Mains: The other kind of quality start
From SABR member Rob Mains at Baseball Prospectus on October 29, 2019:
A couple weeks ago, I discussed how quality starts—you know, six or more innings pitched, three or fewer earned runs allowed—are the rarest they’ve ever been. Last year, though, I noted that relief pitchers compiling the same numbers were up. To a 30-team era high, in fact.
This, I hypothesized, is the product of two trends in baseball. One is shorter starting pitcher outings. If your starter’s lasting only three or four innings, you need somebody to eat a lot of innings, especially if a game goes into extra innings.
The second, of course, is The Opener. When your starting pitcher, by design, pitches only an inning, there are eight other ones to fill.
Read the full article here: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/54830/flu-like-symptoms-the-other-kind-of-quality-start/
Originally published: October 29, 2019. Last Updated: October 29, 2019.