Josh Collmenter Could Prove Critical for Arizona Diamondbacks

Each baseball season brings about unlikely heroes and interesting stories. For the Diamondbacks, one of the best stories of the 2011 season was Josh Collmenter. 

Collmenter was an unassuming right-handed pitcher who was called up early in the season and hailed from a small town called Homer, Michigan. 

Used out of the bullpen when he was first called up, he was nearly unhittable. He was shortly moved into the starting rotation, and although his numbers did level off by June, he managed to put together a very nice season.

Many people who follow the team, myself included, partially attributed his early success to his unorthodox overhand delivery. Collmenter throws the ball with an overhand delivery resembling a pitching machine, which he credits to throwing tomahawks in the woods.

Despite not having much velocity to his fastball or much deception with his breaking balls, he was shutting down opposing batters. Surely his success was because hitters were just not used to seeing the ball come out from that angle, and once he faced teams a second or third time he would be less effective.

Although he did have a few rough spots during the season he always bounced back, never having consecutive poor outings.

Collmenter was even given the ball in place of Joe Saunders for Game 3 of the NLDS. With the Diamondbacks facing elimination, he limited the Brewers' offensive production to two hits, with their only run coming by way of a solo homer.

More often than not, he delivered a quality start. The usefulness of the quality start statistic can be debated. To earn a quality start, a pitcher must pitch six innings and give up three or fewer runs. 

For a staff ace that should be expected, but for the fifth man in the rotation, which is where Collmenter will likely be slotted, it can be a good metric to determine a pitcher’s worth on the staff. 

If the number five pitcher didn’t let the game get out of hand and didn’t force the manager to use the bullpen more than normal, then it was a successful outing in my opinion, and the pitcher met expectations.   

Of Collmenter’s 24 total starts, 15 were quality starts. He also had two games where he was pulled in the sixth inning but had not surrendered a run.

As good as he was last season, there was a slight cloud that appeared on the horizon.

Returning to the theory that opposing batters’ unfamiliarity with his delivery partially contributed to his effectiveness, Collmenter was least successful against the teams he faced the most—his NL West division rivals.

Of his nine non-quality starts, six were against NL West opponents. He had an ERA over 4.00 against three of the Diamondbacks’ four NL West opponents. 

Arguably his three worst outings of the season happened in a game against San Diego, and two games against LA.

Collmenter's pattern of poor performances against NL West teams leads to one of the key questions for the Diamondbacks in 2012: Can Josh Collmenter repeat what he did in 2011?

There are many other teams that would love to have a pitcher at the fifth spot in the rotation who performs well against 11 NL opponents and is hit-or-miss with the other four, but losses within the division carry extra weight. 

If Collmenter does struggle in 2012, the Diamondbacks have other options.  Trevor Bauer is thought to have the potential to pitch in the majors this season, and Tyler Skaggs is also thought to be not too far from being Major League-ready.

One thing is certain—if Collmenter can replicate his 2011 season, the Diamondbacks will have one of the deepest rotations in the game.

Besides, a Spring Training without question marks or uncertainties about the upcoming season just wouldn’t feel right.