By now you’ve surely heard from someone, or read somewhere, or looked it up yourself. Joel Pineiro has displayed exceptional control of his pitches this season.
In fact, entering his start in San Diego tonight, Pineiro leads MLB among qualifying pitchers in fewest walks total and fewest walks per nine innings. Not far behind are teammate Chris Carpenter and Blue Jay Roy Halladay.
For his career, Pineiro has always had decent control, never allowing more walks than he collected strikeouts (save for an abbreviated call-up with Seattle in 2000). This year he has taken to a new level.
Just what kind of rarefied air is Pineiro inhabiting right now?
With twenty-three starts already in the books and only sixteen bases-on-balls issued by the right-hander, Pineiro is in the company of only two other pitchers who have completed similar full seasons:
Cnt Player **BB** GS Year Age Tm Lg G CG SHO GF W L W-L% SV IP H R ER SO ERA ERA+ HR BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Pit Str +----+-----------------+-------+---+----+---+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+-----+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+ 1 Carlos Silva 9 27 2005 26 MIN AL 27 2 0 0 9 8 .529 0 188.1 212 83 72 71 3.44 129 25 749 730 33 1 2 3 2 5 35 7 4 0 0 0 .290 .300 .441 .741 93 2292 1636 2 Bret Saberhagen 13 24 1994 30 NYM NL 24 4 0 0 14 4 .778 0 177.1 169 58 54 143 2.74 152 13 696 665 37 7 0 4 9 5 17 8 4 3 0 0 .254 .271 .389 .660 75 3 Joel Pineiro 16 23 2009 30 STL NL 23 3 2 0 11 9 .550 0 155 158 66 56 72 3.25 129 5 622 587 42 2 0 6 9 4 21 0 2 0 0 3 .269 .294 .373 .667 0 2138 1427
Strange to note that of the three, Bret Saberhagen is the only one who had real great success in the wins and losses columns. Carlos Silva displayed tremendous command of his pitches in 2005, only nine walks in 188.1 innings pitched, for a ridiculously low average of 0.43 walks per nine innings.
Now, obviously Cardinal fans, management, and players alike are all hoping and expecting that Pineiro will make it through the remainder of his starts in 2009, so his numbers are still in flux.
If we project that Pineiro will make another eight starts before the end of the regular season, he will finish with 31 for the year. Using an admittedly elementary projection for walks in those remaining games, let’s simply assume that he will maintain his current pace of walks. At 155 innings pitched thus far in 23 starts, he’s averaging a little over 6 2/3 innings per start. Over eight more starts, that’s 53 1/3 innings pitched. He’s walking hitters at a rate of 0.929 per nine innings pitched, which equals about another 5.5 walks. Round up to six the rest of this season, and we project 31 starts and 22 walks.
He gains more company at that benchmark for a full season:
Cnt Player **BB** GS Year Age Tm Lg G CG SHO GF W L W-L% SV IP H R ER SO ERA ERA+ HR BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Pit Str +----+-----------------+-------+---+----+---+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+-----+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+ 1 Babe Adams 18 33 1920 38 PIT NL 35 19 8 2 17 13 .567 2 263 240 83 63 84 2.16 150 6 1035 1 0 5 0 2 David Wells 20 31 2004 41 SDP NL 31 0 0 0 12 8 .600 0 195.2 203 85 81 101 3.73 104 23 804 764 37 2 1 2 14 4 12 5 3 4 1 2 .266 .285 .410 .695 89 2805 1928 3 Greg Maddux 20 33 1997 31 ATL NL 33 5 2 0 19 4 .826 0 232.2 200 58 57 177 2.20 189 9 893 849 31 3 6 6 11 7 23 20 8 1 0 0 .236 .256 .311 .567 50 4 Bob Tewksbury 20 32 1993 32 STL NL 32 2 0 0 17 10 .630 0 213.2 258 99 91 97 3.83 103 15 907 857 42 4 1 6 15 9 17 21 6 0 0 2 .301 .318 .412 .730 101 5 Bob Tewksbury 20 32 1992 31 STL NL 33 5 0 1 16 5 .762 0 233 217 63 56 91 2.16 157 15 915 876 39 4 0 3 9 7 25 7 4 0 0 2 .248 .265 .353 .618 81 6 La Marr Hoyt 20 31 1985 30 SDP NL 31 8 3 0 16 8 .667 0 210.1 210 85 81 83 3.47 103 20 839 805 31 5 2 2 9 3 14 16 8 0 4 0 .261 .280 .386 .666 91 7 Christy Mathewson 21 35 1913 32 NYG NL 40 25 4 5 25 11 .694 2 306 291 94 70 93 2.06 152 8 1195 0 0 3 0
Recognize any of the names on that list? Pretty heady company (and one that threw the eephus).
