Pitchers with great starts who I bet you don’t remember

Before John Farrell was the Blue Jays' manager, he had a very promising start as a major league pitcher, but that didn't pan out.Icon SMI

Following are some pitchers from 1980 on who had great starts to their careers but you probably don’t remember them.

Here is a subset (chosen by me) of the guys who, since 1980, had a bunch of starts within the first 10 of their careers with at least 7 innings pitched and no more than 2 earned runs allowed:

OK, I’m sure you’ve heard of some of these guys, but I bet at least a few of the names are new.

Check out the career stats for this group:

Rk Player IP From To Age G GS ERA ERA+ Tm
1 Jay Tibbs 862.2 1984 1990 22-28 158 133 4.20 91 CIN-MON-BAL-TOT
2 Jose Rosado 720.1 1996 2000 21-25 125 112 4.27 114 KCR
3 John Farrell 698.2 1987 1996 24-33 116 109 4.56 92 CAL-CLE-DET
4 Chris Codiroli 670.1 1982 1990 24-32 144 108 4.87 79 OAK-CLE-KCR
5 Ryan Rupe 476.2 1999 2003 24-28 89 84 5.85 81 TBD-BOS
6 Mike Dunne 474.1 1987 1992 24-29 85 76 4.08 93 PIT-TOT-SDP-CHW
7 Randy O’Neal 440.2 1984 1990 23-29 142 46 4.35 92 DET-TOT-STL-PHI-SFG
8 Marty Bystrom 435.0 1980 1985 21-26 84 79 4.26 87 PHI-TOT-NYY
9 Bob Stoddard 433.1 1981 1987 24-30 119 45 4.03 104 SEA-DET-SDP-KCR
10 Brian Tollberg 307.1 2000 2003 27-30 53 52 4.48 91 SDP
11 Mike Grace 275.2 1995 1999 25-29 68 40 4.96 89 PHI
12 Phil Leftwich 202.0 1993 1996 24-27 34 34 4.99 95 CAL
13 Andy Rincon 106.2 1980 1982 21-23 20 15 3.12 118 STL
14 Jim Neidlinger 74.0 1990 1990 25-25 12 12 3.28 113 LAD
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/8/2012.

Some of these guys stuck around for quite a few years and some had some decent careers.

But then there’s a guy like Jim Neidlinger–he pitched just that one season for the Dodgers, and pitched well. He went back to AAA for 1991 and after a few more years ended up retiring without making it back to the majors.

All of the guys at the bottom of the list–Tollberg, Grace, Leftwich, Rincon, and Neidlinger–had careers with one team in the majors but didn’t get much more than the equivalent of one full season.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

21 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
kds
kds
12 years ago

I would expect more pitchers to start off hot and then cool off than batters. Form a pitchers perspective he wants to throw a certain pitch to a certain spot. Scouting can help him choose what pitch to what spot, but actually seeing the batter is not important. For the batter the scouting info can be useful, but actually seeing the pitcher is absolutely required, unless his stuff is so transparent that you can tell immediately the fastball over the plate from the slider low and away, etc. And a pitcher who cannot prevent identification of his pitches probably doesn’t… Read more »

Hartvig
Hartvig
12 years ago

I know I had Rosado on my Fantasy team at least 1 season back in the day…

Mike L
Mike L
12 years ago

I remember Jose Rosado-he wasn’t a fluke at all, but the Royals burned his arm out. He made the All Star team in 1999 with an ERA+ of 130, but was really abused with high pitch counts. We was finished the following year. Hard to imagine that would happen these days, with cheap pre-free agent contracts being so highly values.

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

So I’m looking into this notion that high pitch counts burned out Rosado’s arm, and I find that yes, in 1999 he had 9 games of 120+ pitches, with a high of 134. But then I look at what others were doing in 1999, and I find this: — 9 other pitchers had more than 9 games of 120+ pitches, and 2 more had exactly 9. — Those 12 pitchers (including Rosado) averaged 1,228 more IP after 1999, and only Rosado saw his career end the following season. Ten of the 12 pitched at least 800 more innings after 1999,… Read more »

Mike L
Mike L
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

John A, I yield to what Bill Nye likes to say, “science rules”
Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be for Rosado. Just curious, thoght. Wouldn’t that group tend to be self-selecting? The only way you have high pitch counts is because you are good enough to stay in games?

