Since 1969, at least 5 shutouts in an otherwise ordinary season
Posted by John Autin on July 2, 2011
Friday night, Jason Vargas tossed his 3rd shutout of the year. Overall, his ERA+ is 103.
No knock on Vargas, who has been a nice find for Seattle since they plucked him in the 3-team deal that sent J.J. Putz to Mets. But in the divisional era, it's unusual to see several shutouts in a season with a modest ERA+.
Since 1969, here are the 10 seasons (by 9 pitchers) of at least
5 shutouts and an ERA+ no more than 103; it hasn't been done since 1980:
| Rk | Player | SHO | Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | GS | CG | GF | W | L | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | BF | AB | 2B | 3B | IBB | HBP | SH | SF | GDP | SB | CS | PO | BK | WP | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jim Bibby | 75 | 5 | 1974 | 29 | TEX | AL | 41 | 41 | 11 | 0 | 19 | 19 | .500 | 0 | 264.0 | 255 | 146 | 139 | 113 | 149 | 4.74 | 25 | 1134 | 1001 | 52 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 21 | 24 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 11 | .255 | .334 | .400 | .734 |
| 2 | Bill Stoneman | 84 | 5 | 1969 | 25 | MON | NL | 42 | 36 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 19 | .367 | 0 | 235.2 | 233 | 133 | 115 | 123 | 185 | 4.39 | 26 | 1046 | 892 | 30 | 9 | 4 | 12 | 13 | 6 | 26 | 13 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 11 | .261 | .356 | .402 | .759 |
| 3 | Mel Stottlemyre | 92 | 7 | 1972 | 30 | NYY | AL | 36 | 36 | 9 | 0 | 14 | 18 | .438 | 0 | 260.0 | 250 | 99 | 93 | 85 | 110 | 3.22 | 13 | 1088 | 983 | 27 | 11 | 13 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 31 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 | .254 | .314 | .344 | .658 |
| 4 | Chuck Dobson | 95 | 5 | 1970 | 26 | OAK | AL | 41 | 40 | 13 | 1 | 16 | 15 | .516 | 0 | 267.0 | 230 | 122 | 111 | 92 | 149 | 3.74 | 32 | 1112 | 1005 | 33 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 20 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 10 | .229 | .296 | .365 | .661 |
| 5 | Fred Norman | 96 | 6 | 1972 | 29 | SDP | NL | 42 | 28 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 11 | .450 | 2 | 211.2 | 195 | 88 | 81 | 88 | 167 | 3.44 | 18 | 905 | 799 | 25 | 8 | 12 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 16 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 13 | .244 | .318 | .363 | .681 |
| 6 | Mike Cuellar | 97 | 5 | 1975 | 38 | BAL | AL | 36 | 36 | 17 | 0 | 14 | 12 | .538 | 0 | 256.0 | 229 | 112 | 104 | 84 | 105 | 3.66 | 17 | 1034 | 919 | 35 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 20 | 10 | 28 | 6 | 20 | 10 | 1 | 7 | .249 | .310 | .356 | .665 |
| 7 | Nolan Ryan | 99 | 7 | 1976 | 29 | CAL | AL | 39 | 39 | 21 | 0 | 17 | 18 | .486 | 0 | 284.1 | 193 | 117 | 106 | 183 | 327 | 3.36 | 13 | 1196 | 990 | 33 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 4 | 12 | 44 | 23 | 6 | 2 | 5 | .195 | .322 | .284 | .606 |
| 8 | Larry Dierker | 99 | 5 | 1972 | 25 | HOU | NL | 31 | 31 | 12 | 0 | 15 | 8 | .652 | 0 | 214.2 | 209 | 87 | 81 | 51 | 115 | 3.40 | 14 | 887 | 817 | 24 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 26 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | .256 | .301 | .349 | .650 |
| 9 | Geoff Zahn | 99 | 5 | 1980 | 34 | MIN | AL | 38 | 35 | 13 | 0 | 14 | 18 | .438 | 0 | 232.2 | 273 | 138 | 114 | 66 | 96 | 4.41 | 17 | 993 | 903 | 45 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 11 | 37 | 9 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 3 | .302 | .347 | .422 | .769 |
| 10 | Nolan Ryan | 102 | 5 | 1975 | 28 | CAL | AL | 28 | 28 | 10 | 0 | 14 | 12 | .538 | 0 | 198.0 | 152 | 90 | 76 | 132 | 186 | 3.45 | 13 | 864 | 712 | 21 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 19 | 28 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 12 | .213 | .339 | .306 | .645 |
Two tangential comments:
-- Jim Bibby's 1974 Rangers were one of the last teams to have 2 pitchers make at least 40 starts (Bibby and Fergie Jenkins, who had a marvelous year). They had 6 pitchers with at least 117 IP, including 144 IP for relief ace Steve Foucault -- and no other pitcher with as many as 33 IP. Guess who their manager was.
