300 IP
Posted by Andy on July 23, 2009
This came up in a recent discussion. Most baseball trivia buffs will know that Steve Carlton was the last guy to pitch 300 innings in a season:
Cnt Player Year IP Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% SV H R ER BB SO ERA ERA+ HR BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Pit Str +----+-----------------+----+-----+---+---+--+---+---+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+ 1 Steve Carlton 1980 304 35 PHI NL 38 38 13 3 0 24 9 .727 0 243 87 79 90 286 2.34 162 15 1228 1114 50 13 12 2 14 8 14 14 16 9 7 17 .218 .276 .327 .603 69 2 Phil Niekro 1979 342 40 ATL NL 44 44 23 1 0 21 20 .512 0 311 160 129 113 208 3.39 120 41 1436 1290 50 6 8 11 14 7 25 40 11 2 4 18 .241 .306 .384 .690 88 3 Phil Niekro 1978 334.1 39 ATL NL 44 42 22 4 1 19 18 .514 1 295 129 107 102 248 2.88 142 16 1389 1254 42 10 5 13 13 6 13 34 12 4 3 11 .235 .298 .323 .621 71 4 Jim Palmer 1977 319 31 BAL AL 39 39 22 3 0 20 11 .645 0 263 106 103 99 193 2.91 132 24 1269 1148 42 9 1 3 10 9 22 15 30 1 0 7 .229 .290 .344 .634 77 5 Steve Rogers 1977 301.2 27 MON NL 40 40 17 4 0 17 16 .515 0 272 122 104 81 206 3.10 122 16 1235 1121 44 10 3 5 18 9 23 24 13 4 1 14 .243 .294 .343 .637 77 6 Dave Goltz 1977 303 28 MIN AL 39 39 19 2 0 20 11 .645 0 284 129 113 91 186 3.36 120 23 1253 1149 41 14 4 2 7 5 26 18 16 6 1 9 .247 .302 .367 .669 82 7 Phil Niekro 1977 330.1 38 ATL NL 44 43 20 2 1 16 20 .444 0 315 166 148 164 262 4.03 111 26 1428 1236 44 9 12 8 11 8 26 47 32 4 3 17 .255 .344 .368 .712 88 8 Randy Jones 1976 315.1 26 SDP NL 40 40 25 5 0 22 14 .611 0 274 109 96 50 93 2.74 120 15 1251 1173 40 3 9 4 15 9 34 15 3 2 1 0 .234 .265 .311 .576 74 9 Jim Palmer 1976 315 30 BAL AL 40 40 23 6 0 22 13 .629 0 255 101 88 84 159 2.51 130 20 1256 1140 35 8 5 8 10 14 20 33 15 3 0 5 .224 .278 .321 .599 80 10 Gaylord Perry 1975 305.2 36 TOT AL 37 37 25 5 0 18 17 .514 0 277 127 110 70 233 3.24 116 28 1248 1159 45 7 6 4 11 3 15 12 17 2 0 5 .239 .284 .362 .646 82 11 Jim Palmer 1975 323 29 BAL AL 39 38 25 10 1 23 11 .676 1 253 87 75 80 193 2.09 169 20 1268 1172 37 10 4 2 10 4 32 29 11 1 0 4 .216 .266 .316 .582 68 12 Jim Kaat 1975 303.2 36 CHW AL 43 41 12 1 1 20 14 .588 0 321 121 105 77 142 3.11 125 20 1279 1172 51 6 0 9 11 10 31 4 12 2 2 0 .274 .321 .379 .700 95 13 Andy Messersmith 1975 321.2 29 LAD NL 42 40 19 7 2 19 14 .576 1 244 92 82 96 213 2.29 149 22 1276 1148 29 3 2 5 20 7 24 14 7 2 0 8 .213 .275 .301 .576 67 14 Catfish Hunter 1975 328 29 NYY AL 39 39 30 7 0 23 14 .622 0 248 107 94 83 177 2.58 144 25 1294 1191 38 5 4 5 7 8 17 15 14 0 0 7 .208 .261 .312 .573 62 15 Nolan Ryan 1974 332.2 27 CAL AL 42 41 26 3 1 22 16 .579 0 221 127 107 202 367 2.89 118 18 1392 1165 38 6 3 9 12 4 24 28 21 3 0 9 .190 .313 .279 .592 76 16 Phil Niekro 1974 302.1 35 ATL NL 41 39 18 6 1 20 13 .606 1 249 91 80 88 195 2.38 159 19 1219 1106 43 7 3 6 10 8 22 18 13 1 4 6 .225 .284 .328 .612 73 17 Luis Tiant 1974 311.1 33 BOS AL 38 38 25 7 0 22 13 .629 0 281 106 101 82 176 2.92 133 21 1266 1166 40 12 3 4 6 8 24 23 7 2 0 1 .241 .291 .350 .641 78 18 Wilbur Wood 1974 320.1 32 CHW AL 42 42 22 1 0 20 19 .513 0 305 143 128 80 169 3.60 105 27 1316 1201 50 7 8 9 14 12 33 29 16 6 0 5 .254 .303 .375 .678 91 19 Gaylord Perry 1974 322.1 35 CLE AL 37 37 28 4 0 21 13 .618 0 230 98 90 99 216 2.51 144 25 1262 1127 34 7 7 6 19 12 27 12 6 3 0 2 .204 .269 .313 .582 67 20 Catfish Hunter 1974 318.1 28 OAK AL 41 41 23 6 0 25 12 .676 0 268 97 88 46 143 2.49 134 25 1240 1171 43 7 2 4 9 10 15 14 19 1 0 1 .229 .258 .342 .600 76 21 Fergie Jenkins 1974 328.1 31 TEX AL 41 41 29 6 0 25 12 .676 0 286 117 103 45 225 2.82 126 27 1305 1231 56 2 3 8 9 12 17 18 10 0 2 4 .232 .262 .347 .609 76 22 Mickey Lolich 1974 308 33 DET AL 41 41 27 3 0 16 21 .432 0 310 155 142 78 202 4.15 91 38 1263 1155 48 10 11 3 17 10 24 16 32 5 0 10 .268 .314 .426 .740 109
He pitched 304 innings over 38 starts, or exactly 8 innings per start. Check out Carlton's complete 1980 game log right here. Lefty had only 4 starts all year where he didn't reach at least 7 IP. He also had 13 games where he pitched 9 innings, all for complete games except this September 22nd game that the Phillies won in the 10th inning. He also pitched one 10-inning complete game.
From his game logs, you can also see that he pitched quite a bit on 3 days' rest instead of 4 days' rest. The Phillies weren't quite using a full 5-man rotation yet, which is how Carlton got 38 starts instead of the typical 32 to 34 we see for a full-time ace these days.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:38 am
300 IP is a pipe dream today. Here are a couple of other numbers to mix into the hooper.
Since 2000 no starter had made more than 36 starts in a season.
The last pitcher with 36 or fewer starts and 300 or more IP was Jim Colborn in 1973.
300 IP in 36 starts is an average of 8 and 1/3 IP per start. The last pitcher to make at least 20 starts and average 8 and 1/3 IP per game was Steve McCatty in 1981. (185.2 IP in 22 starts)
July 23rd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
The 5-man rotation, as opposed to 5-DAY rotation, has really only become prominent in the last 5-10 years. Through the '80s and '90s, it was still common for some SP to get 35+ starts, although there were 4 other guys in the rotation. Teams no longer use their off-days to skip the 5th starter.
July 27th, 2009 at 9:07 am
I think I commented a few months ago about Lefty's remarkable season (some thread about average innings per start). I live in the Philadelphia area, and really started following baseball STATISTICS (as opposed to just watching the games) right around that time. Being left-handed, having pitched in little league, and living in the Phillies' back yard; Carlton was my idol growing up. His refusal to speak to the press only added to the mystique. He also maintained a remarkable physical fitness regimen (including martial arts training) throughout is career.