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

“Wouldn’t that group tend to be self-selecting? The only way you have high pitch counts is because you are good enough to stay in games?” Mike, it’s a reasonable question. But there’s far more “self-selecting” done by those who cry “abuse!” every time a young pitcher gets hurt. I don’t mean to aim that charge at you, by the way. But if you want to say that Rosado was abused with high pitch counts — and obviously his career did end abruptly the year after he had several high-pitch games — I don’t know what other group to compare him… Read more »

Mike L
Mike L
12 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

John A, I have no idea whether he was actually abused. I did a ten minute google search after I read your response, and it seems a lot of people thought he was abused. Maybe they were all unfair accusations or urban legend.

I am interested in players who flame out because of injuries. Whether that’s due to overwork, or whether it just would have happened needs to be proven by more than circumstance, so I will agree with you.

Ed
Ed
12 years ago

Some of these guys have interesting stories: Rosado won the 1997 all-star game and also gave up Paul Molitor’s 3,000th hit. His career was off to a great start but was ended by a torn rotator cuff. Rincon pitched quite well as a 21 year old in 1980. He made the team out of spring training in 1981 and was off to a great start but his season was ended on May 9th by a line drive off the bat of Phil Garner which broke his arm. (why he was still pitching in the 8th inning of a 13-0 game… Read more »

James Smyth
12 years ago

Another interesting note involving Molitor and a pitcher on this list. John Farrell, in his second start, helped end Molitor’s 39-game hitting streak.

Farrell and Teddy Higuera matched zeroes for nine innings of three-hit ball and after Teddy worked a scoreless tenth, Farrell was removed for Doug Jones.

The Brewers rallied in the bottom of the inning, with Rick Manning knocking home the winning run…with an 0-for-4 Molitor in the on-deck circle.

nightfly
12 years ago
Reply to  Andy

Rick Manning tried to kneel at first base, but wound up falling backwards and sitting on it.

CursedClevelander
CursedClevelander
12 years ago
Reply to  nightfly

How many guys besides Rick Manning can say that they were booed by their own fans for getting a game-winning hit?

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago

It’s out of the time frame, but – KARL SPOONER with the 1954 Dodgers, first two MLB games:
two games started; two shutout wins, 7 hits total, 27/6 K/BB ratio – WOW, is this the best pitching debut ever?

rest of his MLB career:
1955/ 8W-6L, 98 IP, 3.65 ERA (112 ERA+), 2 WS games, one start (loss)

B-R Bullpen says he had arm troubles in 1955, which seem to have carried over till 1956 (he only pitched in four games in the minors). He did pitch in the minors till 1958.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

In July 1953 Al Worthington of the Giants pitched shut-outs in his first two ML appearances, giving up 6 hits. He then did an about face and his next 16 appearances were all in losing games (he did not lose them all).
He finished with a career record of 75-82.

John Autin
Editor
12 years ago

Wow — shutting out the 1953 Dodgers is quite a feat! That was the only shutout they suffered all year. And in cozy Ebbets Field, no less, where they averaged 6.6 R/G!

And their lineup was at full strength — Reese, Snider, Campanella, Hodges, Furillo, Jackie….

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BRO/1953-schedule-scores.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BRO/BRO195307110.shtml

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago
Reply to  Lawrence Azrin

Dave Ferriss and Johnny Marcum also started their careers with 2 shut-outs. Ferriss began his career with 22 consecutive innings, a record.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
12 years ago

Make that 22 consecutive scoreless innings.

Jeff Allen
Jeff Allen
12 years ago

Mike Dunne, Topps All-Star Rookie in 1988. I basically remember everyone who played in 1987 by their 1988 Topps card. Except for Codiroli and Stoddard, who both had no 1988 card. The only Stoddard I remember is Tim. I do remember Codiroli from an earlier card, which I believe was his 1987 Fleer.

DaveR
DaveR
12 years ago

I remember that 1980 World Series. There was something significant about having two rookies, Bystrom and Bob Walk, starting games in that series, but I can’t recall exactly what it was.

Kahuna Tuna
Kahuna Tuna
12 years ago
Reply to  DaveR

It set the stage perfectly for two rookies to start World Series games the following year: Fernando Valenzuela and Dave Righetti.