New Measures for Pitchers

Pitching, as the old cliché goes, is somewhere between 75 and 90% of baseball. The official averages issued each year provide us with a record for each pitcher. This article will present a summary of data compiled on 14 different measures for a group of 46 pitchers active in the 1957-78 period.

The pitchers selected have all pitched more than 2000 innings. Some are still active; the rest have retired in the years 1973-8. None pitched in the major leagues before 1957. Of the 46,28 are right-handed, and 18 are southpaws. The lefties are labeled in the table.

The first measure compiled for each pitcher was his BFP (total batters facing pitcher) total. This item has been a part of the official National League averages for well over 20 years, and has been included in the American League averages since 1974. For AL seasons prior to that, BFP was found by adding up the number of official at bats, bases on balls, hit batsmen, sacrifice hits, and sacrifice flies listed for each pitcher. Admittedly, a few batters reaching base on interference or obstruction might be missed, but these rare instances would have a negligible effect on each pitcher’s total.

The first ratio listed is BFP/IP (innings pitched). Each IP consists of 3 batters retired. A BFP/IP ratio of 4.00 would mean that a pitcher and/or his teammates retired 75% of the batters he faced. The lower the BFP/IP ratio, the fewer times a pitcher is throwing with men on base. The range of this statistic was found to be quite small, the best ratio being 4.00, and the worst 4.29. Considering the period 1957-78, Tom Seaver is the most efficient pitcher in this regard, with slightly more than 3/4 of the batters he faces being put out (his actual ratio is 3.996). Ferguson Jenkins and Jim Palmer, with 4.05, and Juan Marichal and Catfish Hunter, at 4.06 rank next. Vida Blue’s 4.07 is the best ratio for a lefty. At the other extreme we have Mike Torrez with 4.29, Ray Sadecki and Woodie Fryman at 4.28, and Joe Coleman, Sam McDowell, and Jim Lonborg at 4.25. The major league average for this measure usually falls between 4.2 and 4.3 each year.

The range of the second ratio, BFP/Hits, is much greater than the BFP/IP ratio. The best quotient belongs to Nolan Ryan, whose hundred-mile-an-hour fastball is a big factor in his excellent 6.09 figure. Sudden Sam McDowell, another fireballer, leads the lefties with 5.43. Andy Messersmith’s 5.32, Tom Seaver’s 5.04, and Jim Palmer’s 4.96 are also superb efforts. At the other extreme, we have Rick Wise, who allows one hit for every 4.10 batters he faces. Fritz Peterson is listed at 4.11, Jim Kaat at 4.12, Nelson Briles at 4.14, and Claude Osteen at 4.16. All of these save Peterson have allowed more hits than innings pitched.

The next two measures, BFP/Runs and BFP/Earned Runs, complement the BFP/IP ratio. The latter includes men left on base. BFP/R does not. BFP/ER, like earned run average, is a measure of runs crossing the plate due to the actions of the pitcher alone.

The best BFP/R quotients are Seaver’s (13.1), Palmer’s (12.5), Bert Blyleven’s (11.5), Messersmith’s (11.4) and Bob Gibson’s (11 .3). Vida Blue’s 11.0 is the best portside figure. The pitchers who gave up runs most frequently were Ray Sadecki (8.9), Rick Wise, Jim Lonborg, Woodie Fryman, and Jack Billingham (all 9.0).

Seaver also has the best BFP/ER ratio, 14.3, closely followed by Palmer’s 13.9. Messersmith has 13.1, and Blyleven 13.0. Dean Chance and Bob Gibson each had 12.8. The difference between Chance’s BFP/ER and BFP/R ratios (2.1) is the highest listed, contrasting sharply with the 0.9 difference for Dave McNally, who had several Oriole gold gloves behind him when he pitched. Tommy John and Vida Blue both give up one ER for every 12.5 batters faced, the best ratio for southpaws.

Jim Lonborg and Woodie Fryman, at 10.0, Jack Billingham, at 10.1, Ray Sadecki, at 10.2, and Rick Wise, at 10.3, give up earned runs most frequently. All have high ERAs. Since ERA is a measure of ER/91P, and since the BFP/IP range is not large, the fact that ERA should correlate highly with BFP/ER is to be expected.

