Stats,
It makes a ton of difference on a pitchers WHIP if multiple and frequent errors are committed while he is pitching by the fielders behind him. Errors prolong innings which directly translate into more walks and hits- more than necessary. For instance, the lowest WHIP stat recorded on our team is by a pitcher who has only had 7 errors committed by the defense. Another pitcher, one of the aces, has a much higher WHIP but when you look at the errors through the same amount of innings it doubles to 14. Going back and reconstructing innings minus errors shows the ace to have the lowest WHIP. Its "walks +hits per inning pitched". If the defense is so horrible that the pitcher is facing more batters than necessary in an inning, then of course it increases the odds of giving up more hits and walks per inning thus increasing his WHIP. There needs to be an adjusted WHIP that factors in errors so that it truly reflects a pitchers ability.