SP winning with more walks than innings
Posted by John Autin on July 20, 2011
Boston's Andrew Miller earned a win with 5.2 scoreless innings in Baltimore Wednesday, allowing just 2 hits but 6 walks.
- Miller is the 2nd SP this year to win with more walks than innings. The other was Jonathan Sanchez on June 2. (That game began a string of 5 starts in which Sanchez walked 25 in 25.2 IP, before going on the DL with what was called biceps tendinitis but could have been termed a strained WHIP flexor.)
- In the last 40 years, the longest scoreless win with BB>IP was 7.2 IP by Darryl Kile in 1999. (Kile went 8-13, 6.61 that year, his 2nd rocky year in Denver after signing a big free agent deal. The Rox dealt him away that fall, and he went 20-9 for the division-winning Cardinals.)
- The last CG shutout with BB>IP was by Hank Aguirre in 1955, beating the Tigers in the first start of his career. (The Tigers never did get an earned run off Aguirre in 4 games, so they traded for him; and after 4 years in the bullpen, he went 16-8 and won the ERA and ERA+ title in 1962.)
- The longest searchable outing with BB>IP was 12.2 IP with 16 walks and 11 hits, by -- you guessed it -- Tommy Byrne, in 1951.
Pitching for the Browns 2 months after the Yankees dealt him away for Stubby Overmire -- you didn't think I'd miss that name-dropping opportunity? -- Byrne took the loss by walking 4 straight BoSox with 2 out in the 13th, the last one to opposing SP Leo Kiely (who walked 8 in his 12.1 IP). Only one of Byrne's 16 walks went to Ted Williams, who played the entire game; the Splinter did start the winning rally with a single.
Byrne had gone 30-16 in 1949-50, but he struggled with other clubs, and was back in the minors in 1954. The Yanks bought him from the PCL Seattle Rainiers, and he went 16-5 in '55, adding a CG win in the WS. His charmed life ran out in game 7, as the Boys of Summer captured their only championship.
July 20th, 2011 at 10:14 pm
Pitch count estimator says 251 for Byrne. Surprisingly only 1 DP turned behind him.
July 20th, 2011 at 10:33 pm
@1
According to baseballlibrary. com the actual pitch count was 248. I blogged this fact a several days ago.
July 20th, 2011 at 10:51 pm
Richard, was there any hint as to where that number came from? We know the Dodgers kept pitch counts on a regular basis in the '50s/'60s. But when I see random other pitch totals from decades back, I'm a bit leery as to their veracity. Who counted, why, and how and when did the number get publicized?
Regardless, interesting to see the estimate so close to the "official" count.
Byrne pitched a scoreless relief inning 4 days after this start, then started two days later and a gave another Herculean effort of double-digit IP and BB (estimated 207 pitches). Three days after that he had a good start despite another 10 BB. After three briefer (but not ineffective) appearances, he closed out the season with two impressive CGs. Doesn't look like there was much effort to give him a rest, and it doesn't look like it affected him much in the short term.
July 20th, 2011 at 11:06 pm
@3
There is no hint as to where that statement came from. I retrieved the fact from Charlton's Baseball Chronology on baseballlibrary.com. There are quite a few errors in that column, both factual and typo. Many are easy to catch, many are not. I have no way of knowing whether or not that fact about Byrne is true.
He tied the ML record for BB for walks in a game. One reason the Browns may have kept him in could be because he had about the highest batting average in the Browns line-up (just kidding).
Also in the 1955 series he was the only left-hander to pitch a complete game against the Dodgers that entire season.
July 20th, 2011 at 11:08 pm
Most starts since 1919 with more BB than IP:
Nolan Ryan ................. 86 (11.1% of career starts)
Tommy Byrne ............. 59 (34.7%)
Bobby Witt ................. 56 (14.1%)
Johnny Vander Meer . 48 (16.8%)
Sam McDowell .......... 47 (13.6%)
McDowell's the only one I find surprising, though perhaps I shouldn't have. Didn't realize he led the league in BB five times. Still, his walk rates weren't atrocious from a historical perspective. In only one of those 5 seasons did he walk more than 4.7 per 9, and two of them were under 4.0.