-- When Nolan Ryan signed with Houston after going 16-14 in 1979, Angels' GM Buzzie Bavasi famously snarked that he'd just replace Ryan with "two 8-7 pitchers." With the benefit of hindsight, that remark seems like a case of sour grapes, and that may have been part of it. But just looking at Ryan's last 5 years with California, Bavasi's decision not to pay top dollar seems not only reasonable, but almost a no-brainer. From 1975-79, Ryan averaged a 110 ERA+ in 248 IP, with a W-L record (FWIW) of 76-73. Of the 21 pitchers with at least 1,000 IP in that span, his ERA+ was tied for last. He would turn 33 before the next season. Why would you give that pitcher a long-term, high-salary contract?
July 2nd, 2011 at 1:17 pm
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY THREE WALKS!
July 2nd, 2011 at 1:26 pm
@1, Gonzo -- No cause to go all-caps on us. That 183-walk season was normal for that stage of Ryan's career. He walked over 200 in both 1974 and '77, and had a higher walk rate (BB/9 innings) in 1975 and '77.
Ryan's career walk total of 2,795 is one of the safest records in MLB history -- 52% more than the #2 man, Steve Carlton.
July 2nd, 2011 at 2:28 pm
John:
Really appreciate your hard work, lack of sleep, creative thinking, and dedication to the arcane....
On another note, how about our man Larry Jaster with 5 shutouts against the NL Champion LA Dodgers in an otherwise pedestrian 11-5 W-L, 111 ERA+ season in 1966. Obviously, we're talking pre-mound lowering in 1969, but, still a pretty unique accomplishment even if greater than Vargas' 103 ERA+
July 2nd, 2011 at 2:51 pm
@3, Paul E -- Thanks. I think "Dedicated to the Arcane" would be a good screen name!
On Jaster ... Yowza! He only made 21 starts in '66, and managed 5 shutouts of one team?!? Every other team he faced nicked him for at least a 3.95 ERA in at least 2 starts. Those shutouts were his first 5 career starts against LA; he started 13 more games against them and went 4-5 with 1 CG and no shutouts.
His '66 season belongs in the Arcana Hall of Fame.
July 2nd, 2011 at 2:54 pm
183 walks but the dude still had a decent strikeout to walk ratio...
July 2nd, 2011 at 4:38 pm
5 Not too mention WHIP do to a .195 batting avg against.
July 2nd, 2011 at 4:45 pm
I apologize that I am not up to date on stat trends, but could somebody please explain to me what ERA+ means? Why not just publish their ERA's?
July 2nd, 2011 at 5:11 pm
ERA+ is basically adjusted to the era they pitched in, to the ballparks they pitched in, and other factors. 100 is an average ERA+, below that is below average and above it is above average.
The reason he posted ERA+ is because a 2.56 ERA in 1968 is not as good as a 2.56 ERA in 2000.
July 2nd, 2011 at 6:52 pm
Nolan '76 led the league in:
Losses and Shutouts.
Gotta be the only guy to do that.
Not to mention strikeout And walks, and h/9 and k/9.
And he also led the league in errors.