The BFP/Home Run ratios are in the next column. Nolan Ryan yields one homer per 78.1 batters faced. Other good ratios are those of Dean Chance (73.0), Bill Singer (69.3), Tommy John (66.8), and Sam McDowell (64.6). Ryan and McDowell especially relied on their speed on the mound. John, on the other hand, is considered a “junkball” pitcher. What they have in common is an aversion to gopher balls.

Catfish Hunter throws the home run ball most frequently, once to every 37.8 batters. He is closely followed by Fergie Jenkins (38.9). Luis Tiant (40.8), Mickey Lolich (43.5), and Milt Pappas (44.3), also rank high in the four-base futility sweepstakes.

Larry Dierker, who pitched for Houston during most of his career, gave up a sacrifice bunt for every 127 batters faced. The Astros were the first team to install artificial turf, and Dierker may have yielded fewer bunts because teams were more reluctant to sacrifice on Astroturf. Jim Palmer(123) and Jim Kaat (120), both multiple gold glove winners, rank next. Milt Pappas (117) is also high in this category, as is Juan Marichal (114), despite the high kick that would seem to make it harder for him to field a bunt, and herky-jerky Luis Tiant (also 114).

Lefthanders dominate the other end of the BFP/SH scale. Mike Cueller (77), Wilbur Wood and Al Downing (79), Claude Osteen and Jerry Koosman (81) are all portsiders. Joe Coleman and Dean Chance at 85 are the lowest of the righties. Is it easier to bunt lefties? Whatever the case may be, Jim Kaat’s outstanding BFP/SH ratio takes on more significance when compared with most other southpaws, and should support his many gold glove awards.

Phil Niekro, who set a major league record by giving up no sacrifice flies with Atlanta in 284 innings in 1969, has the best lifetime BFP/SF ratio, 241 batters faced for each SF. Chris Short (228), Tommy John (224), and Juan Marichal and Tom Seaver (219 each) also rank high. Seaver’s ratio was much higher until he yielded 12 SF in 1978. The pitchers who give up SF most often are Ray Sadecki (116), Jim Perry (130), Jerry Koosman (140), Jim Kaat (147), and Bill Singer (147). Kaat holds the major league record for SF yielded with 118, and Jim Perry holds the AL record with 106.

The best control pitchers (fewest walks yielded) among those listed are Fritz Peterson (1 BB for every 21.4 BFP), Ferguson Jenkins (20.3), Juan Marichal (20.1), Jim Kaat (17.8), and Wilbur Wood (16.3). The wildest hurlers are Nolan Ryan (6.8), Sam McDowell (8.1), Mike Torrez (9.5), Al Downing (10.2), and Rudy May (10.6). If Ryan stays healthy he will probably reach Early Wynn’s major league record of 1775 walks (Nolan has 1532) before Walter Johnson’s 3508 strikeouts (he has 2686).

Jim Palmer yields the fewest intentional passes, one for every 372 batters he faces. Other good ratios belong to Al Downing (298), Vida Blue (281), Bert Blyleven (277), Luis Tiant (268), and Nolan Ryan (268). The pitchers who give up intentional walks most frequently are Jack Billingham (102), Nelson Briles (112), Jerry Koosman (114), Pat Dobson (117), and Dean Chance (119).

Mike Cuellar hit only 12 of 11,505 batsmen he faced during his career, a remarkable ratio of 1/959. No other pitcher on the list comes close. It has been suggested that this might be due to Cuellar’s reliance on the screwball, a pitch that tailed away from the righthanded batters he faced. Other good ratios belong to Vida Blue (499), Jim Palmer (436), Steve Carlton (372), and Juan Marichal (356). Marichal, it should be noted, ranks high in both fewest walks and fewest hit batsmen. The moundsmen who hit batters most frequently are Jack Billingham (99), Jim Lonborg (101), Joe Coleman (123), Nolan Ryan (141), and Bill Singer (145). Jim Katt (147) is the lefty who hits batters most often.

Nolan Ryan strikes out one batter for every 3.90 he faces, far and away the highest frequency. Sam McDowell (4.32) is the best lefty in this category. Tom Seaver (4.70), Bert Blyleven (5.08), and Bob Gibson (5.15) also have good ratios. At the other extreme we find Mike Torrez (9.29), who walks more batters than he strikes out, Fritz Peterson (8.97), Claude Osteen (8.95), Mel Stottlemyre (8.73), and Jim Perry (8.71).

