Most starts 3 IP or fewer
Posted by Andy on November 11, 2007
Here are the leaders, since 1957, in most career starts that lasted 3 innings or fewer.
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Jim Kaat 64 Ind. Games Tommy John 64 Ind. Games Jerry Reuss 55 Ind. Games Nolan Ryan 51 Ind. Games Joe Niekro 51 Ind. Games Rudy May 50 Ind. Games Rick Wise 49 Ind. Games Mike Torrez 47 Ind. Games Frank Tanana 47 Ind. Games Woodie Fryman 46 Ind. Games Paul Splittorff 45 Ind. Games Mike Flanagan 45 Ind. Games Ray Sadecki 44 Ind. Games Jim Clancy 44 Ind. Games Jim Perry 42 Ind. Games Milt Pappas 42 Ind. Games Claude Osteen 42 Ind. Games Dennis Martinez 42 Ind. Games Mike McCormick 41 Ind. Games Mickey Lolich 41 Ind. Games Luis Tiant 40 Ind. Games Camilo Pascual 40 Ind. Games Jim Lonborg 40 Ind. Games Nelson Briles 40 Ind. Games Curt Simmons 39 Ind. Games
This is, as you'd expect, a list of pretty good pitchers. Anybody who gets hammered and leaves a lot of games early isn't going to last long in MLB. Rather, this list comprises pitchers ranging from good to great who stuck around the game for a long time. Most of the all-time greats for this period don't make the list, though. Clicking on Nolan Ryan's list of games shows that it includes his final start, when he gave up 5 ER in 0 IP against Seattle in 1993.
Here are the leaders, again since 1957, with the most games of 3 IP or fewer among their first 50 career starts:
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Paul Mitchell 12 Ind. Games George Witt 11 Ind. Games Bob Walk 11 Ind. Games Barry Moore 11 Ind. Games Fred Talbot 10 Ind. Games Bob Shirley 10 Ind. Games Don Schulze 10 Ind. Games Frank Rodriguez 10 Ind. Games Kevin Ritz 10 Ind. Games Bob Ojeda 10 Ind. Games John O'Donoghue 10 Ind. Games Mike Norris 10 Ind. Games Mike Moore 10 Ind. Games Sam McDowell 10 Ind. Games Danny McDevitt 10 Ind. Games Joe Horlen 10 Ind. Games Jay Hook 10 Ind. Games LaTroy Hawkins 10 Ind. Games Moose Haas 10 Ind. Games Bill Greif 10 Ind. Games Scott Downs 10 Ind. Games Mark Davis 10 Ind. Games Jim Clancy 10 Ind. Games Tom Cheney 10 Ind. Games Frank Bertaina 10 Ind. Games
This isn't a great list to appear on. Some of these players went on to have very good careers, but many of them seem to be guys who had reputations of lots of talent but never really put it together.
Most times it was a done in a season:
Year Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+----+-----+-------------------------+ Steve Arlin 1974 10 Ind. Games Joe Sparma 1967 9 Ind. Games Fritz Peterson 1974 9 Ind. Games Joe Niekro 1970 9 Ind. Games Randy Jones 1974 9 Ind. Games Preston Hanna 1978 9 Ind. Games Dick Drott 1958 9 Ind. Games Wade Blasingame 1965 9 Ind. Games
(No restriction here to being within the player's first 50 starts.)
The leaders over the last 15 seasons (1993-2007):
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Jason Bere 28 Ind. Games Jaret Wright 26 Ind. Games Kevin Appier 25 Ind. Games Steve Trachsel 24 Ind. Games Aaron Sele 24 Ind. Games Frank Castillo 24 Ind. Games Pedro Astacio 24 Ind. Games Esteban Loaiza 23 Ind. Games Kirk Rueter 22 Ind. Games Scott Erickson 22 Ind. Games David Wells 21 Ind. Games Brad Radke 21 Ind. Games Andy Pettitte 21 Ind. Games Tony Armas 21 Ind. Games Brian Anderson 21 Ind. Games Wilson Alvarez 21 Ind. Games Bobby Witt 20 Ind. Games Pat Rapp 20 Ind. Games John Burkett 20 Ind. Games Steve Avery 20 Ind. Games Kenny Rogers 19 Ind. Games Rick Reed 19 Ind. Games Kevin Millwood 19 Ind. Games Mike Hampton 19 Ind. Games Kevin Tapani 18 Ind. Games
November 11th, 2007 at 11:04 am
Interesting lists.
3 of Pettitte's stinkers were on a September 5th and another on a September 4th. (He's had plenty of good starts on those dates as well.)
Oh and case anyone's interested, the record for consecutive starts of 3 innings or less since 1957 is 5 by 9 pitchers. http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/dT7z
November 12th, 2007 at 9:16 am
How did Todd Van Poppel last 11 years in the bigs?
November 12th, 2007 at 9:58 am
Easy...he was a #1 overall pick.
He did have a couple of pretty good seasons---2000 and 2001 with the Cubs.