Battling Bucs : ATP Near and Far: Starting Pitchers

ATP Near and Far is a 10 part series dedicated to assembling two teams of All Time Pirates greats based upon their place of birth. The "near" team will consist of players born exclusively in the state of Pennsylvania and the "far" team will consist of players born outside of the 50 US states and the District of Columbia. Each roster will consist of 25 players the particulars of how the rosters will be assembled can be found in the introduction post here.
All Time Pirates Near and Far: Starting Pitchers
Pennsylvania: Recall the criteria to be listed as a starting pitcher is merely starting in more than half of the games you have pitched in. For the hitters I used wRC+ and fWAR as my guiding tools likewise for the pitchers I will use ERA-, FIP- and fWAR. As for the list of eligible Pennsylvania pitchers a staggering 41 of them qualify as starting pitchers ranging with anywhere from 1 career start up to over 200.
Looking at the one start pitchers we have Will Thompson (1892), Jake Seymour (1882), Al Krumm (1889) and Alex Jones (1889). Thompson didn’t last long in his start going only three innings and Seymour went 8 but got hit fairly hard both were relatively normal spot starts. On the other hand Krumm and Jones stand out. Jones at just 19 pitched a complete game beauty striking out 10 while only walking 1 and he is the only one of this quartet to play in the majors elsewhere getting a few short stints with 4 other teams. On the opposite end of the spectrum Krumm must have been told he was pitching until the game ended or his arm fell off as he walked 10 batters while surrendering 11 runs (only 10 were earned) in a complete game effort.
Looking for more starts we find 6 players that made either 2 or 3 starts including Alex Beam (1889), Chuck Lauer (1884), Norm Baker (1883), Pete Conway (1889), Harry Jordan (1894-95) and Robert Gibson (1890). If you have excellent recall you may remember Chuck Lauer as he was primarily a catcher/outfielder for the Pirates but in 1884 he started 3 games with fairly poor results. Alex Beam is the only pitcher above to have 2 starts as the other 5 made three. Of the mentioned pitchers Harry Jordan and Norm Baker were clearly the best with Baker having the edge in raw numbers but Baker coming ahead in era adjusted numbers. The real story in this group though belongs to Robert Gibson. Gibson made 3 starts for the Alleghenies in 1890 pitching a total of just 12 innings. In those innings he issued 23 walks, allowed 24 hits and had a staggering 38 runs cross the plate against him (amazingly only 23 were earned). His ERA was a mind boggling 17.25. He easily has the worst resume of any starter on either team.
Four pitchers reside in the 4 or 5 start club: Henry Jones (1890), Myrl Brown (1922), Hardie Henderson (1888) and Bill Bishop (1886-87). Henderson is a player who arguably should have been mentioned in the outfield post. He played 3 innings in the outfield in 1888 but it’s not clear to me whether he actually ever came to plate as an outfielder. Brown our first 20^th century pitched in 7 games (5 of them starts) and like the rest of this group was largely ineffective. Jones is clearly the best of this group and his 107 ERA- corresponds to something a bit worse than a league average performance.
Continuing looking at the remaining pitchers who failed to crack double digit starts we have Charlie Heard (1890), Bill Day (1890), Phenomenal (John) Smith (1884, 1890), Sumner Bowman (1890), Bucky Veil (1903-04) and Ron Necciai (1952). Apparently if you were around Pittsburgh in 1890 and could throw a baseball somewhat straight the Pirates had you make a handful of starts for them (which considering their record 23-113 very well may have been the case). Heard much like Henderson shows a hole in my process apparently players who were primarily pitchers but also dabbled at other positions didn’t come up in my original search as Heard recorded 42 innings in the outfield. Phenomenal Smith has a great nickname but unfortunately like the rest of the pitchers here his performance was far from phenomenal (though admittedly he probably was the best of this group). Necciai is the first pitcher we run into who can be said to have actually played the modern game with Pittsburgh. He received 9 starts for the Pirates (12 games in all) and pitched 54.2 innings but showed little posting a 7.08 ERA.
