League Pitching Averages

[AndyM23]

Anyone know where I might be able to get pitching statistics broken down by place in the starting rotation?

 

Like, AL/NL averages for #1 SP, #2 SP etc?

[jersey cubs fan]

Anyone know where I might be able to get pitching statistics broken down by place in the starting rotation?

 

Like, AL/NL averages for #1 SP, #2 SP etc?

 

There's no such thing.

[CubColtPacer]

Nobody keeps numbers based on who is defined as the #1, etc..because on most teams, those definitions are pretty grey and can change throughout the season.

 

However, if you want to talk about what a typical team gets out of their best performance pitcher that year, what they get out of their 2nd best performance pitcher, etc. there is that available, although the latest one I've found is a couple of years old. Here is the raw data:

 

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5

3.60 4.14 4.58 5.10 6.24

 

But as the article explains, that can be misleading because of injuries. So he redid it based on how the top 6 starters to begin the year fared and came up with this as the average numbers:

ERA GS IP

#1 Starter 3.91 28.5 181.2

#2 Starter 4.61 26.6 165.7

#3 Starter 4.74 27.6 167.5

#4 Starter 4.82 20.8 123.4

#5 Starter 4.96 20.6 126.8

#6 Starter 4.77 15.5 95.1

 

That makes a lot more sense. As you can tell, pitching ERA's have inflated more than people would like to believe most of the time (which is why people are frequently surprised when Cubs rotations are near the top of the league every year even as they're calling the rotation a problem). At the same time, there's no way a #5 starter can maintain an over 6 ERA and keep his job, so the 4.96 number is a much more logical average. It's still not a foolproof way to look at rotations, but it will get you in the ballpark.

 

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/another-look-at-starting-rotations/

[AndyM23]

Thanks. That's what I was looking for. I realize there is no hard statistics on it, but the approximate stuff works pretty well.