Errors Down on the Farm

Quick! How many major league players were charged with thirty or more errors in 2008? Give up? The answer is only one. Last year's error king was none other than Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Mark Reynolds. He is the first player to reach 30 errors since Edgar Renteria struggled at short for the Red Sox in 2005. I wonder if the stress of his major league record 204 strikeouts followed him into the field? Second place in 2008 went to Edwin Encarnacion of the Reds with 23 errors. Four other players committed twenty or more errors: Hanley Ramirez (22), Yuniesky Betancourt (21), Jorge Cantu (20), and Joe Crede (20). You can see the full list at mlb.com here.

Errors aren't a very good way to measure a player's defense. What is scored as an error by one official scorer may very well be ruled a hit by another. The ability of a first baseman to scoop balls out of the dirt or catch other wild throws can have a big impact on the error totals of his teammates. Errors alone don't tell you about a player's range. The list goes on. Of course, if you manage to make a high number of errors, chances are you're not the best on defense.

With all that said, when it comes to defense in the minor leagues, errors are what you hear about most. A minor league notes column might say something like this, "Player So-and-So committed his 27th error of the season last night," and go on to briefly talk about the player's struggles. Sometimes you'll hear about how high error totals in the minors don't mean a player will be terrible in the majors: Jimmy Rollins committed 29 errors in the Florida State League, Derek Jeter had 56 errors in 1993, Omar Vizquel reached 25 errors for the Salinas Spurs before So-and-So was born, those guys turned out pretty well, etc. Other times the player's error total will be used to suggest he'd be better off in the outfield or as a designated hitter.

What you don't often see is where Player So-and-So ranks in the league by total errors. Maybe if So-and-So is leading the league, that will be noted, but it's not usually mentioned if he's third or fourth or fifth, and so on. It's hard to look up minor league rankings for errors, too, so it's hard to get a feel for where guys fit in.

As part of my looking at minor league fielding stats from Baseball-Reference.com I've put together a list of players who committed the most total errors in the minors, regardless of level, league, or position. For example, Gustavo Nunez in the Tigers organization committed 7 errors as a shortstop in the Gulf Coast League, seven as a shortstop in the Florida State League, and four as a second baseman in the FSL. In my list he shows up as having committed 18 errors. Simple as pie.

It turns out that while Mark Reynolds was the only major leaguer to top thirty errors, thirty-four minor league players got there. I've listed them below. Positions are shown the way Baseball-Reference.com does it.

Most Total Errors Committed in the Minor Leagues in 2008

Rank	Name	Pos	Team	Level	MLB Team	Inn	Total Chances	Errors
1	Ryan Adams	*4/65	Delmarva	A	BAL	876.2	521	52
2	Marcus Lemon	*6	Bakersfield	A+	TEX	1023.2	532	43
3	Carmen Angelini	*6	Charleston	A	NYY	1127.2	564	42
4	Audy Ciriaco	*6	West Michigan	A	DET	936.1	510	41
5	Daniel Mayora	*64	Modesto	A+	COL	1071.0	588	40
6	Ronald Ramirez	*64	Tri-City Lexington	A- A	HOU	895.2	503	39
7	P.J. Phillips	*6/7	Rancho Cucamonga	A+	LAA	1064.0	629	38
	Reynaldo Navarro	*6	Missoula	R	ARI	613.0	406	38
9	Domnit Bolivar	*56/4	Batavia Quad Cities	A- A	STL	970.0	391	37
	Carlos George	*64	AZL Brewers	R	MIL	373.0	217	37
11	Helder Velazquez	*64/5	Asheville	A	COL	947.0	502	36
	Matthew Cline	*654	West Virginia Brevard County	A A+	MIL	946.2	484	36
	Steven Souza	*5/6	Vermont Hagerstown	A- A	WSN	578.2	202	36
14	Brent Brewer	*6/5	West Virginia Brevard County	A A+	MIL	999.1	545	35
	Charlie Culberson	*6	Augusta	A	SFG	695.1	354	35
16	Derrick Mitchell	*4	Lakewood	A	PHI	919.0	527	33
	Lance Zawadzki	*64/5	Fort Wayne San Antonio	A AA	SDP	961.2	482	33
	Craig Corrado	*4/5	Lexington	A	HOU	933.0	392	33
	Burt Reynolds	*5	Princeton	R	TBR	431.2	161	33
20	Elvis Andrus	*6	Frisco	AA	TEX	960.1	574	32
	Mat Gamel	*5	Huntsville Nashville	AA AAA	MIL	1142.2	377	32
	Tony Blanco	*57/3	Modesto Tulsa	A+ AA	OAK COL	711.1	232	32
23	Jonathan Greene	*5/3	Clinton	A	TEX	1062.1	388	31
	Jim Negrych	*54	Lynchburg Altoona	A+ AA	PIT	944.2	386	31
25	Jose Coronado	*6/4	Binghamton	AA	NYM	1199.0	643	30
	Nathan Samson	*64	Peoria Iowa	A AAA	CHC	1121.0	627	30
	Angel Gonzalez	*46/5	Lynchburg Altoona	A+ AA	PIT	1000.0	624	30
	Renny Osuna	*46/5	Clinton Bakersfield	A A+	TEX	1066.2	619	30
	Greg Paiml	*6/4	Kannapolis Winston-Salem	A A+	CHW	1060.2	580	30
	Ruben Tejada	*6	St. Lucie	A+	NYM	1099.1	580	30
	Fidel Hernandez	*6	Clearwater	A+	PHI	1029.1	554	30
	Frank Martinez	456	Stockton Midland	A+ AA	OAK	1078.1	489	30
	Pedro Baez	*5/6	Ogden Great Lakes	R A	LAD	1015.2	337	30
	Justin Baum	*5/4	Fort Wayne	A	SDP	966.2	287	30

It's hard to be a low-minors infielder, I guess. The two guys on the list who reached AAA were only there briefly, so I guess AA is the highest level for elevated error totals. I don't know if that's because bad defense holds players back or if players really improve their defense by the time they reach the top level of the minors. I suppose it could also be that error-prone players who reach AAA probably have a bat that begs for a mid-season call-up, limiting their opportunity to make errors in the minors.

Whatever the reason, you must have noticed everyone on the above list is an infielder. Obviously, they have more opportunities to commit errors. But what about their brethren in the outfield? Twenty minor leaguers reached double digits in errors while lumbering around out on the grass.