In the under 20 start crowd we have Bill Phillips (1890), John Hofford (1885-86), Guy Hecker (1890), Dave Anderson (1890), Billy Gumbert (1890, 1892), Elmer Smith (1892, 1894) and Harry Arundel (1882). Arundel is another oversight on my part as he actually played a little shortstop in 1882. I’m not too concerned with this oversight as it only affects players who would be of no interest anyway but for full disclosure it needs pointed out. Elmer Smith was quite a successful outfielder for the Pirates and very well may make the team for his performance there but he was also a useful pitcher when needed. The 1890 season is once again quite popular. The Pirates used 20 starters that season with no one getting more than 21 starts. A lot of them were from Pennsylvania and as you will see later some of them are in the international pool as well. In this group Elmer Smith was actually the best pitcher posting a solid 3.65 ERA (12% above league average).
Remaining are 14 pitchers and this is where the race truly begins. For the previous 27 it was rare to find a pitcher who even performed at a near league average rate but in the remaining group it is going to be rare for a pitcher to perform below that level. First up in the under 300 innings crowd we have Doc (George) Medich (1976) and Rube Waddell (1900-01). Medich is our most recent pitcher so far and he was a regular starter for the ’76 team making 26 starts and appearing in 29 games. In that time he was essentially a league average pitcher posting a 3.51 ERA good enough for an exactly league average 100 ERA-. Medich earned his nickname Doc because he was a medical student at Pitt and he even put it to use in a game when he administered CPR to a spectator that had collapsed with a heart attack. Waddell was a pitcher before his time racking up strike outs in an era where strike outs weren’t too common (he really took off after leaving the Pirates for Philadelphia as he led the league for six straight seasons). He made 24 starts for the Pirates and was great in them posting the second best ERA (2.62) of all starters and when adjusted for his era he easily has the best mark at a 73 ERA-. In all he posted a 3.7 fWAR which is tied for the 8^th best mark of all starting pitchers despite having only the 13^th most innings pitched. He is one of the few players on either team to have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Pushing the threshold up to 400 innings we have Billy Rhines (1898-99) and Jim Gardner (1895, 1897-99). Rhines pitched 312 innings for the Pirates and was a serviceable starter posting a 110 ERA- and 3.5 fWAR but prior to joining the Pirates he performed even better with the Cincinnati Reds twice leading the league in ERA. Gardner is a similar story to a lot of the other pitchers I have mentioned as he should have been included in the position player list but wasn’t. In all Gardner pitched 398.1 innings and was roughly league average with a 101 ERA-.
Going up to 500 innings we find Ad Gumbert (1893-94), Mel Queen (1947-48, 1950-52) and Patsy Flaherty (1900, 1904-05). Gumbert is one of the few pitchers at this level of innings who really didn’t do that good of a job. In 431.2 innings he posted a 5.69 ERA which was 16% worse than league average. If Gumbert isn’t the worst starter in this top group than Queen probably is as he too struggled while with the Pirates posting 5.33 ERA over 432.1 innings. Flaherty is the good pitcher in this group as he is only one of three players on this list to post an ERA below 3 while with the Pirates. Outside of his time with the Pirates though Flaherty wasn’t always quite so good as he led the AL in 1903 in hits allowed and he led the NL in ER allowed in 1908. Flaherty’s numbers with the Pirates look great but it must be remembered this was during the dead ball era so in fact he ended up with a 96 ERA- and a 102 FIP- making him essentially just league average despite the great looking stats.
Of the 7 remaining pitchers 4 threw fewer than 1,000 innings. These four pitchers are Marty O'Toole (1911-14), Al Mamaux (1913-17), Mark Baldwin (1891-93) and John Smiley (1986-91). O’Toole had a great debut with the Pirates in 1911 and followed that up with a career season in 1912 when he pitched 6 shutouts (tied for the league lead) which were the only shutouts of his career. He quickly fell off after that season and was a below average pitcher for his last two seasons with the club. In all he threw 550.1 innings for the Pirates and posted a 3.17 ERA which was actually slightly below average for his time which was during the dead ball era. Mamaux is another pitcher from the dead ball era whose numbers has to be taken with a grain of salt. His 2.61 ERA is the best of all starters but when adjusted for his era it works out to just slightly better than league average. In all he produced 5.6 fWAR which consequently is the 6^th highest mark of all starters (he also has the 6^th most innings pitched of all starters). As an interesting aside that has nothing to do with his playing career Mamaux spent the offseasons performing as a vaudeville singer.
