Edwin Jackson has one plus pitch. Not two. One. His fastball. His slider is cute but not overpowering...it has late movement but it's SMALL late movement and its only effective if he is spotting his fastball perfectly. Which he doesn't normally and he did in the first half of 2009. Notice very carefully, Doc, that Jackson's K rate dropped in the second half too...it wasn't just the walk rate climbing or the HR luck returning to normal (and yes...the low HR rate was LUCK in 1H 2009 as seen by the microscopic HR/Fly he was running...you know I don't buy into HR/Fly theory fully but when it's 5% and your career norm is 12%...something is wrong). The K rate dropped because hitters started making contact on his slider because they didn't have to defend against his fastball as carefully.
Jackson is a good pitcher...a 4 ERA #2 for someone. But I'm not buying that he's a staff ace.
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