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Which pitchers are
the best at holding runners?
John Dewan's Stat of
the Week™
June 8, 2006
Carlos Zambrano had a no-hitter going
into the eighth inning for the Cubs earlier this week. He also was the
hitting star of the game with four RBI including a three-run homer. But
paging through
The Bill James Handbook 2006
looking for other Carlos Zambrano tidbits I ran across the fact that he
led the National League last year allowing only one (!) stolen base in
10 attempts against him. That's very impressive, especially for a
right-handed pitcher. On top of that, he picked off three runners.
Is Zambrano the best in baseball? How
does he rank? To properly evaluate pitchers in this category we have to
look at three things: 1) Are runners intimidated to run against them
(i.e. how often do they run)? 2) How successful are they when they do
run? And 3) How often does the pitcher pick off runners?
Taking these all into account here are
the best since the beginning of 2005 (minimum 100 innings):
|
Pitcher |
Innings |
Stolen
Base
Attempts |
Caught
Stealing |
Pitcher CS |
Pickoffs |
Stolen
Base
Percentage |
| Chris Capuano, Mil |
306.0 |
13 |
11 |
8 |
8 |
15% |
| Jarod Washburn, Sea |
253.1 |
8 |
7 |
1 |
0 |
13% |
| Mike Wood, KC |
152.0 |
5 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
20% |
| Carlos Zambrano, Cubs |
307.2 |
14 |
12 |
0 |
3 |
14% |
| Scott Downs, Tor |
118.1 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
These five pitchers stand out over the
rest. The next best was Dontrelle Willis who allowed a 30% steal rate
with one pickoff. Chris Capuano is especially impressive with his 8
pickoffs on top of the 11 runners caught stealing.
Wood and Zambrano are the only righties.
The other Zambrano is on the list of the
worst pitchers at holding runners:
|
Pitcher |
Innings |
Stolen
Base
Attempts |
Caught
Stealing |
Pitcher CS |
Pickoffs |
Stolen
Base
Percentage |
| Jason Vargas, Fla |
106.0 |
17 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
100% |
| Odalis Perez, Dodgers |
147.3 |
21 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
90% |
| Jorge Sosa, Atl |
189.0 |
23 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
91% |
| Victor Zambrano, Mets |
187.2 |
32 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
84% |
| Greg Maddux, Cubs |
296.2 |
54 |
11 |
1 |
0 |
80% |
Surprisingly, the two worst on this list
(Vargas and Perez) are both lefties.
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