Baldwin is another pitcher who seems to be almost out of his time as he was described as not having a good curve or change but a lot of speed and gumption. Essentially meaning he threw hard and challenged hitters. Baldwin backed that up by racking up a lot of strike outs and issuing a lot of walks for his day. In all he proved to be pretty effective as his 3.14 ERA is one of the better era adjusted ERAs on the Pennsylvania staff and his 5.9 fWAR is the 5^th best mark. Smiley is the only player on this list that I feel confident saying a good chunk of the people reading this should remember. For his entire time with the Pirates Smiley ranks as just an average pitcher but a few poor seasons 1987 and 1990 drag that down. In his last season with the club Smiley was great racking up 20 wins and finishing 3^rd in the Cy Young voting. In all he produced 9.5 fWAR with the Pirates the 4^th best mark of all starting pitchers.
The top three players in terms of innings pitched are Ron Kline (1952, 1955-59, 1968-69), Bob Moose (1967-76) and Frank Killen (1893-98).Kline missed the 1953 and 1954 seasons because he was serving in the military. With the Pirates his time was split pretty evenly between starting and relieving with him making 161 starts compared to 127 relief appearances (after leaving the Pirates in 1959 he was used almost exclusively as a reliever). In all he was another mainly league average pitcher posting a 3.77 ERA which was good for exactly a 100 ERA-. His longevity as a league average pitcher led to him producing 10.0 fWAR which is the 3^rd best mark of all starters.
Moose and Killen by fWAR lap the rest of the pack coming in with 22.5 and 21.7 respectively. The duo is also first and second in wins and innings pitched. Moose had a couple of great seasons, 1969 and 1972, but for the most part was just a solid starter who went out and got the job done. His ERA- works out to an exactly league average 100 but FIP- likes him a lot better at 87. He was by no means an ace but as a solid dependable starter he was an important part of the 1971 World Series Champions. His life and career were tragically cut short when he died in a car crash just days after the 1976 season had ended. Killen along with Ed Morris is usually considered to have been one of the Pirates two best pitchers in the 19^th century. Baseball was clearly different then as Killen twice threw over 400 innings and his career ERA of 3.97 looks pedestrian by today’s standards but adjusted for era it comes out 8% better than league average. He was a very good pitcher for his time but as always making comparisons to more modern players is always quite a challenge.
International: The pool of eligible international starters is much smaller consisting of just 22 starting pitchers. The pool here is also heavily slanted towards Canada, Mexico and the Dominican Republic as 15 of the eligible 22 were born in one of those 3 countries. Every pitcher has at least 2 starts and the list tops off at 112 starts well short of what we seeing with the Pennsylvanian squad.
With two starts a piece we have Hector Fajardo (1991, Mexico) and Al Lawson (1890, United Kingdom). Lawson is yet another pitcher from that 1890 season where the Pirates it seemed were handing out starts to random strangers walking down the street. Outside of baseball Lawson made a name for himself as an aviation pioneer. Fajardo’s 2 starts were also a disaster as he had an ERA of 9.95 through only 6.1 innings. His K and BB rates were interesting as he struck out 8 in that time and walked 7. He would be traded to Texas shortly after making those two starts and played a few seasons there where he was better but still not good.
In the 4 start club we have Pete Daniels (1890, Ireland), Ramon Martinez (2001, Dominican Republic) and Jonathan Sanchez (2013, Puerto Rico). Daniels is still another random pitcher from that insane 1890 season (which as of now is really something I want to investigate farther). He had one other stint in the majors 8 years later when he pitched for the Cardinals. Martinez is the brother of the all time great pitcher Pedro Martinez who was just recently voted into the hall of fame. Another brother of theirs Jesus is one of the lost major leaguers having made it to the show but never actually having played in a game. Martinez had a long successful career with the Dodgers before reuniting with his brother in Boston for a couple of years. He opted to give the 2001 season a go with the Pirates but ended up retiring just a month into the season. Sanchez, I am sure we all recall, was a disaster a couple years ago when he surprisingly made the team out of Spring Training thanks to a handful of injuries. He is however the only qualified starting pitcher from Puerto Rico.