Most Total Errors Committed in the Minor Leagues in 2008
(outfield only)

Rank	Name	Team	Level	MLB Team	Innings	Total Chances	Errors
1	Luis Terrero	Norfolk	AAA	BAL	833.0	207	13
2	Ambiorix Concepcion	Binghamton	AA	NYM	1011.2	258	12
	D'Marcus Ingram	Quad Cities	A	STL	633.0	178	12
	Carlos Peguero	High Desert	A+	SEA	479.1	125	12
5	Gerardo Parra	Visalia Mobile	A+ AA	ARI	1037.1	290	11
	Maiko Loyola	Columbus	A	TBR	1004.1	272	11
	Michael McBryde	San Jose	A+	SFG	1045.1	269	11
	Mark Dolenc	Beloit	A	MIN	965.1	221	11
	Maximo Mendez	Wisconsin	A	SEA	948.0	213	11
	Michael Mooney	San Jose Connecticut Fresno	A+ AA AAA	SFG	678.0	165	11
	Shane Keough	Kane County	A	OAK	640.0	131	11
12	Jason Place	Lancaster	A+	BOS	977.2	250	10
	Austin Krum	Charleston	A	NYY	1124.1	238	10
	Dominic Brown	Lakewood	A	PHI	994.1	230	10
	Moises Sierra	Lansing	A	TOR	1112.2	223	10
	Maurice Gartrell	Birmingham	AA	CHW	821.1	187	10
	Ben Revere	Beloit	A	MIN	660.2	175	10
	Javis Diaz	Lake Elsinore Portland	A+ AAA	SDP	678.1	153	10
	Brendan Katin	Nashville	AAA	MIL	645.1	136	10
	Tony Brown	Billings	R	CIN	475.2	85	10

Unlike the infielders, error-prone outfielders show up at all levels. Tony Brown's sub-.900 fielding percentage is kind of sad. I assume he must have a pretty wild arm behind all those errors. I believe Luis Terrero is the only one on this list to have played in the majors.

Here's some useless trivia: catcher Gabriel Gutierrez, a Dodgers farmhand, handled the most chances (365) in the minors last year without committing an error. The non-catcher with the most errorless chances was Jonathan Van Every of the Red Sox with 306. Blakeney Billings, the 2008 16th round pick of the Brewers, committed two errors in his only two fielding chances of 2008. It's good to see he picked up the Brewers' defensive philosophy so quickly. Ten other minor league pitchers committed an error in their only fielding chance. Finally, who says a pitcher is a fifth infielder? Scott Mueller in the Baltimore system managed to record 110 outs on mound without a single fielding chance.

Rookie of the Year Voting Troubles

If you've paid attention to baseball news this week, you saw that Rays third baseman Evan Longoria and Cubs catcher Geovany Soto picked up the Rookie of the Year awards in their respective leagues. Their selections were unsurprising, but the full voting results for the NL award have caused a stir.

From mlb.com:

2008 NL Rookie of the Year Voting
Player, Club	1st	2nd	3rd	Points
Geovany Soto, CHC	31	1		158
Joey Votto, CIN	1	21	8	76
Jair Jurrjens, ATL		6	16	34
Edinson Volquez, CIN*		3		9
Jay Bruce, CIN			7	7
Kosuke Fukudome, CHC		1	1	4
* Volquez received votes despite being ineligible as a rookie.

Yes, Reds pitcher Edinson Volquez got votes despite not being a rookie. The crazy thing about it is that the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA), the group that votes for the award, set the criteria. I'm hardly alone in shaking my head at how knowledgable baseball writers could screw up the rules for their own award.

I realize that Volquez was called a rookie in a lot of places all through the season, but I would think there'd be some double- or triple-checking when it comes to voting for such a prestigious award. Imagine if the vote had been closer, say, within nine points. Those three second-place votes going to Volquez would have meant a lot then. Luckily for everyone involved, the race wasn't close.

For a refresher, here is the current definition of rookie status on mlb.com:

A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list).

I'll grant the 45 days' service time part is pretty confusing. But the first part of the definition can be checked by looking at the back of a given player's baseball card! The backs of baseball cards still have at bats and innings pitched listed, right? They even total them up at the bottom for you.

Edinson Volquez came into 2008 with a total of 80 career innings pitched. This made him just as ineligible for the Rookie of the Year award as Rick Vanden Hurk, Philip Hughes, Joakim Soria, and Brian Wilson. But you know what? It didn't change anything in the voting, the writers who voted for Volquez are probably feeling pretty down right about now, and this'll all blow over soon.

Here's the thing, though. This isn't the first time an ineligible player got a vote for this award. The current definition of rookie status dates back to 1971. Going through the Rookie of the Year voting totals at baseball-reference.com turns up at least four other times since then that this sort of thing happened.

• 2004: Nate Robertson, Tigers
  Oakland shortstop Bobby Crosby easily won the award, getting 27 of 28 first place votes and 138 points to Shingo Takatsu's 44. Tied for eighth in the voting with a single third-place vote was Tigers lefty Nate Robertson, who came into the season having pitched 53 mostly ineffective innings in 2002 and 2003.
  
  
• 1994: Bobby Jones, Mets
  Raul Mondesi of the Dodgers swept all the first place votes, beating runner-up John Hudek 140 to 27. One second-place vote went to Bobby Jones, who had thrown 61 2/3 innings over nine starts in 1993. He finished tied with Hector Carrasco and ahead of Javy Lopez and Shane Reynolds.
  
  
• 1987: Greg Mathews, Cardinals
  This one is just bizarre. Despite going 11-8 in 145 1/3 innings over 22 starts in 1986, Greg Mathews picked up a third-place vote in the 1987 NL voting. Yes, that's pretty much a full season's worth of pitching the year before he got his third-place vote. Benito Santiago of the Padres swept all the 1987 first place votes, so once again the mix-up didn't matter. For what it's worth, both the 1986 and 1987 voting had the correct number of points (216 = 24 ballots * 9 points per ballot) listed among the finalists on B-R.com.
  
