10 MLB Starters Who Struggle in the First Inning

Gio Gonzalez, Washington Nationals

Gio Gonzalez's season has been pretty average, especially when compared to his first year with the Nationals. Injury has been a bit of a problem, but one of his biggest issues has to be walks. Although his 2014 average is a bit lower than his career average, Gonzalez’s 3.6 BB/9 is a tough total to overcome.

One of the contributing factors to Gonzalez’s walk problems is his 12 in the first inning. While hitters have three dingers and four triples against him, the biggest problem is that opponents are reaching base at a .382 rate. Gonzalez has a .307 batting average against, which can’t be ignored either, but his walks lead to even more runs. Gonzalez’s 5.73 ERA in the first is worse than his third and fourth inning totals by a small margin, but greatly surpass every other inning, where he is below 3.00 in each.