Detroit Tigers: The most encouraging stat for each starting pitcher

Detroit Tigers LHP Matthew Boyd: 0.4 HR/9

Home runs have long-plagued Boyd and tainted his overall numbers. Eliminating the long ball in today’s game is not realistic given the effort hitters now put in to put the ball into the seats and the not-so-obvious changes with the baseball over the last few seasons. Limiting them always seemed attainable for Boyd, though, and he has taken his home runs per nine innings from 2.2 in 2020 to 0.4 this season.

Of course, the home runs are not the sole purpose for his improvement. He’s done a better job of avoiding baserunners altogether thanks to a sparkling 1.9 walks per nine and 6.8 hits per nine–the latter of which is over three less than last season. Nevertheless, diminishing dingers has certainly helped Boyd’s individual statistics as well as further helped keep the struggling offense in more games.