  
• 1985: Tom Henke, Blue Jays
  Ozzie Guillen of the White Sox got 16 first place votes versus runner-up Teddy Higuera's nine. Two other first place votes went to Oddie McDowell and Stew Cliburn. This accounts for 27 of the 28 votes cast for first place. Who got the other? None other than Blue Jays closer Tom Henke...who entered the season having pitched 60 innings for the Rangers over the prior three years. I wonder if the person who cast a vote for Henke simply made an adding mistake and thought he was right on fifty innings. Either way, this vote is the most similar to the 2008 one: Henke became ineligible over the course of three seasons, just like Volquez.

Finally, a look at another interesting vote. This wasn't an error, but in 1997 Scott Rolen won the NL Rookie of the Year award after totaling 130 at bats during the 1996 season. He had 13 walks, 1 hit by pitch, and two sacrifice flies to go with those 130 at bats. If any of those had gone another way and become a normal at bat, he obviously would have exceeded 130 at bats and become ineligible. Sometimes it pays to be willing to take a pitch for the team, huh?

Maybe the three voters who screwed up this year will help BBWAA members in the future to check the eligibility of those placed on Rookie of the Year ballots. I certainly hope so. Unfortunately, history is not encouraging.

Don't Hit Me, Pitcher

When Craig Biggio retired following the 2007 season, he had been hit by pitches 285 times over twenty seasons. This wound up being two short of Hughie Jennings' all-time record of 287 times hit by pitches. In 2007, Biggio was hit by pitches only three times, his lowest total since 1991. Whether because of media pressure, pitchers not throwing inside on him, or some other reason, he had to settle for second place on the list.

Today I've looked up another list, the anti-Biggios or anti-Jennings, if you will. I've found the players who batted the most times in their career without getting hit by a pitch. Since 1901, only twenty-six players have reached 1000 career plate appearances without one HBP. Of those, eleven were pitchers. I've denoted the pitchers in the list with an asterisk (*).

Most Career Plate Appearances, Never Hit by a Pitch
(1901-2008)

1. Mark Lemke, 3664
2. Bill Bergen, 3228
3. Mickey Witek, 2325
4. Herm Winningham, 2069
5. Tom Hutton, 1919
6. Scott Livingstone, 1646
7. Rob Andrews, 1641
8. Jim Norris, 1493
9. Coaker Triplett, 1434
10. Bobby Brown, 1393
11. Wes Ferrell*, 1345
12. Joe Bush*, 1316
13. Bob Friend*, 1297
14. Hal Rice, 1283
15. Erv Dusak, 1192
16. Hal Newhouser*, 1160
17. Tommy Bridges*, 1142
18. Red Ames*, 1122
19. Bill Sweeney, 1112
20. Howard Ehmke*, 1088
21. Earl Moore*, 1049
22. Tommie Aaron, 1045
23. Fernando Valenzuela*, 1043
24. John Gochnauer, 1030
25. Fergie Jenkins*, 1010
26. Rube Walberg*, 1005

There are a few names you might recognize in that list. Mark Lemke was the Braves' second baseman for most of the 1990's. Bill Bergen was one of the worst hitters in baseball history. Scott Livingston was a third baseman on a few teams throughout the 1990's. Hal Newhouser and Fergie Jenkins are Hall of Famers. Hank Aaron's brother Tommie appears in front of the inspiration for "Fernandomania." John Gochnauer was one of the worst hitters and fielders of the early 20th century.

You might have noticed there are no active players in the above list. Only nine active players have as many as 500 career plate appearances without being hit by a pitch and eight of those are pitchers.

Most Career Plate Appearances, Never Hit by a Pitch
(active pitchers through 2008)

1. Curt Schilling, 901
2. Jon Lieber, 699
3. Matt Morris, 652
4. Brett Tomko, 545
5. Hideo Nomo, 543
6. Randy Wolf, 532
7. Carlos Zambrano, 531
8. Kevin Millwood, 513
9. Jamey Wright, 499
10. Ben Sheets, 492

Most Career Plate Appearances, Never Hit by a Pitch
(active position players through 2008)

1. David Murphy, 592
2. Omar Quintanilla, 490
3. Angel Pagan, 453
4. Ryan Raburn, 378
5. Wil Nieves, 348
6. Brian Buscher, 338
7. Carlos Gonzalez, 316
8. Wladimir Balentien, 264
9. Chris Aguila, 248
10. Andy Gonzalez, 245
    

The Bryan Harvey Award

After the Steve Carlton Award for the highest percentage of a team's wins by one pitcher and the Hugh "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy Award for the highest percentage of a team's losses by one pitcher, it was suggested a similar award be made for saves. This award would be given out to the pitcher who has the highest proportion of saves to team wins.

This award is named after Bryan Harvey, a dominant closer whose career was shortened by elbow injuries. After pitching in three games for the California Angels in 1987, Harvey spent nearly all of 1988 with the Angels. His 2.13 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 76 innings led to 17 saves and a second-place finish in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Walt Weiss. Over the next two seasons he converted 50 of 63 save opportunities while striking out just over 12 batters per nine innings. The 1991 season, however, is when he really burst onto the scene. That year Harvey rode his awesome splitter to 46 saves in 67 games, spanning 78 2/3 innings. He struck out 101 batters while walking only seventeen. His ERA was an impressive 1.60 and his WHIP was a minuscule 0.86. He was rewarded with a spot on the all-star team, a fifth-place finish in the Cy Young voting, and a lucrative four-year deal.

Unfortunately, 1992 was a letdown year. A great start was curtailed by elbow injuries that ended Harvey's season after June. The Angels weren't optimistic about Harvey making a comeback and they hoped to offload his contract, so they left him unprotected in the expansion draft following the season and he was picked up by the Florida Marlins. He quickly made the pick worthwhile for the Marlins, putting together an excellent 1993 campaign: 45 saves in 59 games, 73 K's in 69 innings, an all-star appearance, and votes for the MVP and Cy Young Award. Unfortunately, his elbow problems returned the next year and he would only appear in 13 more major league games.

Harvey gets this award named after him because of that 1993 season with the Marlins. The Marlins won only 64 games in their first season, meaning that Harvey picked up a save in 70.3% of his team's wins, a major league record. No one else has reached even 65%.

