Saturday Stats Pack: November 16, 2024

Dominant Strikeout Numbers, Double Plays, and Multiple Outings Pitching by a Position Player

I did something like this before and I want to bring it back. I'm unsure if it'll be every week, but let's see what happens.

225

Chris Sale now holds the 14th-best strikeout mark in franchise history over a single season - a total he shares with Vic Willis from 1902. Six of the 15 pitchers who reached the 225 mark needed at least 400 innings. There were four more seasons where a pitcher needed at least 300 innings to get there with Phil Niekro doing it twice. John Smoltz became the first Brave to reach 225 strikeouts in fewer than 300 innings in 1996. He'd accomplish the feat again the following year.

It took a dozen years for another Brave to do it - Javier Vazquez. Another 14 years passed before Spencer Strider in 2023. And now, Sale.

But Sale also reached 225 strikeouts in fewer than 180 innings. That was the eleventh time in baseball history that a pitcher finished with at least 225 strikeouts without getting to 180 innings. Kerry Wood did it in 1998. It took 20 years before another pitcher was able to accomplish it. That pitcher? Chris Sale in 2018. Four more pitchers did it in 2019, three in 2021, and Carlos Rodon was the last pitcher to accomplish the feat before Sale.

23

Marcell Ozuna grounded into 23 double plays during the 2024 season. It was the second time Ozuna had hit the 20 DPs mark. But how often do players ground into at least 20 twin killings, you may or may not be asking? If we look at the Wild Card era (since 1995), there have been sixteen instances of a Brave grounding into at least 20 double plays. Matt Kemp (2017) and Andrelton Simmons (2014) share the unfortunate title of most DPs since 1995 by a Brave. Kemp's was even more notable because he's the only player who needed fewer than 525 PA to get to 20 double plays. He grounded in 25 twin killings in just 467 PA. Talk about a rally killer, am I right?

The most seasons of 20 or more? It's shared by 6 players who did it twice: Vinny Castilla (2002 & 2003), Yunel Escobar (2008 & 2009), Chris Johnson (20013 & 2014), Chipper Jones (1999 & 2007), Javy Lopez (1998 & 2000), and Fred McGriff (1996 & 1997). The only other person on this list that I haven't mentioned is Andruw Jones (2004). Interestingly enough, there were nine other seasons of 19 double plays. A.J. Pierzynski tried to be as prolific as Kemp, but in 2015, he only reached 19 in 436 PA.

3

Some games got pretty ugly for the 2024 Braves. Luke Williams, a position player, was called on to pitch in these blowouts three times. That's one more time than Nicky Lopez in 2023. Now, it's difficult to quickly search up position players pitching - let alone only include guys who did it for the Braves. The best available list I've found has over 900 guys on it and no way to sort them by team or year. But I will make the assumption based on watching the Braves for as long as I have - and knowing how much Bobby Cox hated the idea of using a position player as a pitcher - that if a guy like Luke Williams pitched three games in a single season with the Braves, it was a long time ago.

I can assure you, however, that a position player has pitched more than three times in a single season in recent history and I don't mean Shohei Ohtani. In 2023, Zack Short pitched six times for the Tigers. Yeah, six times. Knowing that, it's weird that Luis Guillermo pitched for the Braves last season and not Short.

7

So, it wasn't a divisional title, but for the seventh consecutive season, the Atlanta Braves made it to the playoffs. Barely. Somehow. Almost shockingly. Nevertheless, however brief, the Braves punched their ticket. Sure, in other years, they wouldn't have made it, but what I need you to know is that since 2018, the Braves have had their chance to win it all.

We talk a lot about 14 consecutive division titles, but it's always had an asterisk. As 1994's season came to a close with a player's strike, it's really three seasons before '94 and eleven after. Now, I get it. 1994 didn't technically have a playoff so, in a way, there was no divisional champion. But the Expos were leading the division by six games when the season ended. The Braves may have been the Wild Card team that year, but the Astros were only 2.5 games behind them at the time so that's not a given.

I guess what I am trying to say is that if you go by actual playoff appearances in consecutive years, the Braves have appeared in seven straight right now and that's only four behind tying their franchise record.

15

Here's something kind of odd that tells the story of the 2024 Atlanta Braves. During the season, 15 different position players started at least 35 games. In contrast, only eleven players reached that mark in 2023. In 2022, fourteen did appear in at least 35 games so that was very close. In the championship season of 2021, 13 players, including Abraham Almonte, started at least 35 games. Funny enough, in 2018, that mark was just ten - though not having a DH helps.

That last fact is probably pretty key here. The Braves tended to max out at 14 or less in previous years - even the tough rebuild years - of players starting 35 games in the field.

To find another instance where at least 15 players started at least 35 games, we have to go pretty far back. 2010 was almost a match, but Rick Ankiel started 34 games and David Ross started 33. 2009 was almost a perfect comparison, but Ryan Church maxed out at 34 starts. The Baby Braves year of 2005 also finish one short with Pete Orr only starting 21 games as a possible 15th. A similar result in 2002 as B.J. Surhoff, the possible 15th guy, only started 20 games.

But finally, there is a match - the 2001 Braves. Probably the most comparable Braves team from the previous run of success, the 2001 team won just 88 games. Sustained injuries at second base and shortstop opened up playing time while the project to find a first baseman led the team to cycle between Rico Brogna, Wes Helms, and Ken Caminiti before settling on Julio Franco - who didn't hit the 35-game threshold. But overall, 15 players started at least 35 games. In fact, they nearly made it to a sweet sixteen, but Keith Lockhart finished with 34 starts.

There you have it - a few random oddball numbers for your Saturday. Now, let's go watch some football.