Worst WHIP for pitcher with at least .750 W-L%
Posted by Andy on November 1, 2007
It's 25 years later, and the AL Cy Young voting for 1982 still bothers me. Rob Neyer once told me that he considers that vote to be the worst Cy Young vote ever, i.e. Pete Vukovich to be the least deserving winner.
Just how bad was that season?
Well here are all pitching seasons since 1901 with at least 200 innings pitched and a winning percentage of .750 or better, ranked by highest WHIP:
Cnt Player **WHIP** W-L% IP Year Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO GF W L SV H R ER BB SO ERA ERA+ HR BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Pit Str +----+-----------------+---------+-----+-----+----+---+---+--+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+ 1 Pete Vuckovich 1.502 .750 223.2 1982 29 MIL AL 30 30 9 1 0 18 6 0 234 96 83 102 105 3.34 114 14 971 851 38 7 1 5 9 4 23 32 16 3 0 6 .275 .354 .385 .739 108 2 Juan Guzman 1.452 .824 221 1993 26 TOR AL 33 33 2 1 0 14 3 0 211 107 98 110 194 3.99 109 17 963 836 35 1 2 3 5 9 10 25 17 2 1 26 .252 .338 .358 .696 87 3 Jack Kramer 1.449 .783 205 1948 30 BOS AL 29 29 14 2 0 18 5 0 233 104 99 64 72 4.35 101 12 891 0 0 3 0 4 Whitey Ford 1.435 .750 207 1953 24 NYY AL 32 30 11 3 2 18 6 0 187 77 69 110 110 3.00 124 13 882 4 0 3 0 5 George Earnshaw 1.406 .750 254.2 1929 29 PHA AL 44 33 13 3 5 24 8 1 233 110 93 125 149 3.29 129 8 1115 5 0 8 0 6 Lefty Gomez 1.398 .774 265.1 1932 23 NYY AL 37 31 21 1 3 24 7 1 266 140 124 105 176 4.21 97 23 1149 2 0 0 0 7 Ellis Kinder 1.389 .793 252 1949 34 BOS AL 43 30 19 6 10 23 6 4 251 103 94 99 138 3.36 130 21 1085 2 0 1 0 8 Tom Glavine 1.362 .786 239.1 1993 27 ATL NL 36 36 4 2 0 22 6 0 236 91 85 90 120 3.20 127 16 1014 910 50 4 7 2 10 2 25 9 5 1 0 4 .259 .327 .376 .703 92 9 Larry Christenson 1.359 .760 219.1 1977 23 PHI NL 34 34 5 1 0 19 6 0 229 113 99 69 118 4.06 99 21 945 856 52 7 1 7 5 8 18 14 8 1 6 7 .268 .324 .418 .742 100 10 Charley Root 1.357 .760 272 1929 30 CHC NL 43 31 19 4 9 19 6 5 286 120 105 83 124 3.47 133 12 1158 3 0 1 0 11 Alvin Crowder 1.348 .808 244 1928 29 SLB AL 41 31 19 1 6 21 5 2 238 113 100 91 99 3.69 114 11 1069 1 0 1 0 12 Mel Parnell 1.327 .781 295.1 1949 27 BOS AL 39 33 27 4 5 25 7 2 258 102 91 134 122 2.77 157 8 1240 5 0 9 0 13 Red Ruffing 1.326 .750 247.1 1938 33 NYY AL 31 31 22 3 0 21 7 0 246 104 91 82 127 3.31 137 16 1043 0 1 1 0 14 Bruce Hurst 1.325 .750 216.2 1988 30 BOS AL 33 32 7 1 0 18 6 0 222 98 88 65 166 3.66 113 21 922 842 40 1 1 2 8 5 15 14 4 4 3 5 .264 .316 .388 .704 92 15 Lefty Grove 1.318 .750 275.1 1933 33 PHA AL 45 28 21 2 16 24 8 6 280 113 98 83 114 3.20 134 12 1173 4 0 1 0 16 Russ Ortiz 1.314 .750 212.1 2003 29 ATL NL 34 34 1 1 0 21 7 0 177 101 90 102 149 3.81 112 17 912 793 41 3 7 4 6 7 9 22 5 2 0 5 .223 .312 .347 .659 76 3569 2104 17 Richard Dotson 1.313 .759 240 1983 24 CHW AL 35 35 8 1 0 22 7 0 209 92 86 106 137 3.23 130 19 997 872 34 3 1 8 4 7 33 29 5 2 0 7 .240 .325 .351 .676 83 18 Red Munger 1.311 .762 224.1 1947 28 STL NL 40 31 13 6 6 16 5 3 218 94 84 76 123 3.37 123 12 936 2 0 4 0 19 Brad Penny 1.308 .800 208 2007 29 LAD NL 33 33 0 0 0 16 4 0 199 75 70 73 135 3.03 151 9 865 765 47 1 2 5 13 9 29 14 5 0 0 6 .260 .325 .359 .684 78 3232 2084 20 Chien-Ming Wang 1.307 .760 218 2006 26 NYY AL 34 33 2 1 1 19 6 1 233 92 88 52 76 3.63 124 12 900 841 44 1 4 2 3 2 33 9 11 1 1 6 .277 .320 .375 .695 79 3055 1920