Saves in the Highest Percentage of Team Wins, 1901-2008

Rank	Name	Team	Saves	Team Wins	SV%
1	Bryan Harvey	1993 Marlins	45	64	70.3
2	Eric Gagne	2003 Dodgers	55	85	64.7
3	Mike Williams	2002 Pirates	46	72	63.9
4	Randy Myers	1993 Cubs	53	84	63.1
5	Roberto Hernandez	1999 Devil Rays	43	69	62.3
6	Francisco Rodriguez	2008 Angels	62	100	62.0
7	Danys Baez	2005 Devil Rays	41	67	61.2
8	Bobby Thigpen	1990 White Sox	57	94	60.6
9	Ugueth Urbina	1999 Expos	41	68	60.3
10	Jose Mesa	2004 Pirates	43	72	59.7

Obviously, Francisco Rodriguez is the 2008 Bryan Harvey Award winner. It never hurts to look at who else finished in the top ten, though:

2008 Bryan Harvey Award Rankings

1. Francisco Rodriguez, Angels, 62 saves out of 100 wins, 62.0%
2. Brian Wilson, Giants, 41 out of 72, 56.9%
3. Joakim Soria, Royals, 42 out of 75, 56.0%
4. Jose Valverde, Astros, 44 out of 86, 51.2%
5. Trevor Hoffman, Padres, 30 out of 63, 47.6%
6. Francisco Cordero, Reds, 34 out of 74, 45.9%
7. George Sherrill, Orioles, 31 out of 68, 45.6%
8. Brad Lidge, Phillies, 41 out of 92, 44.6%
9. Joe Nathan, Twins, 39 out of 88, 44.3%
10. Mariano Rivera, Yankees, 39 out of 89, 43.8%

Eighty-three pitchers have saved half or more of their team's wins in a season. Before the 1990 season, only five pitchers had done so a total of six times: Rollie Fingers (1977), Dan Quisenberry (1983 & 1984), Bruce Sutter (1984), Dave Righetti (1986), and Steve Bedrosian (1987). Fingers was the only one of those six to do it while saving fewer than forty games.

AAA Errors Leaders

First off, congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies for winning the 2008 World Series. As always it was a long trip with ups and downs for every team, but the 2008 season that started half a world away, half a year ago, is finally over. Since my last two posts have highlighted how inept Phillies teams were historically, I'm glad Philadelphia fans have a championship to celebrate.

I was going to continue my award winners posts by talking about which pitchers saved the highest percentage of their team's wins, but I haven't gotten around to doing that yet. There's another idea of two that I was given a few weeks ago I have squirreled away as well. Busy, lazy, unfocused, whatever. I'll be posting on those topics soon.

I do have something else to talk about today though. Have you ever casually followed a minor leaguer, seen he's committed a fair number of errors, and wondered how he stacks up against the rest of his league? It's pretty difficult to find defensive leaderboards for minor league teams. Sure, individual batting stats for each minor league team on milb.com have a column for errors, but there's no way to compare players around the league short of looking at every team.

Using the data available in the minor leagues section of Baseball-Reference.com, it's possible to put together league leaderboards. I've only put together the numbers for AAA players so far, but once I get all the leagues done, I'll start posting by position. For now, though, I've got a listing of the most total errors committed by one player in AAA this past season. I've used the common scoring number to indicate positions played (6 = shortstop, etc.) and multiple positions are listed in order of innings played there.

Most Total Errors in AAA in 2008

Rank	Name	Org(s)	Pos	G	Inn	TC	E	DP	FP
1	Matt Tuiasosopo	SEA	5	108	919.3	281	27	16	.904
2	Mark Saccomanno	HOU	5-3	132	1104.3	645	24	61	.963
3	Joaquin Arias	TEX	4-6	86	739.3	414	23	54	.944
	Andres Blanco	CHC	6-5-4	97	725.0	389	23	49	.941
	Matt Macri	MIN	6-4-5-3	87	721.0	411	23	64	.944
	Jesus Merchan	ARI	6-4-5-7	113	954.3	512	23	83	.955
	Sergio Santos	TOR MIN	6-5-3	106	911.0	411	23	50	.944
8	Michael Costanzo	BAL	5-3-2	112	957.7	518	22	36	.958
	Aaron Herr	CLE CIN	5-4	77	637.3	223	22	15	.901
10	Jamie D'Antona	ARI	5-3-2	96	764.7	307	21	25	.932
11	Ryan Roberts	TEX	4-5-6-7	126	1063.3	481	20	54	.958
	Mike Rouse	CHW PHI	6	112	955.7	457	20	69	.956
	Danny Sandoval	CLE TOR	6-4-5	119	971.3	518	20	77	.961
	Freddy Sandoval	LAA	5-3-4-7	122	1041.7	508	20	57	.961
	Brandon Wood	LAA	6-5	104	898.7	410	20	62	.951

I think that's one category Matt Tuiasosopo didn't want to lead the league in. These lucky fifteen were the only players who managed to reach twenty errors this season.

If you looked at the fielding percentage of Tuiasosopo and Aaron Herr and thought they must be near the bottom of the league, you are correct. Among all players who spent more than 400 innings in the field, only one guy had a lower fielding percentage than those two.

Worst Fielding Percentage in AAA in 2008 (minimum 400 innings on defense)

1. Morgan Ensberg (CLE), .891
2. Aaron Herr (CLE/CIN), .901
3. Matt Tuiasosopo (SEA), .904
4. Ian Stewart (COL), .914
5. Brendan Katin (MIL), .926
6. Jamie D'Antona (ARI), .932
7. Anderson Machado (NYM), .933
8. Josh Fields (CHW), .933
9. Luis Terrero (BAL), .937
10. Brandon Fahey (BAL), .938
11. Jeff Baisley (OAK), .938
12. Enrique Cruz (ATL), .938

These were the only players to finish under .940 on the season. If you're familiar with the minor leagues you might notice the two outfielders on this list: Brendan Katin and Luis Terrero. Terrero in fact led all AAA outfielders with thirteen errors last season. Katin was hot on his trail with ten.

I think a suitable way to end this post about defensive struggles is to check out some truly bad fielding percentages. Here are the worst AAA fielding percentages for players with ten or more total chances in the field at a given position.

