Sunday, September 16, 2012

Bad Med-icine?

Only if you're an opposing batter!

I don't believe that we can compare baseball players and baseball teams of different eras head-to-head.  It's like comparing apples and oranges.  Would the 1927 Yankees be able to beat the 1998 Yankees?  There's no way of knowing.  Sure it makes for a lively debate but there is never a right or wrong answer.

That said, I think it's really cool to look at a player's accomplishments and see how they stack up historically with others who played that same position.  This is my very roundabout way of getting to Kris Medlen.

In Friday night's win over the Nationals, Kris earned his 20th win in a row as a starting pitcher.  This doesn't sound too easy and it made me wonder if any other starting pitchers had bettered this number.  Here's how Kris stacks up:


22 Wins - Whitey Ford           

22 Wins - Carl Hubbell           
 
21 Wins - Lefty Grove            

20 Wins - Roger Clemens

20 Wins - Kris Medlen   


In the Braves September 14th win over the Washington Nationals, Kris Medlen struck out 13 batters.  In the Braves win over the Colorado Rockies on September 3rd, Kris struck out 12 batters.  With those two outings, Kris became the first Braves pitcher since 1900 to have a pair of games with 12 or more strikeouts in the same month. 

When you consider all the Braves pitchers since the team's inception, let alone the past two decades, that stat is absolutely mind blowing!   

I love historical significance!     
     

No comments:

Post a Comment