Rounding out the 10 start club we have one Canadian Fred Osborne (1890) and two Cubans Yoslan Herrera (2008) and Luis Tiant (1981). Osborne was primarily a hitter in 1890 but he like pretty much everyone else got to try his hand at pitching starting 5 games and appearing in relief in another 3. Herrera was basically a publicity signing by Dave Littlefield back in 2007. The signing was much hyped as he was a good pitcher in Cuba but the general consensus was that he might be able to successful make the jump but he wasn’t likely to turn into anything special. The signing didn’t pan out as he made 5 bad starts in 2008. Last year Herrera resurfaced with the Anaheim Angels where he had a few brief successful stints as a reliever. Tiant had a long 19 year career mainly with the Indians and Red Sox and in 4 of his 19 seasons he was a legitimate Cy Young candidate and he even had 3 top 11 finishes in the MVP voting. At age 40 when his career was clearly almost over Tiant signed on with the Pirates and made 9 starts which were of relatively surprising quality (109 ERA-, 89 FIP-). His career didn’t end with the Pirates though as the Angels opted to give him one final run the following season.
In the under 20 start crowd we have two Dominicans Pascual Perez (1980-81) and Victor Santos (2006). Perez began his career with the Pirates putting up parts of two rather non-distinct seasons before being traded to the Braves where he enjoyed his most success even earning one All Star appearance. Santos was a journeyman pitcher throwing for 7 different clubs across his 7 year major league career. The Pirates were stop #5 for him and he pitched about as well for them as he did with his other teams meaning not great but passable enough to get by.
The under 30 start crowd features our Canadian trio (minus Osborne who was really a position player) of Erik Bedard (2012), Bob Steele (1917-18) and Ed Bahr (1946-47). Bedard was a very interesting signing by the Pirates prior to the 2012 season because he possess plus stuff and flashed top of the rotation ability before inevitably getting injured. His time with the Pirates was more of the same he was a good starter for the first two months of the year before getting injured and from that point on he was an entirely different pitcher. That’s pretty much Bedard’s story when he’s healthy he is a good pitcher but those times seem rare. Steele was a solid arm for the Pirates during the later part of the dead ball era for about a season and a half before being sold to the New York Giants. His 2.87 ERA is easily the best of all international starters but for his era that was actually a slightly below average performance. He was still a solid pitcher for the team though as his 2.9 fWAR is the 7^th best mark of all starters. Bahr was another solid pitcher from Canada throwing 219 innings across two seasons. His era adjusted ERA- of 88 is the second best mark of all international starters. Bahr’s entire major league career was the two years he played for Pittsburgh. Steele and Bahr are our first two legitimate challengers for the international rotation.
As we continue our climb we run into two modern pitchers Wandy Rodriguez (2012-14, Dominican Republic) and Edinson Volquez (2014, Dominican Republic). A lot of negativity tends to be thrown Rodriguez’s way because of how his Pirates career ended but he represents an important moment in the Pirates turn around. The Pirates trade for Rodriguez back in 2012 was for me the move that announced they had officially arrived as contenders. He was a legitimately good starting pitcher and the Pirates paid a relatively hefty price to acquire him. The 2012 squad went on to collapse but Rodriguez was his usual solid self. The following year he once again was pitching like his solid self before an injury ended his season. He managed to return for the 2014 season but was clearly not himself making 6 terrible starts before being released. Volquez was a much maligned free agent signing before the 2014 season with large portions of the fan base not even expecting him to make it to June as a member of the rotation. As it turned out he was the only starter that managed to stay in the rotation all year long and he was a big piece of the Pirates playoff team. The peripherals don’t back it up but Volquez has the best era adjusted ERA of all starters at 86.
Just ahead of that duo we have the only Scotchman on the list, Jim McCormick (1887). At his peak McCormick was a good starter mostly for the Cleveland Blues but his one season with the Pirates came at the end of his career. McCormick just wasn’t himself in that final season. His one year with the Pirates is the only year of his 10 year career he posted an ERA above league average and it is also the only year where he walked more batters than he struck out. He still took the ball consistently completing all of his 36 starts but the results weren’t there.