Name	Position	Org.	Total Chances	Errors	FP
Casey Daigle	P	MIN	17	6	.647
Brian Slocum	P	CLE	17	6	.647
John Parrish	P	TOR	22	7	.682
Brandon Fahey	3B	BAL	13	4	.692
Mike Gosling	P	TOR	14	4	.714
Jeff Kennard	P	LAA	11	3	.727
Marcus Gwyn	P	FLA	12	3	.750
Chip Cannon	3B	TOR	25	6	.760
Brandon Villafuerte	P	FLA	27	4	.765
Giancarlo Alvarado	P	LAA	13	3	.769

Pitcher's fielding practice, people, come on! I guess the Brandon Fahey and Chip Cannon at third base experiments didn't turn out so well. It's interesting to see how a couple organizations have multiple players but I doubt it says anything: a lot of the pitchers here are veteran guys who have spent time in more than one organization.

The Hugh "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy Award

The sponsorship message on Hugh Mulcahy's B-R.com page sums up Mulcahy's career pretty well:

Seattle Marinerds sponsor(s) this page.
There are bad pitchers, and there are unlucky pitchers, and then there are men who were neither: they were just cursed to pitch on horrendous Philadelphia teams, the poor souls.

Mulcahy was a regular member of the Phillies for only four seasons, but he wasn't a terrible pitcher. Sure, he walked too many batters. Yeah, his strikeout total is pretty low, even for the late 30's (Mulcahy had 2.51 K/9 from 1937-40 - the NL was at 3.52 for the same period). His ERA was nothing to brag about either. But he was durable, finishing in the NL's top 10 for innings pitched three years in a row. All in all, he wasn't someone you'd find in a key spot for a good team, but he was a capable innings-eater in the majors.

Unfortunately, as the above message says, he was stuck on some terrible Phillies teams. From 1938-1940, the Phillies were worst in the league at scoring runs and worst in the league at preventing them. Philadelphia's NL team lost 100 games in six out of seven seasons after 1935. It wasn't like this was a short-lived time of troubles for Philadelphia: from 1919 to 1948 the Phillies finished in the top half of the NL one time. That was in 1932 when Burt Shotton guided the club to a 78-76 record and a fourth place finish. That was the only winning season the team had over that stretch.

You know what's coming next: the combination of Mulcahy's durability, lack of dominance, and terrible surrounding cast led to a lot of losses on his record. Over his four seasons in the Phillies rotation he lost 76 games. He led the league in losses in 1938 and 1940. His regular placement in box scores gave him perhaps the most unfortunate nickname of any major league player: "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy.

While he was doomed to bad teams and may have even had a respectable record had he pitched for better teams, it only seems fitting that Hugh "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy be the namesake of the opposite of the Steve Carlton Award I posted about earlier in the week. Whereas Carlton won plenty of games for a team that didn't win much, the Hugh Mulcahy Award recognizes pitchers who were responsible the highest percentage of their team's losses.

The top ten all-time is again clogged with early 20th-century pitchers, so I'll post a separate 1961-2008 list again.

Highest Percentage of Team's Losses By One Pitcher
1901-2008

Rank	Pitcher	Pitcher W-L	Team	Team W-L	L%
1	Joe McGinnity	31-20	1903 New York Giants	84-55	36.4
2	Bill Dinneen	21-21	1902 Boston Red Sox	77-60	35.0
3	George Mullin	20-20	1907 Detroit Tigers	92-58	34.5
4	Dolf Luque	13-23	1922 Cincinnati Reds	86-68	33.8
5	Patsy Flaherty	11-25	1903 Chicago White Sox	60-77	32.5
6	Eppa Rixey	16-21	1917 Philadelphia Phillies	87-65	32.3
7	Harry Howell	14-21	1901 Baltimore Orioles	68-65	32.3
8	Jack Powell	23-19	1904 New York Highlanders	92-59	32.2
9	Dummy Taylor	21-15	1904 New York Giants	106-47	31.9
10	Dummy Taylor	18-27	1901 New York Giants	52-85	31.8

Quick, spot the Hall of Famers! Dummy Taylor just couldn't catch a break (or avoid a loss), I guess.

This next list should be more interesting. At the very least, the names should be more familiar.

Highest Percentage of Team's Losses By One Pitcher
1961-2008

Rank	Pitcher	Pitcher W-L	Team	Team W-L	L%
1	Dennis Martinez	15-16	1979 Baltimore Orioles	102-57	28.1
2	Don Drysdale	19-17	1963 Los Angeles Dodgers	99-63	27.0
3	Steve Rogers	15-22	1974 Montreal Expos	79-82	26.8
4	Ralph Terry	17-15	1963 New York Yankees	104-57	26.3
5	Dave McNally	17-17	1973 Baltimore Orioles	97-65	26.2
6	Mike Moore	13-15	1990 Oakland Athletics	103-59	25.4
7	Wilbur Wood	24-17	1972 Chicago White Sox	87-67	25.4
8	Brian Kingman	8-20	1980 Oakland Athletics	83-79	25.3
9	Jim Bibby	19-19	1974 Texas Rangers	84-76	25.0
10	Dennis Martinez	7-16	1983 Baltimore Orioles	98-64	25.0

Hmm. Maybe I should call it the Dennis Martinez Award instead. Nah, I still like the idea of an award involving losses named after Losing Pitcher Mulcahy, even if he never would've won the award. I don't think Martinez will mind.

So who was responsible for the highest percentage of his team's losses this year? Strangely, the top ten is split evenly between above-.500 and below-.500 teams:

2008 Hugh "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy Award Rankings

1. Javier Vazquez, 12-16 for the 89-74 White Sox, 21.6%
2. Aaron Harang, 6-17 for the 74-88 Reds, 19.3%
3. Justin Verlander, 11-17 for the 74-88 Reds, 19.3%
4. Andy Pettitte, 14-14 for the 89-73 Yankees, 19.2%
5. Barry Zito, 10-17 for the 72-90 Giants, 18.9%
6. Brandon Backe, 9-14 for the 86-75 Astros, 18.7%
7. Greg Smith, 7-16 for the 75-86 Athletics, 18.6%
8. Brett Myers, 10-13 for the 92-70 Phillies, 18.6%
9. Braden Looper, 12-14 for the 86-76 Cardinals, 18.4%
10. Brian Bannister, 9-16 for the 75-87 Royals, 18.4%

Vazquez is one of fifteen pitchers to be above 20.0% in a season since 2000. The highest on the list? Livan Hernandez and his 12-16 record for the 2002 Giants. San Francisco lost 66 games that season, meaning Hernandez accounted for 24.2% of his team's losses.

Fun fact: Deacon Phillippe went 20-9 for the 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates only lost 36 games that season, making him responsible for one-quarter of his team's losses. That's the highest percentage among pitchers with single-digit losses on the season.

