Starting Pitcher Previews: Corey Kluber and Kevin Correia

Corey Kluber (7-5, 3.88)

Attention Carson Cistulli, Corey Kluber is pitching tonight!

Actually, Carson most likely already knew that. After all, he posts an article about every single Kluber start on FanGraphs.

Why is Carson so enamored with Kluber, a pitcher that has an ERA right around the major league average? Well, first he strikes out about 9 batters per 9 innings. He doesn't walk many hitters either (2.08 per 9 IP), so naturally he has a good strikeout/walk ratio. He also throws hard for a starting pitcher, averaging about 93 MPH on his fastball. Plus, he throws a cut fastball that moves just as much as Mariano Rivera's, so when you can go toe-to-toe with the very man that perfected that pitch, you must be doing something right.

Along with those two pitches, Kluber also has a 2-seamer, change-up, and a slurvy curveball. According to FanGraphs, his best pitches are that Mo Rivera cutter and also his change.

Kevin Correia (6-6, 4.23)

Kevin Correia just continues to truck along. While he had a fantastic April, he's been pretty unspectacular since then, but his ERA is still the best among all Twins starters in the non-Samuel Deduno division. He also has the claim to fame as having nearly 20 more innings pitched than the next guy (91.1 for Scott Diamond, 110.2 for Correia) and is the only Twins pitcher that has enough innings to qualify for the MLB pitching leaderboards. While he may not look pretty on the mound, he's doing what he can and he's eating innings, just like the Twins drew up.

He is giving up a few more homers than he typically has in his career, but he's balanced that out by walking a career-low 2.11 batters per 9 innings. He also won't strike out many hitters, so he's definitely going to be relying on the defense tonight. Well, if Pedro Florimon brings his glove again like he did yesterday, I think Correia will be just fine.

I know I've covered Correia before, but I'll run down his repertoire again. He has a cutter, 4-seam fastball, 2-seamer, splitter, and curveball. FanGraphs rates his 2-seamer as his best pitch, and everything else is below-average.