At the nominal half-way point of Commissioner Rob Manfred’s inaugural
MLB season, 1,330 games have been completed, leaving an even 1,100 to be
played. (Was his predecessor’s scheduling ever so accommodating?)
All those games were started by 261 different pitchers, an
average of just over five games per player. Slightly more than 50 percent of
them (136) have been entrusted with 10 or more games. Over half of MLB’s 2015 starting pitching
assignments have been filled by a group of 80 “full-timers” who’ve each logged
a minimum of 17 starts. (Some of the names on that list might surprise you, say
a “breaking down” CC Sabathia or a relative novice like Nathan Eovaldi, both
mainstays in the Yankee rotation.)
An average of 8.7 starting pitchers per team has been
utilized. Sixteen teams have trotted out either eight or nine different guys;
another eight teams, topped by the Dodgers at 12, are in double-digits. San
Diego’s trudged along for 90 games with a mere six starting pitchers –
including the injury-prone Brandon Morrow who has not pitched since early May.
Relief pitchers have been the pitcher-of-record for slightly
less than 30 percent of all winning/losing decisions this season. The Cub and
Dodger bullpen crews each account for 40+ percent of their teams’ total decisions
as well as of their winning decisions. On the other end of the spectrum, the
Cleveland Indian relief specialists sport a collective 7-5 record after 88
contests.
Such volume of bullpen work shouldn’t surprise, given that
complete games in today’s MLB are about as common as rotary phone dials –
exactly 2.03 percent were your odds of seeing a CG during the season’s first 99
days. Far more likely, though, would have been a good strong seven-inning
outing – there have been 816 of them in 2015, roughly as often as a bullpen
decision.
The Indians, White Sox and Mets boast a “long start” rate above 40
percent. The dreadful Phillies have but 15 such performances to their credit,
of which eleven belong to the soon-to-dealt (?) Cole Hamels. Oddly, the only
other staff below 20 percent in LS’s … the defending American League champion
and division-leading Kansas City Royals. (The Royals also rank in the bottom
tier in bullpen decisions at just about one-fourth.)
Zach Greinke of the Dodgers and Houston phenom Dallas
Keuchel started the All-Star Game. Max Scherzer has replaced Clayton Kershaw as
the game’s best regular-season starter. Felix remains a King. And Bartolo
Colon, like Ol’ Man River, just keeps rollin’ along.
There are also, currently, nine Iron Men – full-time
starters with a 60+ percent rate for LS’s.
Scherzer 18
starts (14 long, 79%), 3 CG’s, 1 No-Decision, 2.278 (No. 2)*
Jeff Samardzija
18 starts (13 long, 72%), 1 CG, 8 No-Decisions, 1.667 (No. 13)*
Johnny Cueto 17 starts (12 long, 71%), 1 CG, 5
No-Decisions, 1.706 (No. 12)*
Chris Sale 17 starts (11 long, 65%), 1 CG, 5
No-Decisions, 1.942 (No. 7)*
Keuchel 19
starts (12 long, 63%), 3 CG’s, 4 No-Decisions, 2.316 (No. 1)*
Corey Kluber 19 starts (12 long, 63%), 1 CG, 5
No-Decisions, 1.158 (No. 76)*
Hamels 18 starts (11 long, 61%), 0 CG’s, 6
No-Decisions, 1.333 (No. 44)*
Felix Hernandez 18 starts (11 long, 61%), 2 CG’s, 2
No-Decisions, 2.111 (No. 5)*
John Lackey 18
starts (11 long, 61%), 1 CG, 6 No-Decisions, 1.555 (No. 16)*
*This score and
ranking combines outcome and endurance. Here’s the idea.
And as for Senor Colon, his 17 starts continue to qualify
him as a full-timer despite the Mets’ flirtation of late with a six-man
rotation. He has failed to earn the decision only once, a feat matched by only
three other pitchers with 10 or more starts.
The dubious distinction of notching the most No-Decision
starts, with 10, belongs to the Diamondbacks’ Chase Anderson, not to be
confused with the Dodgers’ Brett who has only eight ND’s … you might say he’s
in the chase.
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