The Steve Carlton Award

In 1972, Steve Carlton had a season for the ages. The Philadelphia lefty started 41 games, completed thirty of them, and had eight shutouts. He struck out 310 batters and walked only 87 in 346 1/3 innings pitched. His ERA was a phenomenal 1.97 and his WHIP (walks plus hits over innings pitched) was a minuscule 0.993. He won 27 games, lost 10, and easily took home the Cy Young Award after the season.

Looking at the team he played for, however, makes his won-loss record even more impressive. The 1972 Philadelphia Phillies were a terrible team. They had the second-worst offense in the National League, scoring 3.22 runs per game. Only two players hit .280 with 200 or more at bats for the team. Only four players with 200+ at bats had an on base percentage above .300. With Carlton, the starting rotation was in the middle of the pack, without him they lagged behind the rest of the league. Obviously any team would struggle without their best pitcher, but the Phillies really had little else besides their ace lefty. The Phillies' bullpen wasn't much relief. All of this added up to an awful 59-97 record and last place in the NL East.

Consider that for a moment: Steve Carlton won 27 games on a team that only won 59 games. He won 45.8% of his team's games - a major league record since 1901. In fact, he's one of only ten pitchers since 1901 to win more than 40% of his team's games in a season and the only one to do so since 1922.

Note: for simplicity's sake, pitchers appearing for two or more teams have their wins for each team treated as if they were with that club all season. For example, if Johnny Goodarm wins 8 games for the 80-82 Pirates and 14 games for the 70-92 Cardinals, he's considered to have won 10% of the Pirates' games and 20% of the Cardinals' games rather than the percentage of the wins each team got with him on the roster. Unfair? Possibly, if the universe conspires against a great pitcher and he's stuck on multiple really bad teams. I can live with that.

Highest Percentage of Team's Wins By One Pitcher
1901-2008

Rank	Pitcher	Pitcher W-L	Team	Team W-L	W%
1	Steve Carlton	27-10	1972 Philadelphia Phillies	59-97	45.8
2	Ed Walsh	40-15	1908 Chicago White Sox	88-64	45.5
3	Jack Chesbro	41-12	1904 New York Highlanders	92-59	44.6
4	Noodles Hahn	22-19	1901 Cincinnati Reds	52-87	42.3
5	Cy Young	33-10	1901 Boston Americans	79-57	41.8
6	Joe Bush	15-24	1916 Philadelphia Athletics	36-117	41.7
7	Cy Young	32-11	1902 Boston Americans	77-60	41.6
8	Eddie Rommel	27-13	1922 Philadelphia Athletics	65-89	41.5
9	Red Faber	25-15	1921 Chicago White Sox	62-92	40.3
10	Walter Johnson	36-7	1913 Washington Senators	90-64	40.0

As I mentioned before, Carlton started 41 games in 1972. Only three of the pitchers on this list besides Carlton wound up with fewer than 41 decisions in those seasons. That makes Carlton seem even more out of place on the list.

To really show how out there Carlton's 1972 season is, we should look at the same list but with more recent pitchers. Here are how pitchers since expansion in 1961 stack up:

Highest Percentage of Team's Wins By One Pitcher
1961-2008

Rank	Name	Pitcher W-L	Team	Team W-L	W%
1	Steve Carlton	27-10	1972 Philadelphia Phillies	59-97	45.8
2	Gaylord Perry	24-16	1972 Cleveland Indians	72-84	33.3
3	Nolan Ryan	22-16	1974 California Angels	68-94	32.4
4	Phil Niekro	21-20	1979 Atlanta Braves	66-94	31.8
5	Larry Jackson	24-11	1964 Chicago Cubs	76-86	31.6
6	Randy Johnson	16-14	2004 Arizona Diamondbacks	51-111	31.4
7	Wilbur Wood	24-20	1973 Chicago White Sox	77-85	31.2
8	Bob Gibson	23-7	1970 St. Louis Cardinals	76-86	30.3
9	Randy Jones	22-14	1976 San Diego Padres	73-89	30.1
10	Denny McLain	31-6	1968 Detroit Tigers	103-59	30.1

Wow. Even in a list dominated by 1970's pitchers, Carlton blows everyone away. I figured there might be someone closer to 40% than 30%, but nope. With current five-man rotations meaning healthy pitchers make around 33 or 34 starts per year, it'll be hard for any pitcher to crack that top 10. A pitcher would have to win 20 games on a team that wins 66 games or less in a season. A 15-game winner would have to toil away on a team that loses 113 or more games. A pitcher would have to win 25 games on an 81-win team. Good luck.

But that doesn't mean we can't issue a Steve Carlton Award today. It simply goes to the pitcher who is credited with the highest percentage of his team's wins. It turns out the race this year went down to the wire:

2008 Steve Carlton Award Rankings

1. Cliff Lee, 22-3 for the 81-81 Indians, 27.2%
2. Brandon Webb, 22-7 for the 82-80 Diamondbacks, 26.8%
3. Tim Lincecum, 18-5 for the 72-90 Giants, 25.0%
4. Roy Halladay, 20-11 for the 86-76 Blue Jays, 23.3%
5. Edinson Volquez, 17-6 for the 74-88 Reds, 23.0%
6. Mike Mussina, 20-9 for the 89-73 Yankees, 22.5%
7. Aaron Cook, 16-9 for the 74-88 Rockies, 21.6%
8. A.J. Burnett, 18-10 for the 86-76 Blue Jays, 20.9%
9. Bronson Arroyo, 15-11 for the 74-88 Reds, 20.3%
10. Roy Oswalt, 17-10 for the 86-75 Astros, 19.8%

The only pitcher between Lee and Randy Johnson's 2004? Would you believe Paul Byrd in 2002? He went 17-11 for Kansas City, a team that finished 62-100.

One more fun fact: the highest percentage of team wins by a pitcher who won fewer than ten games is shared between Jing Johnson and Walt Kinney of the 1919 Athletics. They both went 9-15, each winning 25% of the Athletics' games on the year. When Mike Maroth went 9-21 for the 2003 Tigers, he was responsible for "only" 20.9% of his team's 43 victories.

Offseason Dates Worth Knowing

I put this together earlier today for Brew Crew Ball and figured it'd be useful here, as well. I used Brewers players in the examples because I'm most familiar with them. Many other teams have similar players.