Remaining we have six pitchers and conveniently they split nicely into three groups of two. The first duo consists of two pitchers both from Mexico with similar numbers but widely different pitching styles, Esteban Loaiza (1995-98) and Oliver Perez (2003-06). Loaiza didn’t have impressive stuff so he relief on good command and trying to induce weak contact. He was never a great pitcher but he consistently got the job of a back of the rotation starter done meaning he did enough to give his team a chance. In all he posted a 4.63 ERA good for a 108 ERA-. After leaving the Pirates he went on to have a long major league career and in 2013 he was still toiling around in the Mexican league so it isn’t inconceivable that he could still be active somewhere. Perez has an ERA similar to Loaiza at 4.59 good for a 107 ERA- but how he got there is completely different. Perez was a flame thrower capable of missing a lot of bats and often the strike zone. In 2004 he has what is still the best season a Pirate’s pitcher has had in the 21^st century. Unfortunately his poor control got the best of him and he fell apart for the rest of his Pirates career before being traded to the Mets. He did manage to rebound and have two quality seasons for the Mets in 2007-08 before his issues returned. He has since returned once again and now seems to have found a niche as a left handed reliever.
The next duo features two Dominicans in Jose DeLeon (1983-86) and Francisco Liriano (2013-Present). De Leon had a great rookie season for the Pirates in 1983 and followed that up with a solid campaign in 1984. However his last two years with the club didn’t go nearly as well and he was hit around pretty hard before being dealt to the White Sox for Bobby Bonilla. He continued his up and down career through 1995 and even once led the league in strike outs. His strike out ability and his inconsistent ability to pick up wins, places him with Kerry Wood as the only two pitchers to ever record 1,500 strikeouts while not eclipsing the 100 win plateau. We all know about Francisco Liriano. He was a risky pick up by the Pirates prior to the 2013 season that ended up turning into a grand find and the Pirates rewarded him this offseason with the richest free agent deal in franchise history. As far as his place on this team is concerned Liriano finds himself in a similar position to Starling Marte right now he is good enough to be right in the middle of the conversation but by the time his playing days are over with the Pirates it is not out of the question he could find himself a near lock for the team. De Leon at 7.5 fWAR and Liriano at 4.7 fWAR currently rank 3^rd and 4^th amongst all international starting pitchers.
The last duo of pitchers much like the last dup for the Pennsylvania team has a clear separation from the pack when it comes to fWAR. Placing first and second respectively we have Bert Blyleven (1978-80, Netherlands) and Francisco Cordova (1996-2000, Mexico). Blyleven edges out Cordova’s 12.2 fWAR with 12.6 fWAR. Blyleven had a long major league career stretching from 1970-1992 and is one of the few players on either team to have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. He spent most of his career with Minnesota but the three years he spent with Pittsburgh came during the middle of his career and saw him win his first World Series title in 1979. While with the Pirates he was a very solid dependable starter. He posted an ERA of 3.47 while with the team good for a 93 ERA- making him one of only 5 international starters to post a rate better than league average. To top it off at 87 he also has the best FIP- of all the starters and he is one of only three pitchers (Cordova and Liriano are the other two) to have both better than league average. His time with the Pirates ended after the Pirates obliged his request to be traded.
Cordova was signed by the Pirates out of Mexico in 1996 and immediately made the jump to the majors. In his first year he pitched primarily in relief but was a starter for basically the rest of his Pirates career. In 1997 he provided with one of my earliest Pirate memories by pitching 9 innings of no hit baseball in front of a sold out Three Rivers crowd. Ricardo Rincon came on in the 10^th to extend the no hit bid which was finally finished off by mark Smith hitting a walk off home run in the bottom of the 10^th. It was a magical moment and is still the only combined modern day extra inning no hitter recognized by major league baseball. Cordova was more than that game though as he was an excellent pitcher for the Pirates the entire 1997 and 1998 seasons. His last two seasons with the club were a bit bumpier but still solid. After the 200 season due to arm injuries he opted to retire from Major League Baseball and return to Mexico where he pitched up until 2011.
Each team has a duo that look like relatively safe bets to lead the rotation but behind them the races get a lot more wide open. Much like with the other positions feel free to chime in with your thoughts here as it is not too late to change my mind on my final rosters.