Doug Brocail
Posted by Andy on November 28, 2007
I saw that Doug Brocail rejoined the Astros yesterday, and I noticed that he had a really fantastic year in 2007 as a 40-year-old reliever. Click through for some proof.
Here are all the seasons since 1901 for guys at least 40 years old with at least 60% of games coming in relief, 70 IP, and no more than 5 saves. This pretty well isolates guys working in middle relief.
Cnt Player **ERA+** IP SV Year Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% H R ER BB SO ERA HR BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Pit Str +----+-----------------+--------+-----+--+----+---+---+--+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+ 1 Joe Heving 172 70.2 5 1941 40 CLE AL 27 3 2 1 13 5 2 .714 63 21 18 31 18 2.29 2 298 1 1 0 0 2 Dutch Leonard 154 81.2 3 1951 42 CHC NL 41 1 0 0 28 10 6 .625 69 30 24 28 30 2.64 3 337 2 0 2 0 3 Joe Berry 146 130.1 5 1945 40 PHA AL 52 0 0 0 40 8 7 .533 114 40 34 38 51 2.35 5 537 0 0 1 0 4 Kent Tekulve 138 105 3 1987 40 PHI NL 90 0 0 0 38 6 4 .600 96 38 36 29 60 3.09 8 432 395 16 1 13 0 5 3 11 8 3 0 0 2 .243 .293 .349 .642 73 5 Doug Brocail 132 76.2 0 2007 40 SDP NL 67 0 0 0 16 5 1 .833 66 33 26 24 43 3.05 8 319 290 9 3 3 2 2 1 5 3 0 0 0 2 .228 .290 .362 .652 79 1165 757 6 Satchel Paige 131 83 5 1949 42 CLE AL 31 5 1 0 19 4 7 .364 70 29 28 33 54 3.04 4 348 1 1 0 0 7 Jose Mesa 127 72.1 1 2006 40 COL NL 79 0 0 0 26 1 5 .167 73 32 31 36 39 3.86 9 315 270 12 1 6 5 2 2 13 0 3 0 1 4 .270 .364 .422 .786 100 1129 666 8 Red Faber 123 86.1 5 1933 44 CHW AL 36 2 0 0 24 3 4 .429 92 41 33 28 18 3.44 2 376 1 0 3 0 9 Jesse Haines 121 90 1 1934 40 STL NL 37 6 0 0 18 4 4 .500 86 42 35 19 17 3.50 6 362 4 0 3 0 10 Dolf Luque 119 80.1 4 1933 42 NYG NL 35 0 0 0 22 8 2 .800 75 27 24 19 23 2.69 4 327 0 0 0 0 11 Doug Jones 119 73.1 2 2000 43 OAK AL 54 0 0 0 22 4 2 .667 86 34 32 18 54 3.93 6 319 295 18 2 4 2 2 2 5 2 2 1 0 1 .292 .334 .427 .761 95 1167 795 12 Alex McColl 112 112 1 1934 40 WSH AL 42 2 1 0 26 3 4 .429 129 56 48 36 29 3.86 6 492 1 0 2 0 13 Jeff Fassero 105 91 0 2005 42 SFG NL 48 6 0 0 11 4 7 .364 92 48 41 31 60 4.05 7 384 343 17 2 1 0 7 3 7 6 8 5 0 3 .268 .326 .391 .717 91 1416 904 14 Vean Gregg 102 74.1 2 1925 40 WSH AL 26 5 1 0 7 2 2 .500 87 41 34 38 18 4.12 3 327 2 0 3 0 15 Mike Ryba 102 138 2 1944 41 BOS AL 42 7 2 0 24 12 7 .632 119 57 51 39 50 3.33 7 556 0 1 5 0 16 Mike Ryba 101 143.2 2 1943 40 BOS AL 40 8 4 1 17 7 5 .583 142 57 52 57 50 3.26 4 607 0 0 3 0 17 Art Herring 101 86 5 1946 40 BRO NL 35 2 0 0 13 7 2 .778 91 39 32 29 34 3.35 2 373 1 0 2 0
These are all the players to meet those criteria with an ERA+ of 100 or better. Brocail comes in at #5 all time, just ahead of Satchel Paige of all people. A few other recent seasons make this list (Jose Mesa in 2006, Doug Jones in 2000, and Jeff Fassero in 2005) but all other seasons come before 1951 except for Kent Tekulve in 1987.
