Brayan Villarreal gets a hold without throwing a pitch
Posted by Andy on April 15, 2011
(Thanks to our friend Marcos Grunfeld for sending along this great find.)
The other day, Brayan Villarreal of the Tigers became the first pitcher (at least as far back as we have pitch data, which is the late 1980s) to record a hold in a game without throwing a pitch. He relieved Brad Penny and picked Julio Borbon off first base.
When this blog first starter, Sean posted a list of pitchers to record a save without an official batter faced. That includes a save by Mitch Williams where he didn't even throw a pitch but rather came in and immediately picked a runner off to end the game.
In the Baseball-Reference.com database we can find 31 games where a pitcher got a hold without officially facing a batter. As far as I can tell, all of these games involve an out on the basepaths--either a pickoff, a caught stealing, or a runner throw out trying to advance (presumably on a wild pitch or passed ball).
Sean's list of saves recorded without facing a batter now includes 16 games thanks to a few added prior to 1957.
Overall we can find 251 games since 1919 where a pitcher recorded at least 1 out without ever facing an official batter in the game. This list includes all of the holds and saves referenced above as well as a whole bunch of others.
Just in case this is confusing to anybody, a pitcher doesn't get credit for a batter faced until the plate appearance is over. So a pitcher can, for example, go to a 3-and-2 count on a batter, then pick off a runner, and (if the pickoff was the 3rd out) the plate appearance is essentially thrown out. The batter comes to bat again next inning with a fresh set of balls and strikes and the pitcher doesn't get credit for a batter faced (unless he's still the pitcher when the next inning starts and he completes a new plate appearance against that batter.) Â Another way it can happen is if a pitcher is relieved in the middle of a plate appearance--the reliever gets credit for the batter faced.
April 15th, 2011 at 9:08 am
Whoever came up with the 'Hold' stat should be egged and given a wedgie.
April 15th, 2011 at 11:09 am
This isn't particular to holds and saves. There are several wins on that list of 251 that Andy posted.
April 15th, 2011 at 11:26 am
The Hold may not be a good stat (and I believe it is not an official MLB stat), but the performances that earn a Hold, as a group, are excellent -- probably better than those that earn a Save.
Here are the combined stats for the 177 Holds earned so far this year:
-- 1.53 ERA in 146.2 IP (and just 2 unearned runs)
-- 0.95 WHIP (90 Hits, 49 walks)
-- 0.49 HR/9
-- 91% strand rate (9 of 87 inherited runners scored)
A Hold can be a cheapie when it's just 1 or 2 outs.
What if we limit the sample to the 106 Holds of at least 1 inning?
-- 1.10 ERA in 114.2 IP
-- 0.77 WHIP
-- 0.31 HR/9
-- 88% strand rate (3 of 22 inherited runners scored
April 15th, 2011 at 11:35 am
Just to follow up (@3), I was wrong about performance in Holds being better than in Saves. Here's the combined pitching line for the 92 Saves this year:
--1.29 ERA in 91 IP
-- 0.86 WHIP (56 Hits, 22 Walks)
-- 0.50 HR/9
-- 92% Strand rate
April 15th, 2011 at 11:57 am
Dang -- There are no 0-BF losses or blown saves! (in the game-searchable era)
I thought surely we'd have one due to a balk or a wild pickoff throw.
April 15th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
@5
We've had a balk-off in the past year or two. I guess that wasn't the reliever's first batter.
Its rare that a pitcher would get pulled after an event like that because its the same batter/pitcher matchup.
April 15th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
Mitch Williams had another 0-BF Save (9/11/89) on a pickoff, but he did throw one pitch in that game. The runner picked off was Jeff Huson, who had just come in to pinch-run at first base, with a man on second representing the tying run. (Now, there's a guy who deserves an atomic wedgie.)
There are 3 other "repeaters" on the list of 0 BF / 0.1 IP:
-- Eric Plunk had 2 such games in a 5-day span in 1990, including a 0-pitch game.
-- Bill Henry had games in 1959 and '63; in the latter, Maury Wills was caught stealing home with #3 hitter Willie Davis at bat and a 2-1 count.
-- Andy Karl had 2 such games a month apart in 1944, both against the Cardinals. No play-by-play for those games, alas.
