Jeremy Hellickson’s strong debut
Posted by Andy on August 3, 2010
Last night, Jeremey Hellickson made a strong major-league debut for the Rays, allowing just 3 hits over 7 innings. That doesn't happen too often. Click through for more info.
Here are all the guys since 2000 to go at least 7 innings allowing no more than 3 hits in their first major league game:
| Rk | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | App,Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | Str | GSc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Josh Tomlin | 2010-07-27 | CLE | NYY | W 4-1 | GS-7 ,W | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 93 | 60 | 69 |
| 2 | Travis Wood | 2010-07-01 | CIN | CHC | W 3-2 | GS-8 | 7.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 91 | 56 | 66 |
| 3 | Wade Davis | 2009-09-06 | TBR | DET | L 3-5 | GS-7 | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 105 | 67 | 75 |
| 4 | Scott Lewis | 2008-09-10 | CLE | BAL | W 7-1 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 96 | 67 | 79 |
| 5 | Chris Waters | 2008-08-05 | BAL | LAA | W 3-0 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 104 | 61 | 80 |
| 6 | Hiroki Kuroda | 2008-04-04 | LAD | SDP | W 7-1 | GS-7 ,W | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 77 | 53 | 71 |
| 7 | Johnny Cueto | 2008-04-03 | CIN | ARI | W 3-2 | GS-7 ,W | 7.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 92 | 68 | 81 |
| 8 | Matt DeSalvo | 2007-05-07 | NYY | SEA | L 2-3 | GS-7 | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 89 | 55 | 64 |
| 9 | Jered Weaver | 2006-05-27 | LAA | BAL | W 10-1 | GS-7 ,W | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 97 | 64 | 75 |
| 10 | Brett Myers | 2002-07-24 | PHI | CHC | W 4-2 | GS-8 ,W | 8.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 90 | 57 | 78 |
| 11 | Aaron Harang | 2002-05-25 | OAK | TBD | W 6-0 | GS-7 ,W | 7.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 101 | 61 | 78 |
| 12 | Carlos Hernandez | 2001-08-18 | HOU | PIT | W 3-0 | GS-7 ,W | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 102 | 62 | 79 |
| 13 | Troy Mattes | 2001-06-19 | MON | NYM | L 1-4 | GS-7 | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 82 | 47 | 74 |
| 14 | Brian Tollberg | 2000-06-20 | SDP | ARI | W 3-1 | GS-7 ,W | 7.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 94 | 60 | 77 |
| 15 | Paul Rigdon | 2000-05-21 | CLE | NYY | W 6-1 | GS-7 ,W | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 92 | 54 | 71 |
| 16 | Rob Bell | 2000-04-08 | CIN | CHC | W 4-3 | GS-7 | 7.0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 91 | 63 | 70 |
As you can see, it's quite a mixed bag in terms of quality of career that players went on to have. Brett Myers has been a fairly solid major-league starter since 2002, but Troy Mattes appeared in only 7 more major-league games after his 2001 debut. Aaron Harang strung together some good seasons in the mid-2000s but Brian Tollberg was done in the majors by 2004. Jered Weaver was an All-Star this year but Matt DeSalvo made only 5 more major-league starts and hasn't been in the majors since 2008 (although he's pitching, albeit poorly, with the Marlins' AAA team this year.)
So, like so many other one-game samples, this one doesn't tell you all that much. However, adding inthe fact that Hellickson is the Rays' top minor-league pitching prospect (to the tune of 123 strikeouts and 35 walks in 117.2 innings in the minors this year) chances are good that he'll pitch well in the majors.
August 3rd, 2010 at 8:13 am
Its not like he beat the Indians, but he beat the red hot Twins. Check out http://www.thefantasybaseballguru.com leave comments ask qs and follow me on Twitter at beatboston1995
August 3rd, 2010 at 8:21 am
Props for another Travis Wood mention, the Reds in general are well represented here if you include Aaron Harang in the group.
Another bit of props for Travis Wood: he's pulled this same feat off three times in his first seven starts including last night's game, and a fourth game where he went six innings and gave up three hits. His stuff doesn't have the same flare that some of the other rookie pitchers does, but outside of a guy like Strasburg, it's tough to find anyone else who has gotten off to a better start.
August 4th, 2010 at 2:43 am
searching for Stephen Strasburg´s debut wondering he isn´t on the list revealed he gave up 4 hits.
But it revealed something more strange: Jimmy Jones in his debut 1986 came close to a perfect game throwing a 1-hitter with only being stung by a triple!!!
And couriously this triple came from the opponents starting pitcher Bob Knepper!!!
The summary gives you a PERFECT game in a DEBUT broken up only by a PITCHER´S TRIPLE.
amazing
August 4th, 2010 at 8:06 am
[...] Here is a list of other pitchers with debuts as good as Jeremy Hellickson in recent year. [Baseball-Reference Blog] [...]
August 11th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Jered Weaver was a first round draft pick who did this 4 times in 19 starts his first year (in fact one start he only gave up one hit and another just two). It seems Hellickson is more likely to follow that sort of career path than some of the others on the list.