Having just vented on how much I hate seeing 21 year olds in a major
league rotation, I thought I'd journey back through time and see if this franchise has ever made such a thing work.
(HINT - They have. Once or twice.But it was a long, long time ago.)
Here's a little list - not quite worthy of being called a Data Table. It's every pitcher that that the Toronto Blue Jays have ever put into a major league rotation for the first time in that pitcher's career. By which I mean, they go into the rotation and stay there for at least a month. That way we skip the three week fill-ins, like Luis Perez last year. But we catch the guys who didn't make it through a full year. Or even half a year. Giovanni Carrara, Paul Menhart and their ilk (rotation for three weeks, bullpen for two months, rotation for three weeks) don't quite make the cut. Obviously the Blue Jays aren't responsible for guys like Tom Underwood (1975 Phillies, age 21) or Al Leiter (1988 Yankees, age 22);
By my count there have been 48 such pitchers in the team's 36 seasons. They've gone on to start 5813 games in the major leagues. That's an an average of 121.1 per pitcher, ranging from David Wells 489 starts all the way down to Mark Eichhorn's 7. (The median figure, which might be more relevant, would be Dustin McGowan's 60.)
And of those 48, how many were able to go into the rotation and just stay there for - oh, let's say three seasons. Without having to be dispatched back to the minors, or exiled to the bullpen, or placed on the disabled list.
Well, by my count, Ricky Romero is the fifth. He joins Dave Stieb, Luis Leal, Jimmy Key, and Pat Hentgen.
You might argue for Todd Stottlemyre, who was able to stick on his second kick at the can in 1989. You might argue for Juan Guzman (although he was effectively on the shelf for six weeks in his first full season.) But that's it.
As far as the 21 year olds go, there's a enormous caveat to the one roaring success. Dave Stieb, 21 years old when the 1979 season began, had at that point pitched a grand total of 20 IP as a pro. That's right. Twenty. And seeing as he was an outfielder at college, it's not like he racked up a lot of innings there. Jim Clancy certainly had a solid career, but he was wildly inconsistent and injuries of various kinds took a big bite of several of his early seasons (1979 and 1981 especially.)
Because context is always a fine thing, let's carry out the same exercise for the other three AL East teams that have been around since 1977. The Red Sox have broken in 43 starters over those 36 seasons. The youngest of them all was the best of them all.
Finally, the Orioles have been floundering for much of the last 30 years, and they've introduced no less than 52 pitchers to a major league rotation, most of them since 1985. In the early years, they were introducing guys like Scott McGregor and Dennis martinez. Solutions made to last. It's been a while since they came up with one of those guys, and the last one they found (Mike Mussina) ended up going to - where else - the Yankees.
(HINT - They have. Once or twice.But it was a long, long time ago.)
Here's a little list - not quite worthy of being called a Data Table. It's every pitcher that that the Toronto Blue Jays have ever put into a major league rotation for the first time in that pitcher's career. By which I mean, they go into the rotation and stay there for at least a month. That way we skip the three week fill-ins, like Luis Perez last year. But we catch the guys who didn't make it through a full year. Or even half a year. Giovanni Carrara, Paul Menhart and their ilk (rotation for three weeks, bullpen for two months, rotation for three weeks) don't quite make the cut. Obviously the Blue Jays aren't responsible for guys like Tom Underwood (1975 Phillies, age 21) or Al Leiter (1988 Yankees, age 22);
By my count there have been 48 such pitchers in the team's 36 seasons. They've gone on to start 5813 games in the major leagues. That's an an average of 121.1 per pitcher, ranging from David Wells 489 starts all the way down to Mark Eichhorn's 7. (The median figure, which might be more relevant, would be Dustin McGowan's 60.)
