Young Pitchers

Today was going to be the conclusion of the "Lowest OPS..." series, but with the unfortunate passing of Cincinnati Reds pitcher and broadcaster Joe Nuxhall, I wanted to look at pitchers that debuted in the major leagues before their eighteenth birthday.

On Baseball-Reference.com, a player's age during a given season is considered to be their age on June 30th of that year. This means a player like Geoff Jenkins, who turned 33 on July 21, 2007, was considered to be 32 all year. I bring this up because I may miss a couple players who debuted early in the season (as 17-year-olds) and turned 18 before June 30, making it look like they debuted during their age-18 season. A cursory check indicates no one fell through the cracks this way but, like always, if you think I'm in error, let me know.

Here are the pitchers since 1901 that debuted before their 18th birthday, sorted by the most games pitched through their age-17 season:

• Jim Derrington, 1956-1957, 21
• Carl Scheib, 1943-1944, 21
• Bob Feller, 1936, 14
• Bob Miller, 1953, 13
• Art Houtteman, 1945, 13
• Rogers McKee, 1944-1945, 5
• Ron Moeller, 1956, 4
• Chuck Stobbs, 1947, 4
• Larry Dierker, 1964, 3
• Claude Osteen, 1957, 3
• Mike McCormick, 1956, 3
• Joey Jay, 1953, 3
• Dave Skaugstad, 1957, 2
• Jay Dahl, 1963, 1
• Stover McIlwain, 1957, 1
• George Werley, 1956, 1
• Harry Macpherson, 1944, 1
• Joe Nuxhall, 1944, 1
• Charlie Osgood, 1944, 1
• Chris Haughey, 1943, 1
• Lefty Weinert, 1919, 1