Trivia time: who is Philip Humber?
Posted by Andy on April 27, 2010
Unless you're a fervent Mets or Twins fan, you've probably never heard of Philip Humber. Turns out he's the answer to an interesting trivia question:
Who is the only pitcher to have no career decisions but pitched the last 4 seasons in the big leagues?
Here are the most career seasons among active players with no decisions:
| Rk | Yrs | From | To | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philip Humber | 4 | 2006 | 2009 | 23-26 | |
| 2 | Jason Bulger | 4 | 2006 | 2010 | 27-31 | |
| 3 | Randy Choate | 4 | 2002 | 2007 | 26-31 | |
| 4 | Scott Linebrink | 4 | 2000 | 2010 | 23-33 | |
| 5 | Rich Thompson | 3 | 2007 | 2009 | 22-24 | |
| 6 | Yhency Brazoban | 3 | 2006 | 2008 | 26-28 | |
| 7 | Jeremy Guthrie | 3 | 2004 | 2006 | 25-27 | |
| 8 | Joe Beimel | 3 | 2004 | 2010 | 27-33 | |
| 9 | Pedro Feliciano | 3 | 2002 | 2010 | 25-33 | |
| 10 | Brian Moehler | 3 | 2001 | 2010 | 29-38 | |
| 11 | Trever Miller | 3 | 2000 | 2010 | 27-37 | |
| 12 | J.C. Romero | 3 | 1999 | 2010 | 23-34 | |
| 13 | Chad Durbin | 3 | 1999 | 2010 | 21-32 |
Looking down the list, the only other guy on here to have no decisions in his career is Rich Thompson.
If you go to the player pages for both Humber and Thompson you can see that each is pitching in the minors in 2010. Neither has been in the big leagues yet this year but each might get a shot to continue their streaks.
I found one pitcher who went more seasons (5) and finished his career without a decision: Denny O'Toole.
April 27th, 2010 at 9:19 am
And that guy O'Toole didn't have any saves, either (though he did finish 9 games).
Fun list! Humber's career of 4 seasons, each with under 10 games made me wonder who's pitched the most years without reaching 10. As it turns out, Humber is only halfway to the record! Denny Lewallyn pitched in every season between 1975 and 1982 and never topped 7 games. According to the BR Bullpen, he was "the classic minor league star who could not stick in the major leagues" and never made the team because the Dodgers were so good. Now he's the pitching coach for Ryne Sandberg's AA Tennessee Smokies, so I guess it didn't turn out so bad for him!
April 27th, 2010 at 9:23 am
Twins fans know him as one of the throw-ins in the Johan Santana trade. I don't know if he was ever going to amount to much, but he has appeared on numerous charts with Mulvey, Guerra and Gomez over the past few years as people like to monitor the progress of these types of trades.
He in the Royals organization now. If he's going to make a run at a fifth season, he needs to start pitching better in Omaha.
April 27th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
A few years ago, each New York team had a pitching prospect drafted in the first round in 2004 whose name fits the pattern Philip Hu**e*. Hughes of the Yankees finally appeared in 51 games last year, but he still hasn't developed into the front line pitcher they thought he'd become.
April 27th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Hughes had an awfully good year last year and has been very good as a starter so far this season. Even now I think it's fair to say the Yankees made the better choice.