SP Not Allowing Many BB & XBH

Posted by Steve Lombardi on August 23, 2010

Using Play Index, I was looking for starting pitchers, post Dead Ball Era, who excelled in a given season at keeping the ball from going over the fence or for extra base hits, period, while also not allowing many free passes.

So, I set the filters in Pitching Season Finder for:
From 1920 to 2010,
Seasons with at least 162 IP, and
Requiring 2B<=20, 3B<=10, BB per 9 IP<=3, HR<.05*IP

And, this is what I found: For single seasons, From 1920 to 2010, (requiring 2B<=20, 3B<=10, BBp9<=3, HR<.05*IP and At least 162 Innings Pitched), sorted by greatest Adjusted ERA+

Rk	Player	ERA+	2B	3B	BB/9	HR	IP	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	GS	CG	SHO	GF	W	L	W-L%	SV	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA	BF	AB	IBB	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	PO	BK	WP	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
1	Dean Chance	198	20	4	2.78	7	278.1	1964	23	LAA	AL	46	35	15	11	7	20	9	.690	4	194	56	51	86	207	1.65	1093	994	9	2	9	2	31	8	4	0	0	9	.195	.260	.244	.505	53
2	Phil Niekro	179	20	2	2.39	9	207.0	1967	28	ATL	NL	46	20	10	1	20	11	9	.550	9	164	64	43	55	129	1.87	827	752	3	7	6	6	21	21	6	3	1	19	.218	.276	.286	.562	63
3	Bill Swift	159	19	4	2.35	6	164.2	1992	30	SFG	NL	30	22	3	2	2	10	4	.714	1	144	41	38	43	77	2.08	655	602	3	3	5	2	26	5	4	0	1	0	.239	.292	.314	.606	82
4	Al Fitzmorris	136	19	5	2.98	8	190.0	1974	28	KCR	AL	34	27	9	4	1	13	6	.684	1	189	73	59	63	53	2.79	806	728	10	0	12	4	18	13	2	1	0	10	.260	.317	.332	.649	82
5	Ken Forsch	133	20	2	2.53	8	188.1	1971	24	HOU	NL	33	23	7	2	4	8	8	.500	0	162	60	53	53	131	2.53	771	704	5	4	8	2	17	14	5	0	0	8	.230	.287	.298	.585	67
6	Alejandro Pena	131	13	2	2.59	7	177.0	1983	24	LAD	NL	34	26	4	3	4	12	9	.571	1	152	67	54	51	120	2.75	730	663	7	1	8	5	12	20	6	3	1	2	.229	.283	.287	.570	64
7	Ray Washburn	129	18	8	1.96	9	215.1	1968	30	STL	NL	31	30	8	4	1	14	8	.636	0	191	67	54	47	124	2.26	861	798	7	1	12	3	21	7	7	1	0	3	.239	.282	.316	.597	86
8	Don Drysdale	128	14	2	2.11	11	239.0	1968	31	LAD	NL	31	31	12	8	0	14	12	.538	0	201	68	57	56	155	2.15	954	871	10	12	6	9	16	9	10	7	0	4	.231	.284	.289	.573	79
9	Dock Ellis	125	17	5	1.82	6	163.1	1972	27	PIT	NL	25	25	4	1	0	15	7	.682	0	156	60	49	33	96	2.70	663	616	4	3	5	5	20	10	1	0	0	2	.253	.292	.326	.619	82
10	Lew Burdette	122	18	4	2.88	7	175.0	1953	26	MLN	NL	46	13	6	1	24	15	5	.750	8	177	73	63	56	58	3.24	741	670		5	9	0	19	3	3	0	0	1	.264	.326	.334	.660	67
11	Paul Hartzell	120	19	1	2.33	6	166.0	1976	22	CAL	AL	37	15	7	2	14	7	4	.636	2	166	64	51	43	51	2.77	692	624	5	10	9	6	25	15	6	1	0	3	.266	.321	.329	.649	96
12	Bill Singer	117	17	5	2.69	5	204.1	1967	23	LAD	NL	32	29	7	3	1	12	8	.600	0	185	68	60	61	169	2.64	854	773	11	8	7	4	10	9	5	8	3	10	.239	.300	.294	.594	84
13	Dock Ellis	116	12	4	2.58	7	192.0	1973	28	PIT	NL	28	28	3	1	0	12	14	.462	0	176	86	65	55	122	3.05	803	732	7	6	6	4	13	17	3	0	1	3	.240	.297	.296	.594	72
14	Steve Trout	114	20	4	2.79	7	190.0	1984	26	CHC	NL	32	31	6	2	1	13	7	.650	0	205	80	72	59	81	3.41	797	719	7	2	13	4	33	8	15	1	2	7	.285	.339	.353	.693	94

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/23/2010.

As you can see, Bill Swift in 1992 was the last pitcher to make all these grades. And, Doc Ellis was the only pitcher since 1920 to do this in back-to-back seasons (1972-1973).

Further, what's even more strange is that "it" didn't happen once from 1920 through 1952.

Other odd items: Dean Chance (1964) was the only 20 game winner to do "this." And, Ellis (in 1973) was the only pitcher to do "it" and post a losing record that season.

In any event, when you look at Bill Swift's career, you see that he was an incredibly effective pitcher from 1990 through 1995. It's too bad that his shoulder gave out on him. Perhaps all those innings that he threw in his near Cy Young Award season (1993) did him in? And, you have to wonder, if he had stayed in the bullpen, instead of switching back to starting, in 1992, if his career and effectiveness would have lasted longer?

This entry was posted on Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 7:57 pm and is filed under Season Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

4 Responses to “SP Not Allowing Many BB & XBH”

Johnny Twisto Says:
August 23rd, 2010 at 8:00 pm
This is really since 1950, since without play-by-play we don't have 2B and 3B given up by individual pitchers.
Steve Lombardi Says:
August 23rd, 2010 at 9:19 pm
Ah, that explains the "it" didn't happen once from 1920 through 1952 part. Mea culpa!
Johnny Twisto Says:
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:44 pm
I remembered Swift's '93 season and that he was effective in some surrounding seasons, but I didn't recall just how good he was. He narrowly edged Clemens for the best ERA+ for 1990-1993, min 500 IP.
LJF Says:
August 24th, 2010 at 8:32 am
Four thoughts.

(1) Is anyone else surprised to see Drysdale on this list? Maybe not because it was 1968 and there were two from that year and two more from '67. Still, that was the name that caught my attention.

(2) Notice that Bill Swifts big years as a starter were when he went to SF and (I assume) learned the "splitter" from Roger Craig. Seems a lot of SF pitchers did really well early under Craig, then developed arm trouble.

(3) Only Drysdale and Chance pitched significantly more than 200 innings. I wonder if the search parameters were set diffently (SLG against instead of the 2B and 3B criteria) what we would see? I suspect there might be some pitchers whose doubles allowed (for example) were just above the threshold, but who may have pitched 250 innings. That seems more impressive than Bill Swift, who is just under the 2B limit (19) and brushing the bottom of the IP limit (164).

(4) Wonderful to see a Steve Trout reference. A pitcher made for Wrigley Field.

« Phillies fans beware

Rich Harden gets pulled mid-no-hitter »