One baseball phenomenon that has always interested me is when position players are called upon to pitch. It's relatively uncommon; typically it will only happen a few times a year. Understandably so, because it's almost always preferable to use a legitimate professional pitcher instead of taking a huge chance either giving up a lot of runs and/or injuring a position player. Consequently, position players who pitch are usually bench players, and they are usually used as pitchers for one of three reasons:
1. The team is so far behind that a comeback is virtually impossible; done to avoid wasting/potentially injuring relief pitchers on meaningless innings.
2. The team is completely out of viable pitchers and is essentially conceding defeat.
3. (Rarely) A team is trying out a position player as a potential pitcher, usually in a meaningless game or situation.
Because of this, it is even rarer to see two position players pitch in the same game on opposing teams. In fact, it had not been done since 1925, until last night, at least. In the situation in question, the Red Sox and Orioles were tied in the bottom of the 16th, with both teams having depleted their bullpens. The Orioles chose to bring in designated hitter Chris Davis, who had no previous MLB pitching experience. He pitched a scoreless inning, and in the top of the 17th, the Red Sox chose to bring in utility outfielder Darnell McDonald, who had all of one inning of MLB pitching experience, in a blowout game last year. McDonald allowed three runs, and in the bottom of the 17th Chris Davis pitched another scoreless inning, becoming only the fourth position player since 1968 to win a MLB game.
The question is, was this a wise decision by Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine? He obviously was out of arms in the bullpen, but would it have been unreasonable to bring in a starter to pitch a couple innings? I had a hunch that it would have been a good idea, but I decided to take a closer look at the numbers. After all, an extra inning game being pitched on one side by a professional pitcher and on the other side by a designated hitter should not have lasted much longer, right?
With the help of the Non-pitchers with pitching appearances page on Baseball Reference, I decided to take a look at what the results have been in the past when teams use position players to pitch. I focused the list on just those who have played since 1968, and I removed as many as I could find who (like Rick Ankiel) were at one point considered MLB-caliber pitchers. Here's what I found:
Win-Loss Record: 4-6
Games: 208
Games Started: 1
Games Finished: 190
Innings Pitched: 223.2
Earned Runs: 194
ERA: 7.81
Notice how the numbers confirm the fact that most position players are used in meaningless situations; in 208 appearances, only 10 have received decisions. Furthermore, 190 of those 208 games were finished by the position player in question, presumably when the outcome had long-since been obvious. So, what relevance does this have in last night's game?
Well, probably the best option for the Red Sox (in my opinion) would have been to pitch Felix Doubront, today's scheduled starter. That would've affected today's game, but that's something that could've been sorted out later. Granted, Doubront's 5.19 ERA so far this season doesn't inspire much confidence, but the odds certainly would have been in Boston's favor against the 7.81 average ERA of position players who pitch. Instead, Bobby Valentine essentially evened the odds, presumably in the interest of maintaining the pitching matchup for today. Meaning that he gave up a near-certain victory yesterday in order to have basically even odds at winning today. Doesn't seem to make much sense to me.
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