Pinch Hit: Debut Teams - Pitchers

Wednesday, July 14 2004 @ 09:45 AM EDT

Contributed by: Coach

James Strapp follows up last week's article on the debut teams of position players. Once again, his Excel spreadsheet (a 2 MB ZIP file) is available to be downloaded.

Debut Teams - Pitchers

by James Strapp

Last Thursday, I offered an analysis of batters and the major league team with which they debuted. Montreal was the clear winner in terms of being the debut team of successful major league batters and Toronto was second or third depending upon how you measured it.

Today, we’ll look at pitchers. Same scenario: A player stays with the major league team with which he debuted, no trades, no free agency.

I extracted the records of major league pitchers over the last 10 years from Sean Lahman’s Baseball Archive and determined the debut team for each player. The results may surprise (and perhaps frustrate) Canadian ball fans.

Last year, more innings were pitched by players who started their major league careers with the Chicago Cubs than any other team. We’re talking Zambrano, Prior, and Wood still with the Cubs, and adding Maddux (who has since returned to the Cubs), Moyer, and Trachsel, all of whom pitched more than 200 innings last year. Players who originally debuted with the Cubs also had the most wins and strikeouts last year.

Following the Cubs last year were Atlanta, then Montreal in third and Toronto in fourth. Top ex-Expos in 2003 include Pavano, Lilly, Rueter, Bullinger, and Randy Johnson. Besides Halladay, Escobar, and Hendrickson, Woody Williams, David Wells, Pat Hentgen, and Dave Weathers debuted with the Jays.

When looking at the total contribution over the last ten years though, the Cubs dropped to seventh. The LA Dodgers clearly take top crown in all three categories with inning eaters like Pedro Martinez, Astacio, Nomo, Ismael Valdes, Belcher, Chan Ho Park, and Hershiser.

The Jays? They finish second overall in innings pitched and wins, and third in strikeouts. Add Stottlemyre, Guzman, Blair, Weathers, Key and Carpenter to the 2003 list above.

Montreal? Third in wins and strikeouts, and fourth, behind the Pirates, in innings pitched. Their 10-year debut roster adds Fassero, Mark Gardner, Vazquez, Bottenfield, Carlos Perez.

So what does this mean? Well, yes the first major league team is only surrogate for an organization’s ability to draft and develop solid major league ballplayers, but it is a pretty good one. So at its grandest, this analysis is a testament of the ability (and perhaps reliance upon) of the Jays and Expos to develop their own players, both batters and pitchers. At it simplest, it means we have been fortunate as fans in Canada to be able see a lot of high-quality young players develop and debut in the major leagues.

The rankings of total innings pitched, wins, and strikeouts since 1994 by the team the player made his debut with, omitting expansion teams, are below. Note that Florida, despite only starting as a team in 1993, already ranks well ahead of Cincinnati and California.

Team

IP

 

Team

Wins

 

Team

SO

1. LAN

20,192

 

1.  LAN

1,249

 

1. LAN

16,631

2. TOR

19,172

 

2. TOR

1,119

 

2. MON

14,220

3.  PIT

19,100

 

3.  MON

1,025

 

3. TOR

13,465

4. MON

18,088

 

4. ATL

1,020

 

4. PIT

13,426

5. MIN

17,527

 

5.  PIT

1,000

 

5. BAL

13,019

6. TEX

16,944

 

6.  MIN

976

 

6. ATL

12,523

7.  CHN

16,663

 

7.  TEX

968

 

7. CHN

12,370

8.  BAL

16,620

 

8. BAL

963

 

8. SDN

11,956

9.  ATL

16,447

 

9.  CHN

957

 

9.  MIN

11,886

10. SDN

15,636

 

10.   NYA

900

 

10.  TEX

11,757

11. CHA

14,722

 

11.   SEA

859

 

11.  NYA

10,782

12. NYA

14,610

 

12.   CLE

836

 

12.  SEA

10,385

13. SEA

14,489

 

13.   CHA

832

 

13.  HOU

10,309

14. CLE

14,117

 

14.   SFN

804

 

14.  CHA

10,228

15. NYN

14,085

 

15.   SDN

803

 

15.  CLE

10,080

16. SFN

14,082

 

16.   HOU

773

 

16.  SFN

9,855

17. HOU

13,154

 

17.   NYN

750

 

17.  NYN

9,831

18. SLN

13,043

 

18.   SLN

716

 

18.  SLN

8,960

19. KCA

12,467

 

19.   KCA

691

 

19.  PHI

8,880

20. PHI

12,244

 

20.   OAK

642

 

20.  KCA

8,798

21. DET

12,166

 

21.   PHI

627

 

21.  OAK

8,467

22. OAK

11,906

 

22.   DET

569

 

22.  DET

7,682

23. BOS

9,505

 

23.   BOS

549

 

23.  BOS

6,813

24. CIN

8,823

 

24.   CIN

456

 

24.  CIN

6,612

25. CAL

7,138

 

25.   CAL

397

 

25.  CAL

5,096



And here are the active debut Jays and Expos with more than 50 innings pitched, sorted by innings pitched last year. Players no longer with their debut team are marked with an asterisk.

Your Debut Jays

Your Debut Expos

1.  Roy Halladay

1.  Javier Vazquez*

2.  Woody Williams*

2.  Carl Pavano*

3.  David Wells*

3. Ted Lilly*

4.  Kelvim Escobar*

4.  Kirk Rueter*

5.  Pat Hentgen

5.  Kirk Bullinger*

6.  Mark Hendrickson*

6.  Zach Day

7.  Dave Weathers*

7. Claudio Vargas

8.  Mike Timlin*

8.  Randy Johnson*

9.  Aquilino Lopez

9. Guillermo Mota*

10.  Leo Estrella*

10.  T.J. Tucker

11.  Gary Glover*

11.  Jeff Fassero*

12.  Brandon Lyon*

12.  Ugueth Urbina*

13.  Peter Munro*

13.  Luis Ayala

14.  Billy Koch*

14.  Steve Kline*

 

15.  Scott Stewart*

 

16.  Scott Strickland

 

17.  Joey Eischen



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