BTW, Andy Karl in 1945 was just about the only good pitcher on an awful Phillies staff that went 46-108. He led the majors with 15 saves, and set a MLB record of 167 IP in relief, which stood until Mike Marshall in '73. Karl had a 2.99 ERA in 181 IP (he also started 2 games), and with an 8-8 record he tied Dick Barrett for the team lead in wins (Barrett was 8-20).
April 15th, 2011 at 1:19 pm
JA @5
Unless I might be missing something, but I don't see how a pitcher could receive a loss with 0 BF since the loss is charged to the pitcher who put the go ahead run on base.
As DavidRF pointed out @6 the 0 BF BS would be unlikely because the pitcher would have to enter with the lead, give up the lead and exit the game without being credited with a BF. A pickoff throwing error would be insufficient unless it allowed 2 runners to score because the pitcher can't be removed without facing a batter. There are a few scenarios:
1) the aforementioned throwing error allowing two runs to score and ending the game immediately
2) throwing error on a pickoff attempt that allowed the tying run to score, but also resulting in an inning ending out (allowing the pitcher to be removed because of the changed circumstances)
3) same as 2, but the pitcher is injured instead of the out
4) if the pitcher were to enter in the middle of an at bat such and the result of that at bat were not charged to him there are a variety of scenarios that could result in a blown save and a permitted removal (though I am unsure to whom a blown save would be charged in the case of a pitcher entering with a one-run lead, a 3-0 count and the bases loaded who subsequently walks the batter).
I'm sure I am missing some scenarios here.
April 15th, 2011 at 1:58 pm
The list of guys to get a save without facing a batter includes
Dave Baldwin 1968-04-27
He never actually appeared in the game and Sean said he would check Retrosheet to see what was going on but there is no more info on this.
Here is what Retrosheet has on that game
"INDIANS 8TH: STROUD STAYED IN GAME (PLAYING LF); Davalillo lined
to third; WAGNER BATTED FOR HARPER; Wagner grounded out (pitcher
to first); SMITH BATTED FOR BROWN; Smith walked; NELSON RAN FOR
SMITH; MAYE BATTED FOR GRAMLY; Maye singled to right [Nelson to
third]; BALDWIN REPLACED PASCUAL (PITCHING);; Game called on
account of rain; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 2 LOB. Indians 1, Senators 2."
It does not give Baldwin a save in the box score. He is credited with 5 saves that year and his daily list shows that he got at least one out in all of them
April 15th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
The box score does show Baldwin's name, though
April 15th, 2011 at 4:04 pm
@8, Evan -- You are right, of course -- can't get a loss without facing at least 1 batter.
As for the BS scenario, though, I don't see why he has to leave the game. If a pitcher comes into the bottom of the 9th with a 1-run lead and at least 2 runners on base, I can imagine one or more wild pitches, errant pickoffs or balks that would score both runs, lose the game, and saddle that pitcher with a BS without officially a batter.
April 15th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
John @11,
"BS scenario" seems very appropriate for this. But of course that is correct. The pitcher needs to either allow 2 runs to score and have it end the game without recording a BF or allow one run to score without facing a BF and find a way to be legally removed from the game. The multiple WPs or errant pickoff attempts seemed a bit further out there than some of the one run and exit scenarios but looking back at them, maybe not.
Probably your best bet is some scenario where runners are on 2nd and 3rd with a one run lead and an errant attempt to pick one of them off deflects in such a manner as to allow both runs to score. Intuitively and evidently these scenarios are very unlikely.
April 15th, 2011 at 7:21 pm
@1
Sean, not sure if you're kidding or serious but the validity of the hold stat isn't cheapened by an abberation like Villarreal's game.
Compare it to a one-pitch save, especially a one-pitch GIDP for the saving pitcher.
Middle relief is a difficult area to quantify, as has been well documented in many places.
April 15th, 2011 at 7:45 pm
Something like this happened in the 1954 All Star game. Dean Stone of the Washington Senators came into the game with runners on 1st and 3rd and two out in the top of the 8th. (The game was in Cleveland, an AL ballpark.) The score was 9-8 in favor of the NL. Red Schoendienst was the runner on 3rd. He was thrown out trying to steal home while the next batter was at the plate, thus ending the inning.
In the bottom of the 8th, Larry Doby, pinch hitting for Stone, hit a home run to tie the score at 9 all. The AL then scored two more runs in that inning, to take the lead and to close out the scoring in that game. The final was 11-9.