For the sake of inclusion and further comparison, let’s expand the list to those with qualifying seasons and 22 walks or fewer:
Cnt Player **BB** Year Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% SV IP H R ER SO ERA ERA+ HR BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Pit Str +----+-----------------+-------+----+---+---+--+---+---+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+-----+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+ 1 Carlos Silva 9 2005 26 MIN AL 27 27 2 0 0 9 8 .529 0 188.1 212 83 72 71 3.44 129 25 749 730 33 1 2 3 2 5 35 7 4 0 0 0 .290 .300 .441 .741 93 2292 1636 2 Slim Sallee 12 1918 33 NYG NL 18 16 12 1 2 8 8 .500 2 132 122 44 33 33 2.25 117 3 531 0 1 1 0 3 Bret Saberhagen 13 1994 30 NYM NL 24 24 4 0 0 14 4 .778 0 177.1 169 58 54 143 2.74 152 13 696 665 37 7 0 4 9 5 17 8 4 3 0 0 .254 .271 .389 .660 75 4 Babe Adams 15 1922 40 PIT NL 27 19 12 4 4 8 11 .421 0 171.1 191 77 68 39 3.57 114 1 707 4 0 1 0 5 Joel Pineiro 16 2009 30 STL NL 23 23 3 2 0 11 9 .550 0 155 158 66 56 72 3.25 129 5 622 587 42 2 0 6 9 4 21 0 2 0 0 3 .269 .294 .373 .667 0 2138 1427 6 Rick Honeycutt 17 1981 27 TEX AL 20 20 8 2 0 11 6 .647 0 127.2 120 49 47 40 3.31 104 12 509 487 18 2 1 0 5 0 18 0 2 2 0 1 .246 .272 .366 .638 87 7 Jon Lieber 18 2004 34 NYY AL 27 27 0 0 0 14 8 .636 0 176.2 216 95 85 102 4.33 104 20 749 718 35 3 2 2 3 7 18 2 1 0 0 7 .301 .317 .442 .759 97 2539 1781 8 Red Lucas 18 1933 31 CIN NL 29 29 21 3 0 10 16 .385 0 219.2 248 106 83 40 3.40 100 13 902 2 1 1 0 9 Babe Adams 18 1921 39 PIT NL 25 20 11 2 3 14 5 .737 0 160 155 57 47 55 2.64 144 4 646 0 1 0 0 10 Babe Adams 18 1920 38 PIT NL 35 33 19 8 2 17 13 .567 2 263 240 83 63 84 2.16 150 6 1035 1 0 5 0 11 Bill Burns 18 1908 28 WSH AL 23 19 11 2 1 6 11 .353 0 165 135 58 31 55 1.69 136 3 612 4 0 1 0 12 Dennis Eckersley 19 1985 30 CHC NL 25 25 6 2 0 11 7 .611 0 169.1 145 61 58 117 3.08 128 15 664 634 25 4 4 3 6 2 7 13 8 4 3 0 .229 .254 .352 .606 66 13 Chris Carpenter 20 2009 34 STL NL 20 20 2 0 0 13 3 .813 0 138.2 114 36 35 105 2.27 185 7 536 502 21 4 1 5 6 3 14 2 3 0 0 1 .227 .262 .327 .589 0 1882 1258 14 David Wells 20 2004 41 SDP NL 31 31 0 0 0 12 8 .600 0 195.2 203 85 81 101 3.73 104 23 804 764 37 2 1 2 14 4 12 5 3 4 1 2 .266 .285 .410 .695 89 2805 1928 15 David Wells 20 2003 40 NYY AL 31 30 4 1 0 15 7 .682 0 213 242 101 98 101 4.14 106 24 887 846 54 3 0 8 6 7 18 16 5 4 0 3 .286 .306 .442 .748 96 3002 2122 16 Greg Maddux 20 1997 31 ATL NL 33 33 5 2 0 19 4 .826 0 232.2 200 58 57 177 2.20 189 9 893 849 31 3 6 6 11 7 23 20 8 1 0 0 .236 .256 .311 .567 50 17 Bob Tewksbury 20 1993 32 STL NL 32 32 2 0 0 17 10 .630 0 213.2 258 99 91 97 3.83 103 15 907 857 42 4 1 6 15 9 17 21 6 0 0 2 .301 .318 .412 .730 101 18 Bob Tewksbury 20 1992 31 STL NL 33 32 5 0 1 16 5 .762 0 233 217 63 56 91 2.16 157 15 915 876 39 