A major-league pitcher is 20-3 in his last 33 starts, covering one calendar year. Here are his full stats in that span, along with his rank among all qualified pitchers in the last 365 days:
| Gms | W-L | Team | H | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | WHIP | SO/9 | SO/BB | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33 | 20-3 | 24-9 | 2.86 | 213.2 | 158 | 58 | 257 | .205 | .263 | .339 | .602 | 1.01 | 10.8 | 4.4 |
| 1st (t) | 9th | 16th | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 8th |
This is his 5th full year in the bigs, and he’s yet to log a 200-IP season. He has not been an All-Star (rightly so), nor received any votes for big awards.
But he’s turned a corner. He’s been so consistent in the past calendar year that he was removed during an inning just 3 times in 33 starts — and he won 2 of those 3 with quality starts. He didn’t allow more than 5 runs in any of these last 33 starts, which is the longest active streak.
So far this year, all of his rate stats are career bests, except that his SO/9 is down just a bit from last year’s MLB-best mark.
I can’t tell if the baseball public has noticed his long run of outstanding performance. When I read or hear of upcoming games, I don’t sense any buzz of, “Ooh, he’s starting!” He doesn’t even stand out in his own rotation; the only other pitcher with 20 wins in the last calendar is his superstar teammate.
But let the buzz begin. Max Scherzer has arrived.
(Now imagine the numbers he’d have if the defense ever showed up.)
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In other developments:
In the aftermath of Ian Stewart’s Twitter twaddle and ensuing suspension, Theo Epstein got off a brilliant, barely veiled jab:
“Currently, we have the second best production out of third base in the league. We are getting really good defense at third base, too. If that were to change and Ian would excel at the Triple-A level, we would consider calling him back up here. In the meantime, we are very happy with our production at third, and Ian is working on trying to figure out Triple-A pitching.”
Stewart’s hitting .168/.657 for AAA Iowa, while fanning in one-third of his PAs.
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The Dodgers-Diamondbacks dust-up featured 6 former MVPs or MVP runners-up now in the coaching biz. Chronologically:
- 1979 AL MVP, Don Baylor
- 1985 AL MVP, Don Mattingly
- 1987 AL MVP runner-up, Alan Trammell
- 1987 AL ROY and ’98 NL MVP runner-up, Mark McGwire
- 1988 NL MVP, Kirk Gibson
- 1994 NL MVP runner-up, Matt Williams
Mattingly and Baylor were teammates on the 1983-85 Yankees, Trammell and Gibson on the 1979-87 Tigers. McGwire and Williams never played together, but they were cross-Bay rivals for 10 years, and Williams finished 2nd to McGwire in the 1999 RBI race.