Despite his erratic motion, Luis Tiant has the best ratio of wild pitches to batters faced, 1/503. Ferguson Jenkins is next, with 313, followed by Catfish Hunter (289), Juan Marichal (279), and lefty Fritz Peterson (276). Sam McDowell, on the other hand, gave up 1 WP for every 76 BFP. Phil Niekro’s knuckler contributes to his 1/88 ratio; Nolan Ryan (90), Joe Coleman (94), and Tommy John (106) also tend to throw a lot of wild pitches.

Mel Stottlemyre balked only once in his career and has a better balk ratio than any of the listed pitchers. Ken Holtzman has balked twice, for his 5770 figure. Jim Perry’s 4577 is due to three balks; Gaylord Perry (3546) and Jim Kaat (3470) each have balked five times; Gaylord’s ratio went way down due to 3 in 1978. Steve Carlton’s 32 balks account for his 418 ratio.  He tied for the NL lead with 7 in 1978. Jerry Koosman’s 20 balks give him a 526 ratio; Phil Niekro has balked 26 times for his 547 figure; Rudy May has 15 balks (579), as does Woodie Fryman (616). Stottlemyre’s performance is not a record. Pete Palmer has uncovered the fact that Lefty Grove only balked once in his entire major league career (on June 1, 1927). Pete also learned that Grover Alexander did not balk during the last 11 seasons (1920-30) of his career; records are not complete for 1911-19. Walter Johnson only balked four times (once each in 1908, 14, 18, and 19) during his career. So Grove, with 3940 2/3 IP and only one balk holds the known record, although Alexander, with 5189 1/3 IP, may have a better record when his early career is thoroughly researched. Further research may also yield a pitcher with no balks in 2000 or more innings.

The purpose of this article has been to call attention to different ways of looking at pitchers’ statistics. All but two of the measures (BFP/IP and BFP/SO) may be considered “negative” in that pitchers try to avoid giving them up. The negative measures have been turned into ratios so that comparisons between pitchers can be more easily made. This article can be considered a progress report in that research will continue to include seasons prior to 1957. It is hoped that a fuller understanding of the statistics compiled for major league pitchers over the past 22 seasons has been achieved.  The author welcomes comments, criticisms, corrections, and suggestions on how to make the data more meaningful.

The full list of hurlers who pitched 2,000 or more innings between 1957 and 1978 are carried in the following compilation. Included are 13 categories related to batters facing pitchers.

 

