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Bad pitchers who raked

Posted by Andy on June 20, 2011

There have been 98 pitchers since 1901 to amass 1000 innings with an ERA+ of 92 or worse. To right away contradict the title of this post, most of these guys were not bad pitchers, but merely a little below average and good enough to stay in the league for a while.

Turning to the offensive side, though, some of them could really hit. Here are the top career OPS+ figures among these guys:

Rk Player OPS+ From To G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS Tm
1 Bill Krueger 132 1983 1995 301 18 15 1 6 1 0 0 0 0 5 .400 .400 .467 .867 OAK-LAD-MIL-SEA-MIN-MON-DET-SDP
2 Matt Keough 99 1977 1986 217 18 18 1 6 1 0 0 0 0 4 .333 .333 .389 .722 OAK-NYY-STL-TOT
3 Frank Kitson 74 1901 1907 233 685 649 73 149 15 12 4 55 22 124 .230 .260 .308 .569 BRO-DET-WSH-TOT
4 Harry McIntire 68 1905 1913 257 665 615 54 134 23 6 2 40 29 109 .218 .258 .285 .542 BRO-CHC-CIN
5 Carl Scheib 66 1943 1954 327 493 468 51 117 14 6 5 59 21 59 .250 .284 .338 .621 PHA-TOT
6 Patsy Flaherty 64 1903 1911 224 642 591 50 117 18 12 6 64 36 128 .198 .245 .299 .545 CHW-TOT-PIT-BSN-PHI
7 Benny Frey 62 1929 1936 260 426 385 33 98 9 3 0 23 26 67 .255 .305 .294 .599 TOT-CIN
8 Blue Moon Odom 61 1964 1976 402 447 405 76 79 9 2 12 31 19 163 .195 .235 .316 .551 KCA-OAK-TOT-CHW
9 Joe Bowman 55 1932 1945 430 701 639 62 141 24 8 2 75 46 90 .221 .275 .293 .568 PHA-NYG-PHI-PIT-BOS-TOT
10 Randy Lerch 52 1975 1986 262 300 267 27 55 12 1 4 23 19 44 .206 .257 .303 .560 PHI-MIL-MON-TOT-SFG
11 Fred Heimach 50 1920 1933 370 586 542 58 128 15 5 3 49 28 98 .236 .274 .299 .573 PHA-TOT-NYY-BRO
12 Elmer Myers 50 1915 1922 194 436 412 37 93 12 4 0 37 13 65 .226 .249 .274 .524 PHA-CLE-TOT-BOS
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/19/2011.

Krueger and Keough both deserve an asterisk since they had so few plate appearances, but there are some pretty impressive numbers on this list otherwise. How about Joe Bowman, who walked more than half as often as he struck out? or Blue Moon Odom, who hit 12 homers in the equivalent of about 2/3rds of a season?Or Patsy Flaherty, who has 36 extra-base hits in about a full season equivalent?

Nice stuff.

 

Related posts:

    Pitchers who raked

This entry was posted on Monday, June 20th, 2011 at 7:52 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

20 Responses to “Bad pitchers who raked”

  1. Benjamin Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 8:32 am

    Micah Owings, this is your future...

  2. swl777 Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 9:23 am

    Why isn't Micah Owings on this list. Dontrelle Willis and Zambrano might end up qualifying as well. Does Ankiel count?

  3. Anon Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 9:42 am

    Owings doesn't have 1000 IP

  4. Jim Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 9:55 am

    @2

    Carlos Zambrano has a career ERA+ of 125 with close to 1800 career innings. This is the first season in his career where his ERA+ is under 100. His WAR of 32.2 is currently 12th among active pitchers, and he is the youngest pitcher with a WAR over 30.

    A pretty strong case could be made that he's been the most underrated pitcher of the last decade.

  5. Mr. Dave Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 11:11 am

    Kitson also played a little bit in the outfield as well when he was younger. I imagine that his managers realized he could hit, and tried to get his bat in the lineup as often as possible.

  6. John Autin Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 11:28 am

    @4, Jim -- Who has been underrating the Big Z?

    -- 3-time All-Star.
    -- Placed 5th in the Cy Young vote 3 times, which seems fair enough since he's never been above 3rd in WAR for pitchers.
    -- Got paid like a superstar.
    -- The only positive thing in which he's ever led the league is wins, with 16, in a 6-way tie in 2006. His other black ink is for walks (twice) and HBP.

    Given his performance over the past 3-1/2 seasons, I think he's a lot closer to being overrated than underrated.

  7. Andy Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 11:30 am

    I do think Zambrano's on-the-field accomplishments are overshadowed by his other stuff--the blowups and such. It's easy to forget now what a beast he was in 2004-6.

  8. John Autin Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 11:32 am

    ... not to mention that 4 of Zambrano's 5 postseason starts were duds, and all were Cubs losses.

  9. Richard Chester Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 12:05 pm

    Carl Scheib was the youngest player to participate in an AL game. He, like Joe Nuxhall, made his debut during WWII and held the ML record until Nuxhall debuted. Scheib is one of the few (maybe only) player whose last name matched that of his home ball park.