Major League Baseball has a lot of complicated rules and procedures regarding player contracts, salaries, free agency, arbitration, and so on. There's certain times players can declare free agency, there's certain times clubs and players can agree to arbitration, there's conditions on how much money a released player gets. You get the idea. I thought I'd try and simplify things by going through the CBA and looking at the MLB Important Dates and 2008 season calendar to try and plot out what will go on when this offseason.

If anything is wrong or I flat out missed anything (and I'm sure there's something on both counts), speak up.

2008-2009 MLB Offseason Dates Worth Knowing

• Starting with the day after the conclusion of the regular season, players can be traded with no waiver rules in effect. It was originally September 29 this year, but with the extra games I suspect they pushed it back to October 1. I don't think it impacted anyone anyway. Trade announcements are probably encouraged to be postponed until after the World Series.
  
  
• October 15 was the first date when players with 3+ years of service time who were outrighted to the minors at any point during the season, accepted the assignment, and still haven't returned to a major league roster could declare free agency. Players who were outrighted for at least the second time in their career, accepted the assignment, and weren't placed on a major league roster again could do the same.
  
  
• The 1st day after the World Series is the first of a 15-day period during which eligible players (6+ years of service time, no contract for next year) can declare free agency.
  
  
• The 16th day after the World Series is the first day Major League free agents can negotiate and sign with a team other than their former team. It's also the first day MLB teams can sign minor league free agents.
  
  
• The General Managers meetings are held in Dana Point, California, from November 3-6.
  
  
• November 20 is the day teams have to file their reserve lists for all major league and minor league levels. I think that's the day you say who you want to protect in the Rule 5 draft, but I could be wrong.
  
  
• December 1 is the last day for teams with Type A or Type B free agents to offer arbitration to them, provided they haven't signed with another team yet. The player would have to accept within a week. If a Type A or B free agent signs with a team other than his former team before December 1, his former team gets draft picks regardless of whether or not they had offered arbitration to the player.
  
  
• December 4 is the last day to request outright waivers to assign guys prior to the Rule 5 draft and December 8 is the last day to outright players prior to the Rule 5 draft. The Rule 5 draft takes place on December 11.
  
  
• Not coincidentally, the Winter Meetings in Las Vegas take place from December 8-11.
  
  
• December 12 is the last day to tender contracts for 2009 to guys you want to keep around. There's a maximum salary reduction rule for players under reserve to the club. They must be tendered a contract with a salary that's at least 80% of their salary from the previous year or 70% of their salary from the year before that, whichever is higher. This happened to Rickie Weeks last offseason: the major league contract he signed in 2003 called for a salary of $1.22M in 2006 and $1.32M in 2007. Since 80% of his 2007 salary is $1.056M, and 70% of his 2006 salary is $0.854M, the team had to give him at least $1.056M for 2008. That's what he made last year. Reserved players signed to minor league deals can't have their salaries reduced more than 40% from year to year.
  
  
• Between January 2-12, teams must notify players eligible for arbitration that they wish to offer them arbitration. Players can agree to go to arbitration at any time between January 5-15. If a player's salary was increased in excess of 50% through arbitration for the prior season, teams aren't bound by maximum salary reduction rules in their arbitration offers to players. They are still bound by those rules if they make contract offers outside of arbitration. I think it works like this: JJ Hardy's salary jumped from $0.4M in 2007 to $2.65M in 2008 through arbitration. The team could submit a salary arbitration figure slashing his 2008 salary as much as they wanted (though they would obviously not be guaranteed to get it), but if they were just renewing his contract (i.e., neither JJ or the team submitted to arbitration) they'd have to offer at least 80% of his salary from 2008.
  
  
• By January 18, the team offers and player offers for arbitration are shared between the MLBPA and the MLB Labor Relations Department.
  
  
• Arbitration hearings are held between February 1-20.
  
  
• Injured players, pitchers, and catchers may be invited to spring training no earlier than February 20 (45 days before the start of the regular season). All other players may be invited to attend no earlier than February 25 (40 days before the start of the regular season). No player is required to report to spring training more than 33 days before the start of the regular season, or March 4 next year, though inevitable "visa problems" can delay that for some guys.
  
  
• If a team and player tendered a contract haven't agreed on a salary for 2009, contracts can be renewed between March 2 and March 11. The maximum salary reduction rules mentioned above still apply. This happened to Prince Fielder last season.
  
  
• In order to only owe a player 30 days of termination pay, he must be unconditionally released on or before the 16th day prior to the start of regular season. For next year, that's March 22. Any player released after that date but during spring training gets 45 days termination pay. That happened to Claudio Vargas last season. Players released during the season get paid their entire salary.
  

If His Arm Works, Who Cares What He Wears?

On April 9, 2008, the Seattle Mariners beat the Tampa Bay Rays by a score of 7-1. Following 7 2/3 forgettable innings pitched by Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine and lefty reliever J.P. Howell, a Rays righthander made his season debut. He got Ichiro Suzuki to ground out and pitched a scoreless ninth to finish the game. Unfortunately, this mystery reliever was optioned to AAA Durham on April 12. While in Durham, he had elbow troubles that required surgery and now he will miss much of the 2009 season.

So who is this mystery player (and will he be voted a playoff share by the rest of the Rays)? None other than Korean right-hander Jae Kuk Ryu. There's not much remarkable about Ryu's career so far, though his one appearance this year did lower his career ERA below 7.50. The reason I bring him up is not for his on-field exploits but instead because of his number. As you can see here, Ryu wears uniform number 11.

Now, Ryu's not the first pitcher to wear that number (that would be Herb Pennock in 1929), but he is, I believe, the only pitcher to wear #11 this season. Since Josh Towers spent all season "pitching" for the AAA Colorado Springs Sky Sox, Ryu wore the lowest uniform number of any pitcher in 2008. Wait...I should say that he wore the lowest number of any regular pitcher: Tony Pena Jr. (wearing #1) pitched a perfect inning for the Royals in July. Note: I haven't found a complete 2008 numerical roster for every team so if I'm wrong about Ryu having the lowest number of any pitcher, let me know. I can tell you, however, that Ryu is only the second pitcher in Rays history to wear a number as low as 11. The other? Hideo Nomo in 2005.