Career
Age Pitcher Year Starts
20 Jeff Byrd 1977 17
21 Jim Clancy 1977 381
21 Jerry Garvin 1977 65
21 Phil Huffman 1979 32
21 Dave Stieb 1979 412
21 Mark Eichhorn 1982 7
21 Brandon Lyon 2001 21 (Active)
21 Henderson Alvarez 2011 31 (Active)
21 Drew Hutchison 2012 11 (Active)
22 Butch Edge 1979 9
22 Jim Gott 1982 96
22 Chris Carpenter 1997 329 (Active)
22 Kelvim Escobar 1998 202
22 Roy Halladay 1999 366 (Active)
22 Jesse Litsch 2007 67 (Active)
22 Brett Cecil 2009 73 (Active)
23 Joey McLaughlin 1980 12
23 Todd Stottlemyre 1988 339
23 Denis Boucher 1991 26
23 Marty Janzen 1996 11
23 Dustin McGowan 2005 60 (Active)
23 Mark Rzepczynski 2009 23 (Active)
23 Kyle Drabek 2011 30 (Active)
24 Luis Leal 1981 151
24 Jimmy Key 1985 389
24 Juan Guzman 1991 240
24 Pat Hentgen 1993 306
24 Justin Miller 2002 33
24 Dave Bush 2004 187 (Active)
24 Gustavo Chacin 2005 58
24 Shaun Marcum 2006 141 (Active)
24 Casey Janssen 2006 22 (Active)
24 Ricky Romero 2009 115 (Active)
25 Jeff Musselman 1988 19
25 Edwin Hurtado 1995 15
26 Paul Mirabella 1980 33
26 Juan Berenguer 1981 95
26 John Cerutti 1986 116
26 David Purcey 2008 21 (Active)
27 David Wells 1990 489
27 Huck Flener 1996 12
27 Robert Person 1997 135
29 Woody Williams 1996 330
29 Mark Hendrickson 2003 166 (Active)
29 Scott Richmond 2009 29 (Active)
30 Chris Michalak 2001 24
31 Brian Tallet 2009 36
33 Pete Walker 2002 31
And of those 48, how many were able to go into the rotation and just stay there for - oh, let's say three seasons. Without having to be dispatched back to the minors, or exiled to the bullpen, or placed on the disabled list.
Well, by my count, Ricky Romero is the fifth. He joins Dave Stieb, Luis Leal, Jimmy Key, and Pat Hentgen.
You might argue for Todd Stottlemyre, who was able to stick on his second kick at the can in 1989. You might argue for Juan Guzman (although he was effectively on the shelf for six weeks in his first full season.) But that's it.
As far as the 21 year olds go, there's a enormous caveat to the one roaring success. Dave Stieb, 21 years old when the 1979 season began, had at that point pitched a grand total of 20 IP as a pro. That's right. Twenty. And seeing as he was an outfielder at college, it's not like he racked up a lot of innings there. Jim Clancy certainly had a solid career, but he was wildly inconsistent and injuries of various kinds took a big bite of several of his early seasons (1979 and 1981 especially.)
Because context is always a fine thing, let's carry out the same exercise for the other three AL East teams that have been around since 1977. The Red Sox have broken in 43 starters over those 36 seasons. The youngest of them all was the best of them all.
21 Roger Clemens 1984 707The Yankees have generally found the tedious business of developing young pitchers to be beneath them; they generally prefer to buy them ready-made. They've broken in just 32 starters.
