Last year, Jeff Samardzija’s ERA was 4.42, which is bad. His FIP was 3.61, which is good. He struck out six batters for every one he walked, which is great. But the only one of those stats that really affected how many games the Giants won or lost last year was the first one. Every time a flyball went in the air off Samardzija, it either went over a fence or over an outstretched glove. I’ll say it over and over until one of you gets a court order against me: Nobody in baseball was hurt by his defense more than Samardzija last year.
The Giants have the most improved defense in baseball
