How Many Starts for "Full Season"

[usnspecialist]

So i am working on a project talking about pitcher usage and I am looking for a cutoff to set for ranking people in terms of averages (pitches/game and innings/game specifically). What does everyone feel is a reasonable number for that?

[RonCo]

It probably depends on what you're trying to do, but it seems like a 70 pitches a game or 5 innings/game would be a semi-reasonable way to identify pitchers who are starters...but then, you also have GS (or GS/G).

I answered the question as if it were made for pitchers who were healthy enough to start most of the time.

[usnspecialist]

It probably depends on what you're trying to do, but it seems like a 70 pitches a game or 5 innings/game would be a semi-reasonable way to identify pitchers who are starters...but then, you also have GS (or GS/G).

I answered the question as if it were made for pitchers who were healthy enough to start most of the time.

im literally putting together a sheet of every single pitcher who started a game this year, and analyzing how long they lasted, how many pitches they threw and how effective they were (using game score).

[Lane]

Considering 32 is a true "full season" i have a hard time seeing anything under 26 a full season. (26=missing about 1 start per month)

[RonCo]

#1 - This sounds like a cool project.

#2 - The question on a full season probably depends on how injured you want to go. For example, assuming he's not injured the rest of the year, Jose Chavez will probably get 24-25 starts. He missed 5-6 weeks due to a hamstring injury. If you want to say he didn't pitch a full year, I wouldn't argue with you...but I wouldn't argue against that, either. Depends on the context you want to use.

[usnspecialist]

The plan is to do some analysis for the media guide and then post the full spreadsheet (with both league and individual team tabs) on here for everyone to browse at their leisure.

[usnspecialist]

Considering 32 is a true "full season" i have a hard time seeing anything under 26 a full season. (26=missing about 1 start per month)

Looking at the data so far this is about right, as guys who have taken the ball every time they have come up in the rotation are at 25-26 starts as of 01 Sep (depending on where they fall in the rotation). I am leaning towards 25, but i will take a look at the end of the season and see how many guys are over each barrier so we get a true sampling.

[jiminyhopkins]

I voted for 27 because no one else has.

[udlb58]

30 is a little extreme. I rarely juggle starting pitchers and in 7 seasons as a GM, I've only had 18 starters reach 30+ starts in a season. If you go by 30, I'm guessing you'd end up with about 60 starters completing a 'full' season each year

[Ted]

30 is a little extreme. I rarely juggle starting pitchers and in 7 seasons as a GM, I've only had 18 starters reach 30+ starts in a season. If you go by 30, I'm guessing you'd end up with about 60 starters completing a 'full' season each year

I've had 5 guys reach 30 starts 3 seasons in a row at least

But this is a good point. For the point of data collection, it might be better to set the bar around 25.

[udlb58]

Why use games started? MLB uses innings to determine if a pitcher is eligible for rate statistics. Why not use IP?

[usnspecialist]

Why use games started? MLB uses innings to determine if a pitcher is eligible for rate statistics. Why not use IP?

i was just looking for a quick cutoff to use for leaderboard purposes, categories i have are GS, AVG IP, AVG Pitches, AVG GS.

[usnspecialist]

Finally got all the data entered for this (minus a few games the HTML links are wonky for, pretty much only the 22-26 sept block plus a few random games elsewhere), and it has some very interesting results to say the least....

As for how many games im going to use for the leaderboard purposes, there were 96 guys with 24 starts recorded (and most are missing a start in the wonky data), vs 73 guys with 29+ (same caveats). I will probably use 25 as the cutoff because once i fill in the gaps using the actual in-game box scores, that should be enough of a sample size to get a true picture.

Some interesting data so far (saving specific names for the media guide piece). All averages reflect a 25 start minimum.

-The gap in Avg GS from the #1-#2 team is the same as the gap from #2-#12.
-The average performance by a starting pitcher this season was 6.19 IP, 97.54 pitches and GS of 49.38
-There were more negative game scores (14) than game scores of 90+ (13)
-2 pitchers recorded multiple game scores of 90+ (1 will not be surprising, 1 will be)
-1 pitcher recorded a season average of 60+
-9 pitchers averaged 7+ IP/start
-9 teams averaged 100+ pitches/start
-7 teams averaged less than 6 IP/start (and an 8th exactly at 6.00 with some data missing)
-3 of the top 10 teams (currently 4,6,9) in avg/GS did not make the playoffs
-2 teams with an avg/GS below the league average made the playoffs
-There were 9 starts of 140+ pitches
-There was 1 start of 170 pitches!!!
-48 pitchers averaged 100+ pitches/start
-2 teams averaged less than 90 pitches/start

[RonCo]

Can't wait to see the piece. This one and my injury review will make this guide a can't-miss edition.

[usnspecialist]

Can't wait to see the piece. This one and my injury review will make this guide a can't-miss edition.

i will say that Chavez will fall short of the minimum start requirement, but if he had made 2 more starts at his average rate he would have been the 2nd pitcher over 60 in the avg/GS category.

Now that i have the spreadsheet all formatted, I plan on making this a yearly piece. Will be interesting to compare year over year.

[RonCo]

That'll be cool.

Chavez was Nebraska worthy when he pitched. Shame about his long hamstring thing.

[Lane]

-There was 1 start of 170 pitches!!!

Saw that a couple weeks ago and have been trying to find the time to write about it.

[usnspecialist]

I should also say that while the Johnson results were fairly predictable, the frick had a few curveballs thrown in that I was not expecting.

[Ted]

I bet I know who the #1 team for average GS is.

[usnspecialist]

I bet I know who the #1 team for average GS is.

Ahh but can you guess #2?