Author Archive

A Short History of Starters Who Fail to Record an Out

Failing to record an out is a starting pitcher’s worst nightmare. Generally, it means that either the pitcher suffered an injury or had absolutely nothing that particular day. In the case that the pitcher is healthy but eminently hittable, one can only imagine the embarrassment the pitcher feels. Additionally, it’s a pretty big letdown to the pitcher’s teammates. Players underperform from time to time, but perhaps nothing hurts a team as much as a starter who gets rocked and subsequently pulled before retiring a batter. In a matter of minutes, the pitcher’s squad can already be a few runs behind, and the bullpen becomes destined for a long day.

From data available at Baseball-Reference (since 1914), in the regular season, there have been 1,282 instances of starting pitchers leaving the game before recording one out (thanks, Play Index). The first time this occurred, on record, was April 24, 1914. The Cubs’ Charlie Smith faced five batters; he beaned one, allowed three hits, and one counterpart reached on error. The last time it happened was August 7, 2013, when Shelby Miller was yanked after taking a line drive to the elbow off the bat of Dodger’s outfielder Carl Crawford. Read the rest of this entry »