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SP Not Allowing Many BB & XBH

Posted by Steve Lombardi on August 23, 2010

Using Play Index, I was looking for starting pitchers, post Dead Ball Era, who excelled in a given season at keeping the ball from going over the fence or for extra base hits, period, while also not allowing many free passes.

So, I set the filters in Pitching Season Finder for:
From 1920 to 2010,
Seasons with at least 162 IP, and
Requiring 2B<=20, 3B<=10, BB per 9 IP<=3, HR<.05*IP

And, this is what I found: For single seasons, From 1920 to 2010, (requiring 2B<=20, 3B<=10, BBp9<=3, HR<.05*IP and At least 162 Innings Pitched), sorted by greatest Adjusted ERA+

Rk Player ERA+ 2B 3B BB/9 HR IP Year Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% SV H R ER BB SO ERA BF AB IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS PO BK WP BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Pit Str
1 Dean Chance 198 20 4 2.78 7 278.1 1964 23 LAA AL 46 35 15 11 7 20 9 .690 4 194 56 51 86 207 1.65 1093 994 9 2 9 2 31 8 4 0 0 9 .195 .260 .244 .505 53    
2 Phil Niekro 179 20 2 2.39 9 207.0 1967 28 ATL NL 46 20 10 1 20 11 9 .550 9 164 64 43 55 129 1.87 827 752 3 7 6 6 21 21 6 3 1 19 .218 .276 .286 .562 63    
3 Bill Swift 159 19 4 2.35 6 164.2 1992 30 SFG NL 30 22 3 2 2 10 4 .714 1 144 41 38 43 77 2.08 655 602 3 3 5 2 26 5 4 0 1 0 .239 .292 .314 .606 82    
4 Al Fitzmorris 136 19 5 2.98 8 190.0 1974 28 KCR AL 34 27 9 4 1 13 6 .684 1 189 73 59 63 53 2.79 806 728 10 0 12 4 18 13 2 1 0 10 .260 .317 .332 .649 82    
5 Ken Forsch 133 20 2 2.53 8 188.1 1971 24 HOU NL 33 23 7 2 4 8 8 .500 0 162 60 53 53 131 2.53 771 704 5 4 8 2 17 14 5 0 0 8 .230 .287 .298 .585 67    
6 Alejandro Pena 131 13 2 2.59 7 177.0 1983 24 LAD NL 34 26 4 3 4 12 9 .571 1 152 67 54 51 120 2.75 730 663 7 1 8 5 12 20 6 3 1 2 .229 .283 .287 .570 64    
7 Ray Washburn 129 18 8 1.96 9 215.1 1968 30 STL NL 31 30 8 4 1 14 8 .636 0 191 67 54 47 124 2.26 861 798 7 1 12 3 21 7 7 1 0 3 .239 .282 .316 .597 86    
8 Don Drysdale 128 14 2 2.11 11 239.0 1968 31 LAD NL 31 31 12 8 0 14 12 .538 0 201 68 57 56 155 2.15 954 871 10 12 6 9 16 9 10 7 0 4 .231 .284 .289 .573 79    
9 Dock Ellis 125 17 5 1.82 6 163.1 1972 27 PIT NL 25 25 4 1 0 15 7 .682 0 156 60 49 33 96 2.70 663 616 4 3 5 5 20 10 1 0 0 2 .253 .292 .326 .619 82    
10 Lew Burdette 122 18 4 2.88 7 175.0 1953 26 MLN NL 46 13 6 1 24 15 5 .750 8 177 73 63 56 58 3.24 741 670   5 9 0 19 3 3 0 0 1 .264 .326 .334 .660 67    
11 Paul Hartzell 120 19 1 2.33 6 166.0 1976 22 CAL AL 37 15 7 2 14 7 4 .636 2 166 64 51 43 51 2.77 692 624 5 10 9 6 25 15 6 1 0 3 .266 .321 .329 .649 96    
12 Bill Singer 117 17 5 2.69 5 204.1 1967 23 LAD NL 32 29 7 3 1 12 8 .600 0 185 68 60 61 169 2.64 854 773 11 8 7 4 10 9 5 8 3 10 .239 .300 .294 .594 84    
13 Dock Ellis 116 12 4 2.58 7 192.0 1973 28 PIT NL 28 28 3 1 0 12 14 .462 0 176 86 65 55 122 3.05 803 732 7 6 6 4 13 17 3 0 1 3 .240 .297 .296 .594 72    
14 Steve Trout 114 20 4 2.79 7 190.0 1984 26 CHC NL 32 31 6 2 1 13 7 .650 0 205 80 72 59 81 3.41 797 719 7 2 13 4 33 8 15 1 2 7 .285 .339 .353 .693 94    
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/23/2010.

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As you can see, Bill Swift in 1992 was the last pitcher to make all these grades. And, Doc Ellis was the only pitcher since 1920 to do this in back-to-back seasons (1972-1973).

Further, what's even more strange is that "it" didn't happen once from 1920 through 1952.

Other odd items: Dean Chance (1964) was the only 20 game winner to do "this." And, Ellis (in 1973) was the only pitcher to do "it" and post a losing record that season.

In any event, when you look at Bill Swift's career, you see that he was an incredibly effective pitcher from 1990 through 1995. It's too bad that his shoulder gave out on him. Perhaps all those innings that he threw in his near Cy Young Award season (1993) did him in? And, you have to wonder, if he had stayed in the bullpen, instead of switching back to starting, in 1992, if his career and effectiveness would have lasted longer?

4 Responses to “SP Not Allowing Many BB & XBH”

  1. Johnny Twisto Says:

    This is really since 1950, since without play-by-play we don't have 2B and 3B given up by individual pitchers.

  2. Steve Lombardi Says:

    Ah, that explains the "it" didn't happen once from 1920 through 1952 part. Mea culpa!

  3. Johnny Twisto Says:

    I remembered Swift's '93 season and that he was effective in some surrounding seasons, but I didn't recall just how good he was. He narrowly edged Clemens for the best ERA+ for 1990-1993, min 500 IP.

  4. LJF Says:

    Four thoughts.

    (1) Is anyone else surprised to see Drysdale on this list? Maybe not because it was 1968 and there were two from that year and two more from '67. Still, that was the name that caught my attention.

    (2) Notice that Bill Swifts big years as a starter were when he went to SF and (I assume) learned the "splitter" from Roger Craig. Seems a lot of SF pitchers did really well early under Craig, then developed arm trouble.

    (3) Only Drysdale and Chance pitched significantly more than 200 innings. I wonder if the search parameters were set diffently (SLG against instead of the 2B and 3B criteria) what we would see? I suspect there might be some pitchers whose doubles allowed (for example) were just above the threshold, but who may have pitched 250 innings. That seems more impressive than Bill Swift, who is just under the 2B limit (19) and brushing the bottom of the IP limit (164).

    (4) Wonderful to see a Steve Trout reference. A pitcher made for Wrigley Field.