									/Tot.
PITCHER	BFP	BFP/IP	/H	/R	/ER	/HR	/SH	/SF	BB	/Int. BB	/HB	/SO	/WP	/Bk
G.Perry	17728	4.07	4.61	10.8	12.5	56.6	108	206	15.8	125	211	5.9	143	3546
J. Kaat (L)	17350	4.17	4.12	9.4	11.0	46.8	120	147	17.8	220	147	7.4	147	3470
B. Gibson	16068	4.14	4.90	11.3	12.8	62.5	94	169	12.0	136	158	5.2	149	1236
M. Lolich(L)	14917	4.16	4.51	9.9	10.9	43.5	90	168	13.9	233	149	5.3	122	1865
C. Osteen (L)	14433	4.17	4.16	10.1	11.4	58.0	81	187	15.4	155	321	9.0	215	2406
F. Jenkins	14380	4.05	4.52	10.3	11.4	38.9	103	158	20.3	158	218	5.5	313	1198
J. Marichal	14236	4.06	4.52	10.7	12.6	44.5	114	219	20.1	174	356	6.2	279	712
P. Niekro	14210	4.15	4.59	10.3	12.2	51.9	91	241	13.9	215	161	6.5	88	547
J. Perry	13732	4.18	4.39	9.8	10.9	44.6	103	130	13.8	148	172	8.7	250	4577
C. Hunter	13572	4.06	4.80	10.3	11.4	37.8	110	156	14.8	238	283	6.9	289	1939
D. Sutton	13427	4.08	4.73	10.8	11.9	51.4	97	197	15.6	181	232	5.7	168	1221
S. Canton (L)	13383	4.14	4.67	10.8	12.2	52.7	98	169	12.0	150	372	5.4	138	418
M. Pappas	13198	4.14	4.33	9.9	11.0	44.3	117	186	15.4	148	183	7.6	136	2200
T. Seaver	12945	4.00	5.04	13.1	14.3	55.8	97	219	14.6	164	270	4.7	160	1618
J. Palmer	12643	4.05	4.96	12.5	13.9	58.5	123	211	12.1	372	436	6.8	171	1580
L.Tiant	12581	4.10	4.74	10.7	11.7	40.8	114	213	12.9	268	262	5.8	503	3145
T. John(L)	11627	4.15	4.39	10.6	12.5	66.8	108	224	14.6	157	204	7.2	106	1938
K. Holtzman (L)	11540	4.20	4.35	9.6	11.0	49.3	113	210	13.5	183	268	7.4	125	5770
M.Cuellar(L)	11505	4.10	4.53	10.2	11.8	51.8	77	172	14.0	189	959	7.1	217	1918
D.McNally(L)	11229	4.11	4.51	10.5	11.4	48.8	99	190	13.6	201	163	7.4	187	1021
W.Wood(L)	11153	4.16	4.32	9.9	11.6	53.4	79	157	15.4	157	177	7.9	155	1859
R.Wise	11099	4.20	4.10	9.0	10.3	52.1	102	166	16.3	185	258	7.6	252	1586
M. Stottlemyre	10972	4.12	4.51	10.9	12.5	64.2	101	183	13.6	146	249	8.7	192	10972
J. Coleman	10829	4.25	4.54	9.2	10.4	46.5	85	155	10.9	169	123	6.3	94	1547
R. Sadecki (L)	10694	4.28	4.35	8.9	10.2	44.6	84	116	11.6	130	261	6.6	114	1782
S. McDowell (L)	10587	4.25	5.43	10.6	12.0	64.6	99	216	8.1	143	179	4.3	76	1512
J. Koosman (L)	10517	4.13	4.61	10.6	12.0	56.2	81	140	12.8	114	215	5.9	159	526
N. Ryan	10467	4.24	6.09	10.8	12.2	78.1	98	177	6.8	268	141	3.9	90	952
J. Lonbong	10457	4.25	4.38	9.0	10.0	45.5	109	183	12.8	147	101	7.1	143	1162
C. Short (L)	9801	4.22	4.42	9.9	11.1	53.6	96	228	12.2	132	161	6.0	134	1634
B. Blyleven	9704	4.07	4.63	11.5	13.0	58.8	89	194	15.7	277	152	5.1	187	882
L. Dierker	9661	4.14	4.54	10.2	11.3	52.5	127	176	13.6	225	193	6.5	93	966
S. Bahnsen	9624	4.24	4.35	9.5	10.5	48.4	105	150	11.8	196	292	8.0	120	3208
A. Downing (L)	9539	4.21	4.90	10.2	11.8	53.9	79	167	10.2	298	308	5.8	124	867
W. Fryman (L)	9240	4.28	4.31	9.0	10.0	52.2	85	192	11.6	151	151	6.5	147	616
B. Singer	9143	4.20	4.68	9.7	11.2	69.3	98	147	11.7	183	145	6.0	136	831
F. Peterson (L)	9103	4.10	4.11	9.6	11.2	52.6	90	186	21.4	121	217	9.0	276	1517
V. Blue (L)	8977	4.07	4.77	11.0	12.5	59.5	97	152	13.1	281	499	6.0	145	1496
S. Siebert	8951	4.16	4.66	9.9	11.7	45.4	103	149	12.9	163	166	5.9	149	1119
D. Chance	8906	4.15	4.78	10.7	12.8	73.0	85	212	12.1	119	146	5.8	127	990
P. Dobson	8872	4.19	4.34	9.4	10.7	45.0	91	153	13.3	117	341	6.8	174	1774
N. Briles	8858	4.19	4.14	9.5	11.0	47.6	105	161	16.2	112	174	7.6	177	1772
A. Messersmith	8854	4.08	5.32	11.4	13.1	53.7	95	206	11.1	211	221	5.5	132	1265
R.May(L)	8681	4.17	4.79	9.3	10.6	52.3	89	167	10.6	197	255	6.3	185	579
M. Torrez	8662	4.29	4.52	9.5	10.7	63.7	101	197	9.5	167	197	9.3	117	1732
J. Billingham	8653	4.24	4.21	9.0	10.1	55.5	94	188	12.9	102	99	8.1	112	2163