Now using all the same criteria, here are the best such seasons ranked by WHIP. (For any newbies out there, WHIP is Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched):
Cnt Player **WHIP** IP SV Year Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% 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 Mike Ryba 1.145 138 2 1944 41 BOS AL 42 7 2 0 24 12 7 .632 119 57 51 39 50 3.33 102 7 556 0 1 5 0 2 Joe Berry 1.166 130.1 5 1945 40 PHA AL 52 0 0 0 40 8 7 .533 114 40 34 38 51 2.35 146 5 537 0 0 1 0 3 Jesse Haines 1.167 90 1 1934 40 STL NL 37 6 0 0 18 4 4 .500 86 42 35 19 17 3.50 121 6 362 4 0 3 0 4 Dolf Luque 1.170 80.1 4 1933 42 NYG NL 35 0 0 0 22 8 2 .800 75 27 24 19 23 2.69 119 4 327 0 0 0 0 5 Doug Brocail 1.174 76.2 0 2007 40 SDP NL 67 0 0 0 16 5 1 .833 66 33 26 24 43 3.05 132 8 319 290 9 3 3 2 2 1 5 3 0 0 0 2 .228 .290 .362 .652 79 1165 757 6 Dutch Leonard 1.188 81.2 3 1951 42 CHC NL 41 1 0 0 28 10 6 .625 69 30 24 28 30 2.64 154 3 337 2 0 2 0 7 Kent Tekulve 1.190 105 3 1987 40 PHI NL 90 0 0 0 38 6 4 .600 96 38 36 29 60 3.09 138 8 432 395 16 1 13 0 5 3 11 8 3 0 0 2 .243 .293 .349 .642 73 8 Satchel Paige 1.241 83 5 1949 42 CLE AL 31 5 1 0 19 4 7 .364 70 29 28 33 54 3.04 131 4 348 1 1 0 0 9 Joe Heving 1.330 70.2 5 1941 40 CLE AL 27 3 2 1 13 5 2 .714 63 21 18 31 18 2.29 172 2 298 1 1 0 0 10 Don McMahon 1.341 82 4 1971 41 SFG NL 61 0 0 0 26 10 6 .625 73 40 37 37 71 4.06 85 9 356 302 4 0 6 7 7 3 5 5 1 0 0 2 .242 .335 .344 .679 99 11 Jeff Fassero 1.352 91 0 2005 42 SFG NL 48 6 0 0 11 4 7 .364 92 48 41 31 60 4.05 105 7 384 343 17 2 1 0 7 3 7 6 8 5 0 3 .268 .326 .391 .717 91 1416 904 12 Jim Kaat 1.360 75 2 1982 43 STL NL 62 2 0 0 12 5 3 .625 79 40 34 23 35 4.08 89 6 321 286 19 4 9 2 4 6 8 6 1 1 0 2 .276 .328 .434 .762 117 13 Kent Tekulve 1.363 80 4 1988 41 PHI NL 70 0 0 0 35 3 7 .300 87 34 32 22 43 3.60 99 3 347 315 15 2 11 2 6 2 11 13 0 0 0 0 .276 .326 .365 .691 103 14 Mike Ryba 1.385 143.2 2 1943 40 BOS AL 40 8 4 1 17 7 5 .583 142 57 52 57 50 3.26 101 4 607 0 0 3 0 15 Red Faber 1.390 86.1 5 1933 44 CHW AL 36 2 0 0 24 3 4 .429 92 41 33 28 18 3.44 123 2 376 1 0 3 0
So Brocail makes #5 again but 3 out of 4 guys ahead of him are different. Fassero is there too, and Kent Tekulve is on there twice for both 1987 and 1988. Incidentally, these are all the 40+ year old pitchers meeting the IP and Sv requirements discussed above to have a WHIP under 1.40.
November 28th, 2007 at 9:12 am
It doesn't bode well for the Astros that his top five "most similar through age 40" comps had about 20 IP after their age-40 seasons. Combined.
And I was wondering that I hadn't heard his name in quite a long time. How did he miss the 2001-2003 seasons? That many injuries? Or one that just stuck with him for THAT long?
Still, you're right, that was quite a nice season last year.
November 28th, 2007 at 9:20 am
He missed most of 2001-2003 due to injuries to his right elbow. He also had (more recently) angioplasty to remove an arterial blockage.
November 28th, 2007 at 9:21 am
Notice that the pitchers Brocail is most similar to all are currently (or finished their careers) around age 36. That's because he missed all those years. If his body holds up, he's probably got a lot of pitches left in him, and those similar age 40 pitchers are misleading since he's only played as much as a 36-year-old.
November 29th, 2007 at 9:16 am
Doug Brocail holds another distinction -- back in 1993, from June 6 to June 16, he gave up home runs to opposing pitchers in three consecutive starts (Chris Hammond, Kevin Gross and Mark Portugal). That has to be a record!