Ryu's National League equivalent is a pitcher who spent the entire year on his team's major league roster. Barring any renegade #10's or #11's (or even other #12's) I missed in the senior circuit, the NL pitcher with the lowest number was Carlos Villanueva, wearing #12 for the Milwaukee Brewers. According to the team media guide, Villanueva is only the fifth pitcher in Brewers history to wear such a low number. Curtis Leskanic wore #00 from 2000 to 2002, Chuck Taylor wore #6 in 1972, Bob McClure wore #10 for ten seasons in the 70's and 80's, and the aforementioned Hideo Nomo wore #11 in 1999.

So why do pitchers usually wear higher numbers? On a related note, why did I suggest only renegade #10's and #11's would be out there? The common answer when it comes to the origin and development of uniform numbers in baseball is that they originally had to do with each player's spot in the lineup. The leadoff batter wore #1, the cleanup hitter wore #4, the backup catcher wore #9, pitchers were given numbers in the teens, and so on. This is how Babe Ruth was assigned #3 and Lou Gehrig was given #4 while pitchers like Herb Pennock and Waite Hoyt got #11 and #12, respectively.

The Yankees assigned numbers this way, not every pitcher wore a double-digit number. It wasn't common, but twenty-four pitchers on twelve teams from 1931 (when most teams started wearing numbers) through 1940 took the mound with a number lower than 10. A bunch of those guys played for one team, though: the Phillies in 1939 and 1940 had seven different pitchers wear single digit numbers. During World War II, twenty pitchers did the same.

It wasn't until the 1960's that it truly became rare for pitchers to have single digit numbers on their backs. Since the major leagues expanded in 1961, only twelve pitchers have worn such uniforms. Only two pitchers have done so for more than one season. So what caused such a slowdown?

In the 1950's and early 1960's some National League teams (notably the Reds) attempted to standardize uniform numbers. Under their system, single-digit numbers were reserved for coaches and catchers, infielders got numbers in the teens, outfielders drew the 20's, and pitchers were given uniform numbers 30 through 49. The system eventually fell out of use (except possibly for coaches wearing low numbers), but I suspect it had something to do with pitchers shying away from single-digit numbers.

Then again, was it really up to the players in the first place? Of the seventy-six pitchers to wear single-digit numbers between 1931 and 1960, only six of them had those numbers for more than one season. None of them wore it for more than two. This suggests to me that they were assigned numbers rather than allowed to choose them, or, if they were allowed to choose, they didn't want such low numbers anyway. In any event, it seems that baseball tradition looks askance at pitchers with single digits on their backs. That doesn't mean there won't be any rebels looking to shake things up, however.

To conclude this post, I'm going to put up a list of the pitchers since 1961 to wear uniform numbers lower than ten. To get a feel for where Ryu and Villanueva fit in recently, I'm also going to make a list of pitchers to wear #10, #11, and #12 since the 2000 season. But first, I want to note where I got my information on uniform numbers. My first step was to look at each team's media guide (all available here) to see if they had an all-time numerical roster, figuring that should be pretty accurate. Eleven teams had all-time numerical rosters in their media guide. My next step was to try and locate websites online that had uniform numbers data for different teams. Luckily, I found eight such sites. Their names should make it obvious which teams are covered:

• Cubs by the Numbers
  
• Mets by the Numbers
  
• Orioles Numbers
• Rangerfans.com
  
• RedSoxDiehard.com
• Sports and Bremertonians - Seattle Mariners numbers
  
• Indians Baseball Cards. Always. - has an ongoing series of Indians players' numbers that is through #10 (lucky me!)
  
• YankeeNumbers.com

Baseball fans are awesome. Again, I only looked for these types of sites if a team's media guide didn't already have a numerical roster, so it's entirely possible I missed some for teams with rosters in their guides. Finally, if both those methods failed, I fell back on the rosters available at baseball-almanac.com. That site has uniform data for all teams going back to the 1930's, but I'm not sure where they got their numbers. I haven't found anything crazy, so it's good enough for me.

With all of that in mind, here are the pitchers (excluding position players throwing mop-up innings) since 1961 to wear numbers lower than ten:

• #1 Jack Jenkins - 1962 Senators
• #8 Bob Baird - 1963 Senators
• #4 George Brunet - 1970 Pirates
• #6 Chuck Taylor - 1972 Brewers
  
• #7 Horacio Pina - 1973 Athletics
• #7 Atlee Hammaker - 1985 Giants
• #1 Matt Young - 1990 Mariners
• #00 Omar Olivares - 1993 Cardinals and 1995 Phillies
• #7 Jeff Juden - 1997 Indians
• #00 Curtis Leskanic - 2000-2002 Brewers
• #2 Wayne Gomes - 2001 Giants
• #6 Rob Bell - 2001-2002 Rangers
• #00 Rick White - 2004 Indians, 2005 Pirates, 2006 Reds, and 2006 Phillies
• #3 David Wells - 2005 Red Sox
• #7 Josh Towers - 2003-2007 Blue Jays

I can go either way on the double-zero guys. They are wearing a low number (can't go below zero!), but they aren't wearing a single digit. I suppose you have to have a, well, special mindset to want to slap zeros on your back, so I included them as fellow rebellious souls.

As mentioned above, here are the pitchers (again excluding mop-up position players) to wear #10, #11, or #12 since 2000:

• #12 Denny Neagle - 2000 Yankees
• #11 Hideo Nomo - 2001 Red Sox & 2005 Devil Rays
• #10 Mike Hampton - 2001-2002 Rockies
• #12 Calvin Maduro - 2001-2002 Orioles
• #10 Hideo Nomo - 2002-2004 Dodgers
• #12 Matt Riley - 2004 Orioles
• #10 Shingo Takatsu - 2004-2005 White Sox & 2005 Mets
• #10 Danys Baez - 2006 Dodgers
• #11 Scott Sauerbeck - 2006 Athletics
• #12 Jason Bulger - 2006 Angels
• #11 Jae Kuk Ryu - 2007-2008 Devil Rays
• #12 Carlos Villanueva - 2007-2008 Brewers

There you go. Ryu & Villanueva are the latest in a line of only a couple pitchers every season to wear such low numbers on their uniform. I've checked all the 40-man rosters available on mlb.com, so any other pitchers to take the mound with a number below #12 would have had to either been released, outrighted off their team's roster, or changed their number since they pitched.