Starter V. Reliever - Historical Look at Rookie Pitchers

by jtts on Jul 16, 2009 8:27 PM CDT Comment 1 comment

Is it better for a pitcher to start in the bullpen or should we throw him to the wolves and let him figure things out in the rotation?

I examined the 20 pitchers that have received at least 1 first place vote for Cy Young since 1990. I wanted to know whether or not highly successful pitchers broke into the majors as starters or were eased in via the bullpen.

14 pitchers made at least 20 starts their rookie year and later received first place votes for Cy Young

Query1

Starters

nameFirst	nameLast	GS	G	Relief Appearances	Rookie Year
Tim	Lincecum	24	24	0	2007
Dontrelle	Willis	27	27	0	2003
Brandon	Webb	28	29	1	2003
C.C.	Sabathia	33	33	0	2001
Roy	Oswalt	20	28	8	2001
Mark	Mulder	27	27	0	2000
Freddy	Garcia	33	33	0	1999
Andy	Pettitte	26	31	5	1995
Esteban	Loaiza	31	32	1	1995
Darryl	Kile	22	37	15	1991
Doug	Drabek	21	27	6	1986
Bill	Swift	21	23	2	1985
Roger	Clemens	20	21	1	1984
Dennis	Eckersley	24	34	10	1975

However, only 6 pitchers were broken in via the bullpen for a large part of the season (20 relief appearances).

Query1

Relievers

nameFirst	nameLast	GS	G	Relief Appearances	Rookie Year
Johan	Santana	5	30	25	2000
Trevor	Hoffman*	0	39	39	1993
Trevor	Hoffman*	0	28	28	1993
Bobby	Thigpen	0	20	20	1986
Jose	Rijo	5	24	19	1984
Jimmy	Key	0	63	63	1984
Bob	Welch	13	23	10	1978

Hoffman appeared on the list twice because he pitched for San Diego and Florida his rookie year.

There were quite a few more pitchers that didn't fit either criteria (less than 20 games pitched their rookie year). In fact, 20 pitchers made less than 10 appearances. Of those, almost all of them were starting as soon as they came in. Jason Schmidt and Robb Nen were the only ones to break in via the bullpen in a partial first season.

Query1

Partial First Season

nameFirst	nameLast	GS	G	Relief Appearances	Rookie Year
Josh	Beckett	4	4	0	2001
Eric	Gagne	5	5	0	1999
Roy	Halladay	2	2	0	1998
Jason	Schmidt	2	9	7	1995
Robb	Nen	3	9	6	1993
Pedro	Martinez	1	2	1	1992
Pat	Hentgen	1	3	2	1991
Kevin	Tapani*	0	3	3	1989
Kevin	Tapani*	5	5	0	1989
Kevin	Appier	5	6	1	1989
Randy	Johnson	4	4	0	1988
Ramon	Martinez	6	9	3	1988
Curt	Schilling	4	4	0	1988
Jose	Mesa	5	6	1	1987
Tom	Glavine	9	9	0	1987
Jack	McDowell	4	4	0	1987
Greg	Maddux	5	6	1	1986
Kevin	Brown	1	1	0	1986
Randy	Myers	0	1	1	1985
Dave	Stewart	0	1	1	1978
Jack	Morris	6	7	1	1977

*Tapani pitched for the Mets and Twins his rookie year.

What does all this mean? I dunno. It sure looks like the very best of the best pitchers didn't need to be eased into the majors via the bullpen. What other generalizations do you see?

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