For the ground ball pitchers, you see a high batting average for balls placed in play. This is because as compared to a fielder catching a fly ball, there is more involved to turn the hit ball on the ground into an out. For example, the fielder has to not only catch the grounder, they have to make a good throw, the other fielder they are throwing the ball to has to be in the right place, and make the catch. Moreover, the base runner’s ability has an impact on the result of the play. Thus, the pitcher’s performance is highly dependent on the defense.
As such, THT has written about the ground ball pitcher:
There are certain advantages to having a high ground ball rate—like a low home run rate—and certain disadvantages, like a high line drive rate and more unearned runs. The fact is, just like any other pitcher, ground ball pitchers can be successful and unsuccessful, based on how well they do other things, like controlling the strike zone. But the ability to prevent balls from being hit in the air itself is not all that important; certainly not as much as some would like you to believe.
The data that follows identifies who the ground ball pitchers are, were, defense per Team with Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) , what their batting average for balls in play (BABIP) , strikeouts per 9 innings, home runs, ERA, and ERC (number of runners to reach base, rather than the number of runners to score):
1 Brandon Webb ARI 436GB -33.0UZR .280BABIP 7.27K/9 13HR 3.30ERA 3.07ERC
2 Aaron Cook COL 404GB -46.6UZR .293BABIP 4.09K/9 13HR 3.96ERA 3.93ERC
3 Derek Lowe LAD 393GB -42.7UZR .270BABIP 6.27K/9 14HR 3.24ERA 2.77ERC
4 Paul Maholm PIT 341GB -26.2UZR .273BABIP 6.06K/9 21HR 3.71ERA 3.85ERC
5 Zach Duke PIT 326GB -26.2UZR .311BABIP 4.23K/9 19HR 4.82ERA 5.00ERC
6 Mike Pelfrey NYM 324GB 22.4UZR .286BABIP 4.93K/9 12HR 3.72ERA 4.05ERC
7 Braden Looper STL 323GB 27.8UZR .281BABIP 4.88K/9 25HR 4.16ERA 4.32ERC
8 Greg Maddux SD/LA 322GB -25.5UZR/-.42.7UZR .274BABIP 4.55K/9 21HR 4.22ERA 3.59ERC
9 Roy Oswalt HOU 321GB 31.9UZR .276BABIP 7.12K/9 23HR 3.54ERA 3.42ERC
10 Ubaldo Jimenez COL 313GB -46.6UZR .287BABIP 7.79K/9 11HR 3.99ERA 3.96ERC
11 John Lannan WAS 313GB 16.6UZR .258BABIP 5.79K/9 23HR 3.91ERA 4.10ERC
12 Hiroki Kuroda LAD 311GB -42.7UZR .279BABIP 5.69K/9 13HR 3.73ERA 3.24ERC
13 Kyle Lohse STL 309GB 27.8UZR .286BABIP 5.36K/9 18HR 3.78ERA 3.80ERC
14 Jair Jurrjens ATL 297GB -9.0UZR .294BABIP 6.64K/9 11HR 3.68ERA 3.73ERC
