High Heat Stats

I swap sports magazines with my friend Z-bo. He subscribes to Sports Illustrated, while I get ESPN: The Magazine, just because it comes free with my online Insider sub. We save them up for 3-4 months and then trade, so by the time I get around to reading SI, it’s old news — which can be interesting in its own way.

From the “Hot/Not” box in SI’s June 11 issue:

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Following up from my piece a few weeks ago on 2012 batting streaks, here is a review of the longest game streaks in 2012 for pitchers.

After the jump, check out long streaks for both effective and ineffective pitching performances in 2012. Which ones are most surprising or noteworthy for you?

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I don’t want to make too much of this, but here it is:

• In 1998, an expansion year when both Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa surpassed the season home run record with 70 and 66, respectively, the home run rate across the major leagues was 2.7% of all plate appearances.
• In 2012, after 10 years of random P.E.D. testing, Miguel Cabrera led the majors with 44 HRs, and the home run rate was … still 2.7% of all plate appearances.

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At the end of this post is a table of the major league players who have been known as “Cliff”, listed in descending order of career WAR (total WAR for position players, pitching WAR for pitchers). Read the rest of this entry

The first in a series(?) reviewing random games from the season just past. We begin at the beginning:

April 6: Arizona 5, San Francisco 4. The Opening Day starters were Tim Lincecum and Ian Kennedy, a pair of righties taken 10th and 21st in the pitching-rich 2006 draft. (Brandon Morrow went 5th, Clayton Kershaw 7th, Max Scherzer 11th … and alas, Luke Hochevar went #1.)

The shape of things to come: Tim Lincecum yielded 3 runs on 2 HRs in the 1st inning and 5 runs over 5.1 IP, taking the first of his league-high 15 losses. The two-time CYA winner would stumble into the All-Star break at 3-10 with a 6.42 ERA, reviving memories of Denny McLain‘s rapid descent. Few could have dreamed that The Freak’s stellar postseason work — out of the bullpen, no less — would help key another title run.

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The Dec. 26 edition of Jim Caple’s CSI: Box Score (spoiler alert!) featured the only home run ever hit by Steve Christmas, who had a brief career as a catcher and first baseman with the White Sox from 1983-86. That got me reminiscing….

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Upon hearing that Francisco Liriano had signed a 2-year deal with Pittsburgh, I checked his recent stats and guessed that he was the wildest starting pitcher over the last two years.

My guess was off by one spot. But look at the across-the-board closeness of these two-year stats:

What’s more:

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This post is the spot for voting and discussion of the third round of voting for the Circle of Greats, which adds players born in 1966. Rules and lists are after the jump. Read the rest of this entry

After a seesaw battle with Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell won induction as the second member of the Circle of Greats, joining Mike Piazza. Bagwell played his last game in 2005, completing what was then perhaps the greatest career at first base in modern National League history. After the jump, you’ll find a table of the top NL WAR totals for 1900 through 2005 by guys who played at least half their career games at first base. Read the rest of this entry

Since 1890, these are the largest annual changes in strikeout percentage:

• 1893, -38%
• 1901, +32%
• 1903, +21%
• 1946, +20%
• 1918, -17%

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