4 0 3 9 7 25 7 4 0 0 2 .248 .265 .353 .618 81 19 La Marr Hoyt 20 1985 30 SDP NL 31 31 8 3 0 16 8 .667 0 210.1 210 85 81 83 3.47 103 20 839 805 31 5 2 2 9 3 14 16 8 0 4 0 .261 .280 .386 .666 91 20 Herb Pennock 20 1930 36 NYY AL 25 19 11 1 3 11 7 .611 0 156.1 194 95 75 46 4.32 100 8 676 0 0 4 0 21 Slim Sallee 20 1919 34 CIN NL 29 28 22 4 1 21 7 .750 0 227.2 221 63 52 24 2.06 134 4 893 1 0 0 0 22 Christy Mathewson 20 1915 34 NYG NL 27 24 11 1 1 8 14 .364 0 186 199 97 74 57 3.58 71 9 768 1 0 1 0 23 David Wells 21 2005 42 BOS AL 30 30 2 0 0 15 7 .682 0 184 220 95 91 107 4.45 102 21 780 743 41 3 0 9 1 6 22 8 5 4 1 4 .296 .321 .444 .765 98 2780 1937 24 Shane Reynolds 21 1994 26 HOU NL 33 14 1 1 5 8 5 .615 0 124 128 46 42 110 3.05 130 10 517 486 13 4 3 6 4 0 12 7 3 2 2 3 .263 .302 .368 .670 83 25 Christy Mathewson 21 1913 32 NYG NL 40 35 25 4 5 25 11 .694 2 306 291 94 70 93 2.06 152 8 1195 0 0 3 0 +----+-----------------+-------+----+---+---+--+---+---+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+-----+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+ Cnt Player **BB** Year Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% SV IP H R ER SO ERA ERA+ HR BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Pit Str +----+-----------------+-------+----+---+---+--+---+---+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+-----+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+ 26 Bill Reidy 21 1903 29 TOT ML 20 18 16 1 1 7 11 .389 0 147 183 85 59 29 3.61 86 1 628 9 0 4 0 27 Bill Bernhard 21 1903 32 CLE AL 20 19 18 3 1 14 6 .700 0 165.2 151 62 39 60 2.12 134 1 657 0 0 2 0 28 Bob Tewksbury 22 1994 33 STL NL 24 24 4 1 0 12 10 .545 0 155.2 190 97 92 79 5.32 79 19 667 626 42 6 1 3 12 4 13 14 3 0 0 1 .304 .328 .481 .809 115 29 Hal Brown 22 1960 35 BAL AL 30 20 6 1 5 12 5 .706 0 159 155 61 54 66 3.06 124 14 635 600 24 9 3 1 5 7 16 6 3 0 0 3 .258 .283 .398 .681 89 30 Tiny Bonham 22 1945 31 NYY AL 23 23 12 0 0 8 11 .421 0 180.2 186 72 66 42 3.29 105 11 736 1 0 0 0 31 George Smith 22 1918 26 TOT NL 23 13 9 1 8 8 7 .533 0 132 140 62 50 41 3.41 80 3 535 3 0 6 0 32 Dale Gear 22 1901 29 WSH AL 24 16 14 1 8 4 11 .267 1 163 199 100 73 35 4.03 91 9 0 4 0 0 0
Still not a very long list, and only about half of those seasons from the modern era.
Can he keep it up for another eight starts for the Cardinals?
Perhaps more importantly, can the poor guy get some wins for the way he’s pitched this season?
We’d love to hear from the readers on this one… is Pineiro having an all-time kind of season with few walks, or just getting lucky? What impresses you more on these lists – the few times such a season has been accomplished, or the company Pineiro is keeping by exhibiting such control?
Here’s hoping for more from “Good” Joel tonight…
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