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A Short Day’s Work

Posted by Raphy on December 28, 2009

In recent history and even throughout the annals of baseball, there have been many pitchers who have been used as specialists, brought in only to face a few batters at a time and rarely trusted with extended appearances. Even so, you would be hard pressed to find a pitcher who pitched as little in his appearances than Randy Flores did last season. In his 27 games Flores faced 52 batters for an average of 1.926 batters per appearance.  Since 1916 (when the BF stats are first available) no pitcher has pitched in more than 8 games and faced fewer batters per game.  In fact, the only other pitcher since 1916 to pitch more than 8 games and face less than 2 batters per game was Jesse Orosco who faced 69 batters in 35 innings in 2001. Here are the pitchers since 1916 with the fewest BF/G in at least 25 games.

Rk Player G BF/G Year Age Tm Lg GS GF W L W-L% SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA ERA+ BF
1 Mike Myers 78 2.27 2000 31 COL NL 0 22 0 1 .000 1 45.1 24 10 10 24 41 1.99 292 177
2 Jesse Orosco 65 2.22 1999 42 BAL AL 0 12 0 2 .000 1 32.0 28 21 19 20 35 5.34 88 144
3 Mike Myers 62 2.13 2006 37 NYY AL 0 6 1 2 .333 0 30.2 29 14 11 10 22 3.23 140 132
4 Tony Fossas 60 2.15 1992 34 BOS AL 0 17 1 2 .333 2 29.2 31 9 8 14 19 2.43 174 129
5 Jesse Orosco 56 2.13 2002 45 LAD NL 0 8 1 2 .333 1 27.0 24 10 9 12 22 3.00 126 119
6 John Candelaria 50 2.16 1992 38 LAD NL 0 11 2 5 .286 5 25.1 20 9 8 13 23 2.84 122 108
7 Kelly Wunsch 46 2.28 2005 32 LAD NL 0 6 1 1 .500 0 23.2 20 12 12 14 22 4.56 90 105
8 Rich Rodriguez 36 2 2002 39 TEX AL 0 6 3 2 .600 1 16.2 14 10 10 11 12 5.40 88 72
9 Jesse Orosco 35 1.97 2001 44 LAD NL 0 7 0 1 .000 0 16.0 17 7 7 7 21 3.94 101 69
10 Randy Flores 27 1.93 2009 33 COL NL 0 2 0 1 .000 0 12.0 14 7 7 2 14 5.25 87 52
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/27/2009.
Click on the column heading to sort.

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Not only did Flores face only a few batters, he also was also rather ineffective when he did pitch. It is therefore no surprise that Flores also staked new ground in the IP/G category. His .44 IP/G was the lowest ratio for any Major Leaguer ever with at least 20 games pitched. Here are the pitchers since 1871 with at least 25 games pitched and a IP/G ratio of less than .5.

Rk Player G IP IP/G Year Age Tm Lg GS GF W L W-L% SV H R ER BB SO ERA ERA+ BF
1 Jesse Orosco 65 32.0 .492 1999 42 BAL AL 0 12 0 2 .000 1 28 21 19 20 35 5.34 88 144
2 Mike Myers 62 30.2 .487 2006 37 NYY AL 0 6 1 2 .333 0 29 14 11 10 22 3.23 140 132
3 Tony Fossas 60 29.2 .487 1992 34 BOS AL 0 17 1 2 .333 2 31 9 8 14 19 2.43 174 129
4 Jesse Orosco 56 27.0 .482 2002 45 LAD NL 0 8 1 2 .333 1 24 10 9 12 22 3.00 126 119
5 Rich Rodriguez 36 16.2 .450 2002 39 TEX AL 0 6 3 2 .600 1 14 10 10 11 12 5.40 88 72
6 Jesse Orosco 35 16.0 .457 2001 44 LAD NL 0 7 0 1 .000 0 17 7 7 7 21 3.94 101 69
7 John Franco 31 15.0 .484 2005 44 HOU NL 0 4 0 1 .000 0 23 13 12 9 16 7.20 59 77
8 Randy Flores 27 12.0 .444 2009 33 COL NL 0 2 0 1 .000 0 14 7 7 2 14 5.25 87 52
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/27/2009.
Click on the column heading to sort.

Related posts:

    Carlos Zambrano’s short start (and short temper)
    Short Thursday Schedule Makes for a Quick Roundup
    Worst White Sox Opening Days
    Short starts
    Short at First Base

This entry was posted on Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 8:00 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.

4 Responses to “A Short Day’s Work”

  1. eorns Says:
    December 28th, 2009 at 12:14 pm

    Scott Eyre holds the record for most 1-batter appearances with an amazing 35 in 2004.

    Mike Myers holds the career record (by a lot) with 314 (more than a third of his career appearances!). The only other guy with more than 175 is Orosco with 235.

    LOOGYs extraordinaire!

  2. DoubleDiamond Says:
    December 28th, 2009 at 7:14 pm

    I wonder who the highest (lowest?) ranking righthander is in any of these categories!

  3. tomepp Says:
    December 30th, 2009 at 2:38 pm

    Notice that all entries on the list except for Fossas' and Candelaria's 1992 season were within the last decade? Perhaps by 2100 this will be the norm, and an average game will involve 10+ pitchers per side...

    Whatever happened to trusting your guy to get anybody out? Orosco had excellent numbers against righties over his career (.230 OBA, .320 OOBP, .353 OSLG, .673 OOPS), and in two of the years on the chart above, he had better stats against righties than against lefties! (1999: .204, .348, .389, .737 vs RHB; .270, .355, .476 vs LHB. 2002: .214, .313, .333, .646 vs RHB; .238, .300, .429, .729 vs LHB.)

  4. tomepp Says:
    December 30th, 2009 at 2:41 pm

    Oops! Left out Orosco's .831 OOPS vs. LHB in 1999 in the stats line at the end of the last comment.

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