2-out, pitch well?

A few weeks ago, I listened to a podcast show. It’s one of my favorite podcast shows. In the show, a guest indicated that a pitcher, who had a great 2022 season, but by far this season, gave up too many hits after two outs.

After listening to the show, I began to think about a question. Which pitchers have not pitched well after 2 outs this year?

Batting Average Against (2 outs, min IP: Qualified, ~2023.06.29)
Player	BAA
Rich Hill	.319
Trevor Williams	.311
Lance Lynn	.308
Brady Singer	.300
Miles Mikolas	.295
Ryne Nelson	.295
Jesus Luzardo	.294
Clarke Schmidt	.291
Kyle Gibson	.284
Dean Kremer	.276

Firstly, Rich Hill and Trevor Williams each have some troubles with 2 outs. Rich Hill is now 43 years old. He signed a 1-year contract with the Pirates in January. By far this season, Hill made 16 starts, posting a 4.45 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP over 89 innings. Nonetheless, with 2 outs, he already gave up 6 home runs and opponents hit well with a batting average of .319. Meanwhile, Trevor Williams signed a 2-year deal with the Nationals last December. He now has a 4.28 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP over 80 innings. However, opponents hit well against him after 2 outs with a batting average over .310.

In the meantime, 2-time All-Star Lance Lynn has a very disappointing season. He made 17 starts so far this season, posting an ERA over 6. Additionally, his WHIP is now 1.50. Opponents’ batting average against Lynn is .277 and, in particular, with 2 outs, opponents’ batting average against him increases to over .300. Lynn gave up 7 home runs after 2 outs. Last season, he had a .225 BAA after 2 outs.

In addition, Brady Singer had a great 2022 season. He owned a 3.23 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP through a career-high 153.1 innings. However, Singer currently has an ERA of 5.88 and a WHIP over 1.50. Opponents bat .287 against him thus far and, with 2 outs, opponents’ batting average is .300. In 2022, opponents batted .254 against Singer after 2 outs.

Moreover, 4 other pitchers are hit hard with a BAA over .290 after 2 outs. With 2 outs, opponents hit .295 against Miles Mikolas, at the same time, Ryne Nelson and Jesus Luzardo each gave up 5 home runs. Meanwhile, Clarke Schmidt has a .291 BAA with 2 outs.

Home Runs (2 outs, ~2023.06.29)
Player	HR
Julio Urias	9
Matthew Boyd	8
Andrew Heaney
Michael Kopech
Noah Syndergaard
Luis Castillo	7
Josh Fleming
Jordan Lyles
Lance Lynn
Colin Rea
Taijuan Walker

Finally, let’s take a look at which pitchers give up too many home runs with 2 outs. Julio Urias made 10 starts for the Dodgers by far this season, and he already gave up 9 home runs with 2 outs. Last season, he earned 17 wins and he only allowed 8 home runs after 2 outs. At the same time, Matthew Boyd, Andrew Heaney, Michael Kopech and Noah Syndergaard each gave up 8 home runs with 2 outs thus far. Furthermore, 6 other pitchers each allowed 7 home runs with 2 outs.

With 1 out away, an inning will be ended. However, for some pitchers, it’s not that easy to get that out. Lance Lynn allowed 40 hits with 2 outs. In the meantime, Rich Hill and Miles Mikolas each gave up 38 hits after 2 outs. In the rest of the season, they certainly have to identify the reason why they can’t pitch well with 2 outs.