Familiarize Yourself with BABIP

Batting Average of Balls in Play.

Basically, this stat tells us who is for real, and who has gotten lucky. If a batting average of balls in play for a pitcher is particularly low, it could indicate an anomoly, and be a signal that the pitcher is about to come back to earth. Of course, you need to take into account other factors. Is the pitcher a big strikeout pitcher? Is the pitcher a sinker-baller, who depends on the ball being put in play? Don't look at the statistics alone, use common sense and baseball knowledge, too.

Anyways, Tim Dierkes of RotoAuthority posts the BABIP stats every week or so, and he just posted this week's numbers today. Here's the link: http://www.rotoauthority.com/2009/05/babip-anyone-1.html

And just in case you're too lazy to follow the link, here's a couple of notes:

Top 5 lowest BABIP (these pitchers will likely come back to earth and see their WHIP and ERA rise significantly):

Matt Palmer (.182)
Brian Tallet (.213)
Matt Garza (.215)
Jered Weaver (.215)
Edinson Volquez (.217)

The top 5 highest BABIP (these pitchers have most likely suffered from bad luck, and will see their WHIP and ERA's drop):

Jon Lester (.396)
Andy Sonnanstine (.387)
Josh Beckett (.387)
Ricky Nolasco (.382)
Todd Wellemeyer (.377)

Pretty self-explanatory, actually. It's pretty obvious that pitchers like Beckett, Nolasco, and Lester have been very unlucky, while pitchers like Palmer (who tops out at about 87 MPH) and Brian Tallet have enjoyed a bit of luck.

Anyways, if you want to look more in depth at the list, check the above link.