And I guess it's not unexpected that Byrne's performance in his high-walk games was better than others'. If he couldn't find a way to be (relatively) successful despite his extreme wildness, he wouldn't have lasted in the majors. His ERA in these games was 7.79, better than any of the more than 200 pitchers who had more than 16 such games.
For reference, 2.9% of starts this season meet this criteria. 11.5% of starts in the 1950 AL did.
July 20th, 2011 at 11:11 pm
"...his 2nd rocky year in Denver...." Good one, John.
July 20th, 2011 at 11:11 pm
Also in the 1955 series he was the only left-hander to pitch a complete game against the Dodgers that entire season.
Great trivia. I've probably heard that but had forgotten it. The Dodgers of that era were notorious for their heavily right-handed lineup. Warren Spahn would be kept away from them as much as possible. Facing all those RHP probably helped Duke Snider quite a bit.
July 20th, 2011 at 11:24 pm
Wow. In 1955, the Dodgers faced just 11 LH starters in the regular season. One-third of all other starts in the NL were by lefties.
Then that crazy
Frank CostelloJoey GalloCasey Stengel starts 4 lefties against them in the Series. Yanks did go 3-1 in those games, though (and 0-3 with their righties). The one loss being Byrne in game 7, alas. Who else could he have started? Maybe relief ace Jim Konstanty could have tried a 1950 reprise? RHP Johnny Kucks was 4th on the team in IP and GS that season. He was a 21-year-old rookie who hadn't started since July though.July 20th, 2011 at 11:48 pm
As much as Byrne's walk rate was a product of his times, he was also a major outlier.
-- In 1949, Byrne averaged 8.22 BB/9 (179 walks in 196 IP). The next-highest qualified rate was 5.87 by Billy Pierce. The AL average was 4.63. Byrne was 78% above the league rate and 40% above the #2 individual rate.
-- In 1950, Byrne cut his walk rate to 7.08 BB/9. The AL average was 4.45; the #2 individual rate was 5.71. Byrne was 59% above the league, 24% above the #2 guy.
-- In 1951, Byrne didn't even qualify for the ERA title, but he still led the league with 150 walks in 143 IP. His 9.40 BB/9 was 136% above the AL rate of 3.98, and 47% above the next-highest individual rate with 100+ IP.
Yikes. In Nolan Ryan's wildest full season (1977), he was 90% above the AL average, and 37% above the 2nd-highest individual rate.
Byrne opened the '51 season in the Yanks' rotation, but in 3 starts, he walked 17 in 9 innings. They sat him down for a month, then used him in relief for 6 games; he walked 19 in 12 IP.
No surprise, then, that the Yanks had to throw in $25,000 along with Byrne just to get Overmire, whom they waived less than year later.
July 21st, 2011 at 1:18 am
There are only 20 pitcher seasons of 7+ BB/9, under 7 SO/9, and an ERA+ over 90.
Byrne has 3 of those 20 seasons, in '49, '50 and '51. He led the league in BB and HBP all 3 seasons. He also led lhe league in '49 in lowest H/9 and highest SO/9.
July 21st, 2011 at 4:17 am
@10.
The search above was for guys with 50+ IP. If you limit the search to guys who qualified for the ERA title, there are only three seasons, Byrne in '49 and '50, and Hal Newhouser in '41.
July 21st, 2011 at 5:19 am
I log on to here, late in the evening, after work........nice relaxing few minutes, for me.....usually.
I don't even know, where to begin with this post. 248 pitches?? 8+ BB per 9?? And the guy only loses the one game in the 13th after he'd already walked like 100 guys???
And the guy actually had GOOD YEARS......
This is a dumb, pointless comment, but after reading this, I've just shut down. Does. Not. Compute.
July 21st, 2011 at 5:47 am
to carry over the theme of another thread, "Tommy Byrne-ing Out The Umpire."
July 21st, 2011 at 7:40 am
"(Sanchez went on the) DL with what was called biceps tendinitis but could have been termed a strained WHIP flexor."
