Today we have a quick morning coffee and baseball stat: which Brewers starting pitchers allowed balls-in-play most frequently in 2008, and who had the best defensive support?

I calculated pitching BIP% by reading each pitcher's Baseball-Reference 2008 splits, calculating (PA-HR-BB-K-HBP)/(PA). I broke the trend with Gallardo, calculating his entire career, rather than an injury-shortened 2008. There is simply no meaning to analyzing 100 PA of work from a pitcher. 

 BABIP / BIP%

Looper: 842 PA, 653 BIP; .296 BABIP / .776 BIP%

Suppan: 780 PA, 589 BIP; .306 BABIP / .755 BIP%

Bush: 763 PA, 567 BIP; .238 BABIP / .743 BIP%

Villanueva: 464 PA, 320 BIP; .302 BABIP / .690 BIP%

Gallardo: 563 PA, 386 BIP; .302 BABIP / .686 BIP%

Parra: 749 PA, 499 BIP; .333 BABIP / .666 BIP%

McClung: 456 PA, 297 BIP; .284 BABIP / .651 BIP%

Isn't it odd that the progression from more-to-less balls-in-play almost perfectly follows the progression from low-to-high top-speed velocity and pitching style for Brewers' pitchers? The sinkerballers, who throw slightly below average top-speed, or around average top speed, allow more BIP; but by contrast, a player with a slightly below average top speed who throws a fastball and change up (Villanueva) allows less frequent BIP% than pitchers with similar velocity range, but different approaches (i.e., Looper, Suppan, and Bush).

The hottest top-speed on the team -- Gallardo, McClung, and Parra -- each allow the fewest BIP% on the team, although Gallardo's is very close to Villanueva, which I attribute more to pitching style and less to top-speed velocity. 

A more in-depth study is in order -- how closely to velocity and/or pitching style affect BIP%? I mean, the answer is as plain as the nose on your face that how a pitcher pitches, and how fast he pitches, will affect balls-in-play -- but we could use available pitch f/x data to compare BIP% between pitchers with different primary / secondary pitch combinations (i.e., change-up / fastball, fastball / sinker, fastball / slider, sinker / slider, fastball / curveball, etc.).

This is probably another prime area where statistical analysis supports baseball common sense -- how you pitch, and how fast you pitch, affects opposing batting approaches.