, Jimenez can flat control the game. Several times he will go through a turn of the opposing team's lineup and they will not see a baserunner for multiple innings, and he can often strike out a ton of batters in a game (T-13 MLB K). When his command of his main pitches deserts him, he can usually work with other secondary pitches in the game and give the team another QS. This is the true mark of an extremely talented pitcher and an ace.

A third point: Jimenez shows that he constantly improving with every season and start. In each season since 2007 (his rookie year) Jimenez has improved tremendously in FIP, WHIP, LOB %, BB/9, K/9, H/9, K/BB, and has stayed consistently good in his great GB rate, and opponent's AVG (though this is partially dependent on BABIP). At the age of 25, Jimenez is not even at his prime yet, and as I said before, he has tremendous upside because of his pitch arsenal (Fangraphs rates three of his pitches major pluses, his CB avg this year) and because of his improving peripherals. His fastball has been the fastest pitch in the majors for the past two years, his slider is fast with great movement and a K pitch, his changeup has been improving, and his curveball is great. Jimenez's command of his pitches are improving and should continue to improve with more experience. Many scouts projected Jimenez's stuff as being ace material, but were greatly concerned with his control. He has silenced those scouts now that he's shown that he can command 4 plus pitches at any given time. Every single stat besides ERA explains that Jimenez is the ace of the Rockies's pitching staff and is one of the best young upcoming pitchers in the National league now.

As for my final point, look at a final peripheral comparison of Jimenez and Tim Lincecum, the best pitcher today. I took out ER, W/L, and ERA because those stats are dependent, and K because it didn't work into the comparison.

      G                    GS            CG      SO                             IP                                    H                       HR     HBP         BB

Now, don't those look like similar pitchers? The way I look at it is this: Lincecum is an advanced form of Jimenez (both are power pitchers), who commanded his stuff to the point where his ERA is really low and he gets extreme amounts of K's. However, his walks, hits, and HR per 9 are very similar to Jimenez, having close to the same peripherals. I think it's realistic to say if Jimenez keeps on improving on his command, he will be a Cy Young candidate really soon, and he's already an ace that several teams would really covet on their staff. Due to Jimenez being a second half pitcher, I really can't wait to see how he ends up this year, and hopefully it will come with more respect.