My latest at Hardball Times revisits an earlier article about a toy introduced by Bill James back in the ’80s that translates a hitter’s line into a pitching line. Why would you do this? Well, because it’s fun.

The new article focuses on 2010 performances and features “matched pairs” of hitters and pitchers. Among these are a few current and former Padres, such as Shane Victorino (matches with Jake Westbrook), Jon Garland (Jhonny Peralta), and Wade LeBlanc (Gaby Sanchez).

A few other Padres didn’t make the final cut, but you may find their comps interesting:

                   IP   H  R ER HR BB  SO  ERA HR/9 BB/9 SO/9
Chase Headley   156.2 161 77 69 11 56 139 3.96 0.63 3.22 7.99
Tom Gorzelanny  136.1 136 70 62 11 68 119 4.09 0.73 4.49 7.86

Jason Bartlett  125.0 119 56 50  4 45  83 3.60 0.29 3.24 5.98
Wandy Rodriguez 195.0 183 95 78 16 68 178 3.60 0.74 3.14 8.22

Garrett Jones   158.1 146 73 66 21 53 123 3.75 1.19 3.01 6.99
Carl Pavano     221.0 227 95 92 24 37 117 3.75 0.98 1.51 4.76
Clayton Richard 201.2 206 89 84 16 78 153 3.75 0.71 3.48 6.83

Fun, right? Go read the article.

Tagged as: bill james, chase headley, clayton richard, hardball times, inverted records, jason bartlett, jon garland, shane victorino, wade leblanc