Stone was thus the winning pitcher without facing a batter. Duke Snider was at the plate at the time of the Schoendienst caught stealing play, and he led off the 9th, this time facing Virgil Trucks.
I wonder how many pitchers wearing the Washington major league team's uniform have won an All Star Game. Matt Capps of the Nationals won last year's game and got traded to an AL team (the Minnesota Twins, the same franchise for which Stone played in 1954) less than a month later. In both 1954 and 2010, the All Star Game was played on Tuesday, July 13.
April 15th, 2011 at 7:48 pm
@3-5
JA, immaculate research, as usual. When I retire, I aspire to your attention to detail about the game of baseball.
April 15th, 2011 at 7:50 pm
I think that if a pitcher is removed with a count of 3-0, and the reliever finishes the walk, it's charged to the pitcher who was in when the at-bat began. I can see this type of replacement happening for any number of reasons - manager has seen enough, pitcher is injured, and, of course, pitcher is tossed for arguing ball calls.
I think the same is true if a batter is removed with a count of 0-2, and the pinch hitter finishes the at-bat. I don't know if a manager would remove the batter because the manager has seen enough, but I have seen batters injured (Lenny Dykstra swung hard once in such an at-bat and aggravated a shoulder injury) and, of course, ejected for arguing called strikes in such instances.
I don't know what happens with other counts - for instance, if either party is injured or ejected when the count is 1-1, an argument can be made either way.
April 16th, 2011 at 8:16 am
MLB rule 10.16 (h)
(1) If, when pitchers are changed, the count is
2 balls, no strike,
2 balls, 1 strike,
3 balls, no strike,
3 balls, 1 strike,
3 balls, 2 strikes,
and the batter gets a base on balls, the official scorer shall charge that batter
and the base on balls to the preceding pitcher, not to the relief pitcher.
(2) Any other action by such batter, such as reaching base on a hit, an error, a
fielder’s choice, a force-out, or being touched by a pitched ball, shall cause
such a batter to be charged to the relief pitcher.
(3) If, when pitchers are changed, the count is
2 balls, 2 strikes,
1 ball, 2 strikes,
1 ball, 1 strike,
1 ball, no strike,
no ball, 2 strikes,
no ball, 1 strike,
the official scorer shall charge that batter and the actions of that batter to the
relief pitcher.
It is interesting that if you come in with a 3-0 count, obviously a hitters count, and challenge him and he gets a hit, he is now your responsibility (for ERA and such), but if you just decide to throw ball 4, then he is not your responsibility.
April 16th, 2011 at 8:54 am
And for batter substitutions we have 10.15
(b) When a batter leaves the game with two strikes against him, and the substitute batter completes a strikeout, the official scorer shall charge the strikeout and the time at bat to the first batter. If the substitute batter completes the turn at bat in any other manner, including a base on balls, the official scorer shall score the action as having been that of the substitute batter.
April 23rd, 2011 at 3:34 pm
@ # 13... a little of both, Neil.
Middle relief IS hard to quantify--------but rather than come up with a very dubious stat like 'Hold", I'd just rather look at inherited baserunners and WHIP when looking at relievers because even ERA is misleading.
April 23rd, 2011 at 7:13 pm
@ #13...
Also, because it's not an official MLB stat, it is defined a number of ways---and the SportsTicker way is absolutely ridiculous (you don't even need to record an out).
The Hold gives you a CLUE about a performance by establishing a limit to how bad a job the pitcher did, e.g., you can't lose the lead--------but beyond that it doesn't really indicate a 'good' performance. If you were told that your blind date wasn't 500 lbs------but nothing more-------you know what the ceiling is on the possibility of morbid obesity, but things could still be quite disasterous. Like she's 499 lbs with 3 eyes...and a handle bar moustache.
Stats like saves and wins can also be deceiving to a degree with regards to the quality of a performance--------but there is finality in those stats, e.g., the TEAM has to WIN for you to be credited. You could get a 'hold' in a team LOSS. You could pitch HORRIDLY in a TEAM loss------and get a 'hold'.
Really. Where's the meaning? There's very little indicated by a hold.
If holds were broken down into situational splits-----how many on (and where) and how many out, etc., then it becomes more useful..... but if you let me know about inherited baserunners stranded VS those allowed to score and the WHIP of the reliever---------> that really defines the performance of a reliever to me. No need for 'hold' stats. JMO.