Striking out the side / Edwar Ramirez
Posted by Andy on July 4, 2007
Yesterday, the Yankees' Edwar Ramirez struck out the side in his major league debut. As the Associated Press report on the game mentions, Elias Sports Bureau tells us that the last Yankee to strike out the side in his MLB debut was Stan Bahnsen in 1966. But they don't mention anything about other players who did what Ramirez did yesterday, specifically.
In Buhnsen's game in 1966, he came in to strike out the side, then pitched a second inning that included a fourth strikeout. We'll come back to this case later in this post.
First, the list of all pitchers since 1957 to do exactly what Ramirez did yesterday: first career game, 1 IP, 3 K's:
Cnt CarGm Player Date Tm Opp GmReslt App,Dec IP H R ER BB SO HR Pit Str GmSc IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP ERA +----+-----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+---------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+------+ 1 1 Edwar Ramirez 2007-07-03 NYY MIN W 8-0 9-9f 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 14 9 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 2 1 Jordan De Jong 2007-06-06 TOR TBD L 2-6 9-9f 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 14 10 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 3 1 Jose Valverde 2003-06-01 ARI @SDP W 10-4 9-9f 1 2 1 1 2 3 1 31 20 0 0 7 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9.00 4 1 Todd Wellemeyer 2003-05-15 CHC @MIL W 4-2 17-17f,S 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 18 14 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 5 1 Jeremy Fikac 2001-08-16 SDP NYM W 6-5 8-8 ,W 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 15 10 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 6 1 Craig House 2000-08-06 COL PHI L 9-10 8-8 1 1 0 0 0 3 0 16 11 0 0 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 7 1 Mark Whiten 1998-07-31 CLE @OAK L 2-12 8-8f 1 1 1 1 2 3 0 29 14 0 0 7 4 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9.00 8 1 Braden Looper 1998-03-31 STL LAD W 6-0 9-9f 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 14 11 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 9 1 Pat Gomez 1993-04-06 SDP @PIT L 4-9 7-7 1 2 0 0 0 3 0 18 14 0 0 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 10 1 Gary Wayne 1989-04-07 MIN BAL W 8-3 9-9f 1 0 1 1 4 3 0 37 19 0 0 7 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9.00 11 1 Wayne Twitchell 1970-09-07(1) MIL @MIN L 6-7 5-5 1 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 12 1 Fred Wenz 1968-06-04(2) BOS DET L 0-2 9-9f 1 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 5 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
Generally, that's not a very impressive list of players. Jose Valverde and Braden Looper are the only two to have careers of any significant length and an ERA below league average. The hilarious entrant is obviously Mark Whiten, who I believe is the only "pitcher" in major league history to have at least 1 IP and to record all outs on strikeouts.
Moving more generally to Buhnsen's case, here's the list of all pitchers since 1957 to pitch (as a reliever) between 1 and 2 innings with at least 4 strikeouts (does not necessarily include striking out the side):
Cnt CarGm Player Date Tm Opp GmReslt App,Dec IP H R ER BB SO HR Pit Str GmSc IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP ERA +----+-----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+---------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+------+ 1 1 Jose Contreras 2003-03-31 NYY @TOR W 8-4 7-8 1.2 2 2 2 2 4 0 40 21 0 0 9 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10.80 2 1 Eric Eckenstahler 2002-09-09 DET @MIN L 2-5 7-8f 2 1 0 0 0 4 0 28 17 1 1 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 3 1 Josh Fogg 2001-09-02 CHW CLE W 19-10 8-9f 1.1 1 0 0 0 4 0 22 14 1 0 5 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 4 1 John Bale 1999-09-30 TOR @CLE L 2-9 6-7 2 2 3 3 2 4 1 46 26 0 0 10 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13.50 5 1 Jeff Sparks 1999-09-12 TBD OAK L 3-4 7-8 2 0 0 0 2 4 0 45 21 0 0 8 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.00 6 1 Jeff Zimmerman 1999-04-13 TEX @SEA W 15-6 7-8 1.2 1 0 0 0 4 0 26 18 0 0 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 7 1 Russ Ortiz 1998-04-02 SFG @HOU W 9-2 8-9f 2 0 0 0 3 4 0 51 27 0 0 10 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 8 1 Todd Burns 1988-05-31 OAK NYY L 0-5 8-9f 1.2 2 1 1 0 4 0 33 20 0 0 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 5.40 9 1 Scott Garrelts 1982-10-02 SFG LAD L 2-15 8-9f 2 3 3 3 2 4 0 0 0 11 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13.50 10 1 Ricky Wright 1982-07-28 LAD @SFG L 2-6 1-3 2 4 2 2 3 5 0 2 1 13 10 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 9.00 11 1 Angel Torres 1977-09-12 CIN HOU L 2-7 4-5 2 2 1 1 3 5 1 0 0 11 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.50 12 1 Larry Demery 1974-06-02 PIT @CIN L 1-5 3-4 1.2 1 0 0 0 4 0 1 1 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 13 1 Geoff Zahn 1973-09-02 LAD HOU L 0-9 6-7 2 1 1 1 1 5 1 0 0 8 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.50 14 1 Steve Blateric 1971-09-17 CIN @HOU L 1-4 7-8f 2 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 8 7 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 15 1 Bob O'Brien 1971-04-11 LAD SDP L 7-9 7-8 2 1 1 1 1 4 1 0 0 8 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4.50 16 1 Scipio Spinks 1969-09-16 HOU @SDP L 1-8 5-6 2 1 1 0 1 4 0 0 0 8 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 17 1 Danny Murphy 1969-08-11 CHW BOS L 2-5 6-7 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 18 1 Horacio Pina 1968-08-14 CLE DET L 0-3 8-9f 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 19 1 Stan Bahnsen 1966-09-09 NYY @BOS W 2-1 8-9f ,S 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 20 1 Gene Brabender 1966-05-11 BAL CHW L 2-3 10-11f,L 2 1 1 1 1 4 0 0 0 9 7 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4.50 21 1 Luke Walker 1965-09-07 PIT @CIN L 0-5 6-7 2 1 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 8 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.00 22 1 Wade Blasingame 1963-09-17 MLN SFG L 3-11 8-9f 2 6 3 3 0 4 0 0 0 12 12 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13.50 23 1 Harry Fanok 1963-04-16 STL PIT W 4-3 8-9f ,W 2 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00 24 1 Chuck Estrada 1960-04-21 BAL WSH L 5-6 5-6 2 1 0 0 0 5 0 2 0 8 7 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 25 1 Mike Cuellar 1959-04-18 CIN PHI L 9-14 2-4 2 4 6 5 4 4 1 2 0 15 11 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 22.50
This is also not a terribly impressive list. Some guys on here had great careers but most didn't last in the bigs for more than a few seasons.
What does this mean for the future of Ramirez? Honestly, very little. The reason is that the sample size--what a pitcher does in his first inning or two--means very little. Just for example, in Roger Clemens' first career start, over the first two innings he gave up 3 hits, 1 ER, 2 stolen bases, and had just 1 strikeout. He got a no-decision that day. 350 wins later I think we'd all agree that the first couple of innings were not a great indicator.
Happy Fourth of July to everyone.