Yeah, so Vukovich's 1982 ranks as the worst of all time (well, since 1901) in this regard. We see a lot of old seasons on here, but for the most part I think we also see over-rated pitchers on this list. Juan Guzman (#2) is a prime example of a guy who was fairly lucky in having such a winning season, and parlayed it into a big contract, and never had anywhere close to the same success. Russ Ortiz in 2003 (#16) is another example. He had a good career up to that point, but played way over his head that year, then fell off a cliff. (Later he became the highest-paid player ever to be released outright.)
Mind you, we see other names here like Whitey Ford, Left Gomez, and Red Ruffing who are not over-rated.
#20 is interesting, huh? When Wang won 19 in his first full season last year, the rest of his stats didn't seem to back it up very well. His low strikeout rate, even for a ground-ball pitcher, was alarming. I predicted a much poorer 2007, but in fact he had a very similar season. I'm not sure his numbers bode well for a long & productive career, though. That trade we've heard about of packaging Wang with a few others for Santana might not be such a bad deal for the Yankees.
November 1st, 2007 at 8:06 am
I didn't even mention Rich Dotson's 1983 (#17)...geez.
November 1st, 2007 at 8:39 am
It shouldn't have gone to Vukovich, but I can't quite decide who I would have voted for. Dan Quisenbery?
In 2006, Wang was 2nd in the AL CY voting, right? Looks like Brad Penny (right above him at #19) place similarly this year for the NL.
November 1st, 2007 at 8:50 am
I'm still baffled as to why people who pay these athletes millions upon millions of dollars use arbitrary measurements such as wins to evaluate performance. There are so many external factors that determine who gets the W. It can go to a middle reliever who records an out or two. It can go to a closer who blows a save. It can even go to Tim Wakefield when his opponents score 7 or 8 runs. Bah!
OK, enough preaching to the choir.
November 1st, 2007 at 10:00 am
I definitely agree that Wins is a pretty arbitrary statistic, especially since it depends so much on what your own team's offense does against the other team's pitchers, something that a given pitcher has virtually no control over (and truly no control in the A.L.) Certainly there is no real statistical difference between 19 and 20 wins, and I'd take a guy with 6 19-win seasons over a guy with 4 20-win seasons any day of the week, all else being equal.
November 1st, 2007 at 10:37 am
Guzman really stands out as he has the best winning % posted and his ERA+ was fairly mediocre.
Most of these pitchers posted respectable ERA+ so I would argue that these won-loss records do not necessarily belie a mediocre season, just one of inefficiency.
However, a tendency of being inefficient would most likely manifest itself in won-loss record and ERA+ over the course of a career (note that no pitcher appears twice). In this regard, I'm surprised at how many HOFers (potentially 5) are listed.
November 1st, 2007 at 10:59 am
Along the same lines, here's the Cy Young winners with the lowest ERA+:
1. Jim Lonborg, '67 AL: 111
2. Pete Vuckovich, '82 AL: 114
3. La Marr Hoyt, '83 AL: 115 (though his WHIP was 1.02)
4. Whitey Ford, '61: 117
5-t. Bob Turley, '58: 119
5-t. Early Wynn, '59: 119
5-t. Steve Carlton, '82 NL: 119
8-t. Bartolo Colon, '05 AL: 122
8-t. Vern Law, '60: 122
9 of the 10 aforementioned won at least 20 games. Guess which one didn't ...