JA, both funny and accurate.
July 21st, 2011 at 8:58 am
Byrne wasn't bad in Game 7...5.1 IP, 1 ER. His Game 2 was nice also (CG 5-hitter, GSc 70). His postseason numbers are actually much better than his regular season ones, albeit in a small sampling.
July 21st, 2011 at 11:37 am
@9
For the stat, fewest hits per 9 innings over the course of a season, Byrne is in ninth place overall with 5.74 in 1949. Unfortunately, for most walks per 9 innings, he is the all-time leader with 8.22 as you(JA) cited above. He is also in third place with 7.08 in 1950. The lists I have are for ERA qualifiers only.
July 21st, 2011 at 3:26 pm
@ Johnny Twisto,
Did you mention Joey Gallo?
Back on track, Does anybody remember Ned Garver?
The guy just missed the 1951 MVP by one 1st place vote and finished second in WAR. All that while striking out 84 in 246 IP and walking 96 for a .88 SO/BB avg.
And the year before, he led the AL in ERA+ in 260 IP but 108 BB to go with 85 SO.
July 21st, 2011 at 3:46 pm
@17, Duke -- I can't tell you how often Ned Garver comes up on this or that random search. I almost mentioned him as the LP in that Hank Aguirre shutout....
July 21st, 2011 at 3:47 pm
I think of Ned Garver as a poor man's Bobo Newsom.
Or maybe he was a rich man's Bobo Newsom. But they're definitely in the same niche in my brain.
July 21st, 2011 at 6:00 pm
@17
I remember Ned Garver and the controversy surrounding the MVP vote in 1951.
The winner was Yogi Berra who had relatively modest statistics that year. He batted .294, hit 27 HR and had 88 RBI. The Yankees won the pennant by 5 games that year, clinching in the 4th from last game. Nevertheless his stats were far and away the best for the Yankees and without his contributions they may well have never finished first. Garver won 20 games for the team that scored the fewest runs and made the most errors and finished last, 46 GB, a truly noble feat(Garver's that is). Without him the Browns still would have finished last, perhaps 56 GB. The writers who voted deemed that Berra's contributions were more meaningful. After all what could be more valuable than winning the pennant.
July 21st, 2011 at 10:50 pm
Did you mention Joey Gallo?
He may have come up while I was trying to sort out my mental ramblings. He and Stengel both led teams of Italians, so I get them confused.
July 21st, 2011 at 11:06 pm
@8
Johnny: Were any of those 11 starts at Ebbets Field?
July 22nd, 2011 at 12:46 am
6 of them were.
Of those 11 starts by lefties, six were by three pitchers. Rookie Don Gross had two decent starts and won both, one in BK. Rookie Luis Arroyo, perhaps best known for his great season in the '61 Yanks' bullpen, took two losses (one on the road). One was a tough 8-inning outing, and the other was one of those brief starts which has been discussed here lately: 2 R allowed in 1 IP, and he was done. Finally, Jim Davis (a sophomore, but 30 yrs old) got a cheap win in a mediocre 8-inning performance, and later lost in what seems to be a more impressive 7 innings. Both starts at Ebbets.
Warren Spahn never faced the '55 Dodgers From 1954-1957, Spahn went 79-48, 2.96 in 1081.1 IP., 136 starts, and a CYA. Over those 4 seasons, he pitched 3 games against the Dodgers, 1 start, total of 3.2 IP.
July 22nd, 2011 at 12:58 am
@23
Those stats, only 3 games against the Dodgers, are incredible.
July 22nd, 2011 at 11:13 am
@23, JT -- Nice find on Spahnie skipping the Dodgers.
I'd assume that it was a reaction to his 6-17 record and 4.19 ERA against them from 1949-53 (87 ER in 187 IP) -- a period in which he went 95-54, 2.68 against the rest of the league.
Probably still an overreaction to have him skip the Bums entirely, but an understandable one.
July 22nd, 2011 at 3:44 pm
@23
Those 3 games consisted of 2 saves and one start which lasted less than 2 innings.