  10. LJF Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 12:37 pm

    Blue Moon Odom (what a great nickname) hit 5 of his HR's in 1969 (and 3 more in 1970). He hit 3 of those HRs in 1969 vs. the expansion Pilots. For the year, he raked Pilots pitchers for 6 hits in 9 AB's, 1 double, 3 HRs and 11 RBI. His OPS was 2.444. Oh, and he was 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA. I doubt there is any truth to the rumor, however, that this is what drove the Pilots to Milwaukee the next spring.

    And he was fast enough that he was used as a pinch runner 11 time that season.

  11. Timmy p Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 12:50 pm

    Zambrano? Look at Zambrano's game logs from the second half of last year. Also, how come all the attention paid to players that are bad? I always cheer every player to do better, reach milestones. Seems like a lot of guys that have never played like to see misery.

  12. Doug Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 12:55 pm

    Earl Wilson wasn't a bad pitcher (99 ERA+), but he sure raked. Here are his career numbers, in the equivalent of a season and a bit.

    838 PA, 740 AB, 144 H, 35 HR, 111 RBI, 67 BB, 76 OPS+, only 7 GIDP

    In his prime years from '64 to '68, he had OPS+ of 103, 94, 120, 64 and 118, and homered 4 to 7 times each of those years. Opposing pitchers walked him 13 times in 96 PA in '65, and 10 times in 89 PA in '69.

  13. wboenig Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 1:52 pm

    I know that the statistics don't always support the perception, but here are some so-so pitchers from the 1970s and 1980s who had reputations as hitters that were good enough for managers to think about using them as pinch-hitters:

    Rick Rhoden (ok, maybe unfair to call him "so-so")
    Don Robinson
    Ken Brett
    Tim Lollar
    Larry Christenson

  14. Doug Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 1:58 pm

    @9.

    Richard, some other players whose name matched their home park.
    - Damian Miller, Brewers, 2005-2007
    - Dan Murphy, Padres, 1989
    - Bert Griffith, Senators, 1924

  15. basmati Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    Dan Haren just misses this list with an OPS+ of 49. However his 3 years in Arizona he hit .265 with 18 doubles over 205 ABs.

  16. Jim Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 2:40 pm

    @6, John

    Over the last four years or so, Zambrano has gotten a lot more press for his eccentricities and temper than his pitching. The truth is, despite sometimes shaky control and the occassional bomb of an outing, he's been between good and excellent. Among active pitchers with 1000 IP, he's third in fewest HR/IP, despite the fact that Wrigley can be a tough place to pitch - it's a big reason why his wildness hasn't hurt him as much as it did the other Zambrano and countless others.

    He did get a huge contract, but it's easy to confuse "overpaid" with "overrated." Zambrano has gotten what has seemed to be an unending stream of abuse the last four years. Yes, he brings some of that on himself with his outbursts, and yes, he did choose to re-sign with the Cubs. That doesn't make him overrated though. It sort of reminds me about how I would never read a good thing about JD Drew or Vernon Wells, and then they'd show up on some "most overrated" list.

    In his last four years, a time I think is fair to consider post-peak, his ERA+ is 114, and even having his worst year right now his FIP is 3.82 - right about average. I just think there's been so much exposure to the bad stuff with Zambrano that people forget how good his career has been. Not awesome, not amazing, but good.

  17. Timmy p Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 4:24 pm

    @16 Well said Jim, but Zambrano is awesome and amazing. He has cat-like quickness and if he is the best hitting pitcher in baseball, and I am including Micah OWings. I watch every Zambrano start and make note of his pitches. His fastball is down slightly, but his slider is a fire cracker. When he fields bunts my cat Sally runs across the room. Carlos had back to back starts this year that he only gave up 1 ER over 7 innings and the bull pen blew it.

  18. Timmy p Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 4:29 pm

    I would like to speak to Z's temper and so-called outbursts. Zambrano plays the game hard and he expects his teammates to do the same. Derick Lee did not dive for grounders. I don't know why but he didn't. Zambrano's most recent spat with Marmol has to do with pitch selection and the decision making process of the Cubs. Right now there is a problem with the Cubs manager. He is not a tough man. Here's the thing with Z, he will play this game until his arm blows out.

  19. Doug Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 5:03 pm

    @9, @14.

    One more player whose name matched his home ball park (sort of)
    - John Kennedy, Senators, 1962-1964

    The Senators home park those years was DC Stadium, which would later be renamed to RFK Stadium.

  20. maTt Says:
    June 20th, 2011 at 10:23 pm

    How about a list of full-time pitchers whose career OPS+ as a batter exceeded their career ERA+ as a pitcher?

    Owings is one: 112 career OPS+ in 205 PA vs 90 career ERA+ in 432 IP.

    Brandon Backe is another: 90 career OPS+ in 157 PA vs 82 career ERA+ in 525 IP.

    Others?

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