November 1st, 2007 at 11:00 am
Whoops, forget to list:
10. Steve Stone, '80 AL: 123 (also won +20 games)
November 1st, 2007 at 11:02 am
Vuckovich had Fydrich-style charisma. That might have helped. Winning the pennant for a personality-rich team also helped. Vukovich by the way had 105 Ks and 102 walks that year. Those strike out numbers are surprising for a 6'4" 220 lb guy. His numbers are more like knuckleball numbers.
Stieb should have won the award hands down. He was the only AL pitcher that year to finish in the top ten in ERA, Wins, WHIP *and* Ks. On top of that, he lead the league with 5 Shut Outs. AND HE did all that with a last place team!!
But in the end, one can make the argument that the purpose of a pitcher is to keep his team in the game, and give his team a chance to win. In his losses that year, Vuckovich gave up 3 ERs or less three out of six times. In his no decisions he gave up 3 ERs or less 4 out of 6 times. In his wins, he gave up 3 ERs or less 14 out of 18 times. That's 21 out of 30 total times he gave up 3 ERs or less. So he should have gotten some votes. But three times more first place votes than anyone else? That's a crime.
November 1st, 2007 at 11:08 am
3 ER isn't necessarily a great barometer for 1982, but your point is still a good one.
November 1st, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Those late '40s Red Sox could hit a little, huh?
November 1st, 2007 at 1:57 pm
I think that's being a little hard on Guzman. Certainly he was lucky with his W-L record in '93, but he had a few seasons in which he was legitimately very good. I think injuries just caught up to him, as even in his good seasons he didn't make 35 starts. He never became a free agent until several years later.
There's no "WHIP+" stat, but one should adjust some of these numbers mentally. The WHIPs for Kinder, Parnell, and Ford, for example, aren't really that bad in context. The AL of that period featured tons of walks, for whatever reasons. In 1950, Kinder's WHIP was even higher than the one listed above, but was still 8th best in the league. Similarly, for Grove and Ruffing in the '30s, there was just a lot of offense at that time.
Glavine is a guy who's never been afraid to walk someone if he thinks he has a better matchup. I'm pretty sure his ERA has consistently been better than his component stats would suggest throughout his career.
November 1st, 2007 at 2:33 pm
To make Vuckovich's award more dramatic in this regard (huge WHIP + huge PCT), *NOT A SINGLE* pitcher on that list won the Cy Young. The closest was Wang who got 2nd in the voting in 2006.
Guzman in 1993 was 7th in Cy Young. Ford in 1953 was 20th in MVP. Gomez in 1932 was 5th in MVP. Kinder in 1949 was 5th in MVP. Glavine in 1993 was 3rd in Cy Young and 24th in MVP. Parnell in 1949 was 4th in MVP. Ruffing in 1938 was 4th in MVP. Hurst in 1988 was 5th in Cy Young and 14th in MVP. Grove in 1933 was 5th in MVP. Ortiz in 2003 was 4th in Cy Young and 27th in MVP. Dotson in 1983 was 4th in Cy Young and 20th in MVP. Wang in 2006 was 2nd in Cy Young and 26th in MVP.
Brad Penny's 2007 results are pending, but I am sure he'll get some votes, but no trophy.
Oh yeah, and just to complete the list, Vuckovich in 1982 was 18th in MVP.
November 1st, 2007 at 3:16 pm
^^^^^ what I meant to say was, not a single pitcher on that list *besides* Vuchovich. 😉
November 1st, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Wang's stuff had been researched by many sabermetricians from 2005. Bill James believes a pitcher with low SO/9 can't survive in MLB too long, and we saw Wang is trying to against Bill's theory. His high WHIP comes from too many hits allowed; however, low BB/9, low SLG and a lot of GIDPs curbed the damage, so his ERAs in these years are not too bad. I recognize the critics of his low SO/9 will be a problem for his future career life. Even though Ron Guidry tried to help him improve it(3.13(2006)->4.69(2007)), but that may not be enough. This disadvantage totally revealed in this postseason, and I think many people saw it. Actually, he used slider and changeup a lot in this season, so you can see the percentage of his power sinker decreased in this season. That may be a possible reason of his K/9's raise, but it's somehow a kind of trade off because his power sinker is not as powerful as what he pitched in 2006. I think it will be interesting to see what he will pitch in 2008. Another thing is about his trade rumor. If Twins' GM used to see Wang's scouting report, he should recognize Wang didn't pitch well on turf. The difference of his numbers between turf and grass is too significant. I guess he will become another Westbrook-like pitcher if he is trades to Twins.