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BP Annual Player Comments

Year		Comment
2015		After going 3-13 with a 5.22 ERA over the first four months, Stults went 5-4 with a 2.74 ERA over the final two. It's tempting to say he turned the proverbial corner, but his track record suggests otherwise. One problem is that, as Beyond the Box Score's Justin Schultz so eloquently put it, "Stults' curveball is terrible." Hitters and their .400-plus ISO against that pitch last year might disagree, but as hitters, they are not to be trusted in such matters. Can Stults continue to survive at the highest level? Without getting into lengthy discussions about the nature of survival, either improving or ditching the curve might help. So might long walks on the beach with Jamie Moyer.
2014		You know the cliché: Lefty out of Indiana gets drafted in the 15th round, spends a decade in the minors, pitches in Japan for a year, lands in San Diego after a few more stops and finally stays in the big leagues for an entire season, leading the Padres in starts, innings and strikeouts at age 33 despite working with a high-80s fastball. So overdone. Stults throws strikes (he walked more than two batters in just three of his 33 starts) but seldom puts the ball past hitters (his career-high 12 strikeouts came against a Mariners lineup not known for making contact). He was hit hard away from Petco, had severe platoon splits and faded badly in the second half.
2013		Another reclamation project that landed in a Padres rotation desperate for healthy arms, Stults pitched surprisingly well last year after being claimed off waivers from the White Sox in mid-May. The journeyman got hit hard his third time through a lineup and fared much better against lefties than righties, suggesting that the bullpen might be a more suitable home. Then again, his versatility is a chief selling point. Stults may never have a clearly defined role or stay in the big leagues for extended periods, but he's a good insurance policy just in case your entire pitching staff gets hurt. Again.
2012		Veteran lefty Eric Stults returned from Japan to deal a few relief innings in Colorado, then signed a minor league deal with the Sox; his fringy stuff and flyball tendencies make him a bad choice to administer a shot of adrenaline to the big club's heart.
2011		Long-time Dodgers property Eric Stults is a 31-year-old lefty starter who doesn't fare all that well against his fellow lefties, which makes him a poor relief option, and gives up a lot of fly balls, which makes him a poor fit for the Rockies, who brought him back from Japan via a minor-league deal.
2010		After three years of only fleeting success trying to crack the rotation, Stults got his best opportunity yet when Kuroda strained his oblique in April. Stults didn't exactly cover himself in glory, but put up a .498 Support-Neutral Winning Percentage despite a high walk rate and just one quality start (a complete-game shutout against the Giants, which barely counts). After spraining his thumb while fielding a bunt, he began an odyssey that included declining performance, a DL stint, and an extended stay in the minors, receiving just one more start. Stults' career big-league numbers (145 innings, with a 4.84 ERA and 6.1 K/9) could probably get him a fifth starter job elsewhere, but they'll likely keep him on the fringes of the Dodgers' rotation picture.
2009		Sin City is no place for a fly-ball pitcher who doesn’t miss many bats, but Stults has remained stuck there for the better part of the last four years, with results varying so widely that it’s difficult to gauge his performance beyond pegging him as a Quadruple-A type. When injuries sidelined Kuroda and Penny in late June, Stults pitched as well as the Dodgers could have hoped, with three quality starts out of six, including a complete-game shutout of the White Sox. Caught in the numbers game, he didn’t reappear in Dodger blue until after they’d clinched. With the departures of Penny, Lowe, and Maddux, he’ll again be in the mix as a back-end rotation option.
2008		The return to Sin City didn't go too well for Eric Stults; he was rocked to a .414/.472/.680 tune at Cashman Field, and while he held PCL hiters to just .263/.308/.369 elsewhere, he's little more than a soft-tossing organizational soldier at this point.
2007		Stults, a 2002 pick out of Bethel College, is no sort of prospect, but he is a lefty. He took a great leap forward in his second tour of duty at Las Vegas, earning a September recall. He gave the Dodgers two respectable starts, the better of which was a key six-inning, two-hit effort at Shea Stadium on September 10. With an 88 to 92 MPH fastball, a plus changeup, and an average cutter, he generates enough ground balls that he could find a spot in the bullpen.

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PITCHf/x Pitcher Profile

A Collaboration between BrooksBaseball.net and Baseball Prospectus - Pitch classifications provided by Pitch Info LLC

Although he has not thrown an MLB pitch in 2024, Eric Stults threw 11,134 pitches that were tracked by the PITCHf/x system between 2007 and 2015, all of them occuring in Spring Training. In 2015, he relied primarily on his Fourseam Fastball (89mph) and Slider (82mph), also mixing in a Change (81mph) and Sinker (86mph). He also rarely threw a Curve (70mph).