22 Don Aase 1977 91
22 Bob Stanley 1977 85
22 Bob Ojeda 1980 291
22 Jeff Sellers 1986 51
22 Kevin Morton 1991 15
22 Jeff Suppan 1997 417
22 Brian Rose 1998 54
22 Jon Lester 2006 176
23 Mike Paxton 1977 63
23 Steve Crawford 1981 16
23 Dennis Boyd 1983 207
23 Rob Woodward 1987 14
23 Aaron Sele 1993 352
23 Paxton Crawford 2001 11
23 Casey Fossum 2001 120
23 Clay Buchholz 2008 94
23 Justin Masterson 2008 109
24 Bruce Hurst 1982 359
24 Mike Brown 1983 42
24 Chuck Rainey 1979 106
24 Paul Quantrill 1993 64
24 Tomo Ohka 2000 178
24 Felix Doubront 2012 23
25 Allen Ripley 1978 67
25 John Tudor 1979 263
25 Al Nipper 1984 124
25 Mike Trujillo 1985 22
25 Eric Hetzel 1989 19
25 Mike Gardiner 1991 46
25 Tim VanEgmond 1994 17
25 Kason Gabbard 2007 31
26 Brian Denman 1982 9
26 Gar Finnvold 1994 8
26 Vaughn Eshelman 1995 30
26 Daisuke Matsuzaka 2007 110
27 Jim Wright 1978 28
27 Wes Gardner 1988 44
27 Steve Ellsworth 1988 7
27 Daniel Bard 2012 10
28 Tom Bolton 1990 56
29 Dana Kiecker 1990 30
20 Gene Nelson 1981 68
21 Phil Hughes 2007 92
22 Dave Righetti 1981 89
22 Al Leiter 1988 382
22 Sam Militello 1992 11
22 Sterking Hitchcock 1993 200
22 Joba Chamberlain 2008 43
23 Jim Beattie 1978 182
23 Mike Griffin 1980 24
23 Doug Drabek 1986 387
23 Bob Wickman 1992 23
23 Andy Pettitte 1995 488
23 Ian Kennedy 2008 98
23 Ivan Nova 2010 55
24 Dave Eiland 1991 70
24 Jeff Johnson 1991 33
24 Ramiro Mendoza 1996 62
25 Ray Fontenot 1983 62
25 Dennis Rasmussen 1984 235
25 Bob Tewksbury 1986 277
25 Wade Taylor 1991 22
25 Mariano Rivera 1995 10
25 Randy Keisler 2001 20
25 Chien-Ming Wang 2005 119
26 Ron Guidry 1977 323
27 Jay Howell 1983 21
27 Clay Parker 1989 27
27 Scott Kamienicki 1991 138
27 Kei Igawa 2007 13
27 Darrell Rasner 2008 30
28 Hideki Irabu 1997 80
31 Jose Contreras 2003 175
32 Orlando Hernandez 1998 211
Finally, the Orioles have been floundering for much of the last 30 years, and they've introduced no less than 52 pitchers to a major league rotation, most of them since 1985. In the early years, they were introducing guys like Scott McGregor and Dennis martinez. Solutions made to last. It's been a while since they came up with one of those guys, and the last one they found (Mike Mussina) ended up going to - where else - the Yankees.
20 Hayden Penn 2005 15
21 Storm Davis 1983 239
21 Sidney Ponson 1998 278
21 Chris Tillman 2009 41
22 John Habyan 1986 18
22 Pete Harnisch 1989 318
22 Ben McDonald 1990 198
22 Mike Mussina 1991 536
22 Arthur Rhodes 1992 61
22 Rocky Coppinger 1996 32
22 John Parrish 2000 16
22 John Stephens 2002 11
22 Adam Loewen 2006 29
22 Brian Matusz 2009 68
23 Dennis Martinez 1978 562
23 Eric Bell 1987 34
23 Jeff Ballard 1987 118
23 Jose Bautista 1988 49
23 Jimmy Haynes 1996 203
23 Daniel Cabrera 2004 155
23 Garrett Olson 2007 44
23 Brad Bergeson 2009 59
23 Zach Britton 2011 32
24 Scott McGregor 1978 309
24 Bob Milacki 1989 125
24 Jose Mesa 1990 95
24 Anthony Telford 1990 9
24 Josh Towers 2001 112
24 John Maine 2005 105
24 David Hernandez 2009 27
24 Jake Arrieta 2010 58
25 Mike Boddicker 1983 309
25 Ken Dixon 1985 68
25 Oswaldo Peraza 1988 15
25 Rick Krivda 1995 36
25 Eric Bedard 2004 185
25 Radhames Liz 2008 21
25 Jason Berken 2009 24
26 Allan Ramirez 1983 10
26 Mike Oquist 1994 79
26 Willis Roberts 2001 18
26 Rodrigo Lopez 2002 215
26 Brian Burres 2007 56
26 Wei-Yu Chen 2012 21
27 Sammy Stewart 1982 25
27 Eric DuBose 2003 27
27 Chris Waters 2008 12
28 Mark Williamson 1988 15
29 Dave Johnson 1989 57
29 Brian Holton 1989 16
30 Travis Driskill 2002 19
30 Alfredo Simon 2011 19
