OK, I will be in Los Angeles to catch some Dodgers ball over the next couple of days—we’ll try to get some live coverage in here! — and then I’m off to Kansas City for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Hall of Game event on Saturday. We’re doing some fun stuff at the museum starting at 11 a.m. that day, and the only cost is admission, so come on out.
Our pal Tom Tango points out that something crazy is happening with starting pitchers this year. We all know that they’re throwing fewer innings than ever — unless Michael Wacha throws 5⅔ innings in his final start, there will not be a single starter in the American League with 200 innings pitched — and they’re making fewer starts than ever.
And yet, at least by Fangraphs WAR, they’re more valuable than ever.
Look at the Top 10 fWAR totals sans Shohei (who has been about as valuable this year as a pitcher and a hitter):
Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs, 10.4 WAR
Bobby Witt Jr., Royals, 6.6
Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers, 6.5
Yordan Alvarez, Astros, 6.4
Elly De La Cruz, Reds, 6.2
Cam Schlittler, Yankees, 6.1
Cristopher Sanchez, Phillies, 6.0
Chris Sale, Braves, 5.7
Jesus Luzardo, Phillies, 5.5
Dylan Cease, Blue Jays, 5.5
Six of the top 10 players by value — again, sans Shohei — are pitchers. Tango wrote that this had to be the first time in baseball history that the majority of the top 10 players in baseball were pitchers, but he was wrong, sort of. One of his readers found that it did happen … in 1971. And before that, it happened in 1890.
The thing that makes this amazing is that, as we said at the top, starting pitchers are throwing less now than at any time in baseball history. In 1971, yes, seven of the top 10 in WAR were pitchers. But look at their innings pitched!
1971 fWAR leaders:
Fergie Jenkins, Cubs, 9.6 WAR (325 innings)
Tom Seaver, Mets, 9.1 (286⅓ innings)
Vida Blue, Athletics, 8.8 (312 innings)
Wilbur Wood, White Sox, 8.7 (334 innings)
Mickey Lolich, Tigers, 8.3 (376 innings!)
Willie Stargell, Pirates, 8.2
Tom Bradley, White Sox, 7.5 (285⅔ innings)
Bert Blyleven, Twins, 7.5 (278⅓ innings)
Graig Nettles, Yankees, 7.4
Henry Aaron, Braves, 7.1
It was even more stark than that — I’m giving Aaron the tenth spot, but in fact he was tied in WAR with the Dodgers’ Don Sutton (265⅓ innings) and Detroit’s Joe Coleman (286 innings).
Point is, you could see why pitchers in 1971 were so valuable — they pitched SO many more innings and faced SO many more batters. Fergie, just as an example, faced 1,299 hitters in 1971 … Misiorowski will face about HALF that many — right now he’s at 646 batters faced. Fergie threw 30 complete games in 1971. The Miz might not throw three complete games in his entire career. He’s got one so far. Same as Tarik Skubal. Same as Paul Skenes. One more than Cam Schlittler.
So how can pitchers be SO valuable?