July 2nd, 2011 at 8:35 pm
@7, Tony -- I can see an argument for focusing a shutout discussion on raw ERA, rather than ERA+, which is a relative measure that is adjusted for the league scoring average as well as the pitcher's home park.
But without ERA+, would you know that Geoff Zahn's 4.41 ERA in the AL in 1980 was just as valuable as Larry Dierker's 3.40 ERA in the NL in 1972, making 17 of 31 starts in the Astrodome? Or that Nolan Ryan's 3.45 ERA in the 1975 AL was a much stronger year, relative to the league, than Mel Stottlemyre's 3.22 ERA in the 1972 AL?
ERA+ is a better measure than ERA for comparing pitchers even in the same season, and it's indispensable for comparing pitchers across different eras.
July 2nd, 2011 at 8:56 pm
not surprised to see Ryan on this list multiple times.
July 2nd, 2011 at 10:50 pm
how about Ryan going 8 and 16 in '87 and coming in 5th in the Cy Young voting? what's the chances of that happening again?
July 2nd, 2011 at 10:56 pm
@12, Pageup -- Well, we just had a Cy Young winner with a 13-12 record, so I'd say the odds of an 8-16 pitcher placing high in the CYA vote are better now than they were in '87.
July 2nd, 2011 at 11:56 pm
Hint to many who don't know this already..Ryan had an awful lot of ugly to go along with an awful lot of brilliance during his career...doesn't take a man with a slide rule to figure this out either!..LOL
July 3rd, 2011 at 12:01 am
Nolan '76 led the league in Losses and Shutouts. Gotta be the only guy to do that.
As far as I know, he is. Then again, wins and losses . . . I ran a search of pitcher seasons with 15 or more losses and 5 or more shutouts, and got this gem: Ed Walsh, White Sox, 1910 — 18 W, 20 L (led the league), 7 ShO, 45 G (led the league), 36 GS, 33 CG, 369.2 IP, 242 H, 87 R, 52 ER, 61 BB, 258 SO, 1.27 ERA (led the league), 189 ERA+ (led the league).
July 3rd, 2011 at 12:10 am
Nice work as usual, KT.
I also didn't find another pitcher leading the league in shutouts and losses. Closest thing was Albie Lopez in 2001: splitting the year between Tampa Bay and Arizona, he led the majors with 19 losses (though not either league), and his 3 total shutouts (also divided) were 1 shy of the MLB lead.
July 3rd, 2011 at 3:58 am
I have to agree with Pau E. As young Dodger fan in the 60's the name "Jaster" was synonymous with the "enemy." If you mentioned his name around my Dad you were in for a long stream of expletives, if he had been a Giant I am sure that he would have been lynched...
July 3rd, 2011 at 4:11 am
Only two NL teams on the list, and both were expansion clubs in their early, early years.
Stoneman's 5 shutouts (one was a no-hitter) was quite something for an Expos team that lost 110 games and committed 184 errors. Part of the Expos problem may have been giving the ball so much to their top three guys (Stoneman, Robertson, Wegener had 89 starts and a combined 21-49 W-L). Their next 3 starters actually weren't too bad (Renko, Waslewski and Reed split 44 starts almost evenly and were a combined 15-21, pretty respectable for that bad a team)
July 3rd, 2011 at 4:15 am
Oops. Missed Larry Dierker's season with the Astros. Still an expansion team, albeit not so early on as the other two.
July 3rd, 2011 at 6:05 am
totally 'end-running' the topic, but Mike Morgan's 1993 season, which had him finishing 2nd in the AL, with 3 shutouts, while posting an ERA+ of 82, I feel deserves at least an honorable mention:)
July 3rd, 2011 at 6:06 am
aaarrggghh! *Mike Moore. It's too late, for me to be trying to post, lmao....
July 3rd, 2011 at 10:30 am
Nash, you are only the 999,999th person to mix up the Mikes of Moore and Morgan. The tall RHPs were teammates with Seattle in 1985-87; Morgan led the AL with 17 losses in 1986, Moore with 19 in 1987.
July 3rd, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Then only pitcher that has lost more games in a 300 strikeout season than Ryan is Rube Waddell 1904.