A year such as this could enact a shift on voters' perceptions of the importance of starting pitching. And once the engravers tap the names onto the sides of the hardware, we may find that Justin Verlander will become the first starting pitcher to claim the AL Rookie of the Year since Dave Righetti in '81.
Everyone always preaches that no team can win a championship without a great pitching staff. But two counterpoints consistently hamper arguments for hurlers as MVPs:
- Pitchers have their own award, the Cy Young.
- Pitchers only throw every fifth day, versus batters who play every day
When it comes to postseason MVPs, the rate of handing the shiny trophy to a pitcher is much higher than the season rate of 9 percent. Taking just the last 12 years, four of the last NLCS MVPs have been pitchers, as have five of the last ALCS MVPs and six of the last World Series MVPs — not counting the 2001 year when two pitchers shared the honor.
In a seven-or-fewer-game series, a pitcher can stand out with a dominant 0.61 ERA and a couple wins, but so does a batter who hits .400 with a few homers. When you turn a seven-game series into a 162-game season, why can't the same standard of dominance apply?
The second argument — the fact that pitchers playing 20 percent of the games, therefore implying less work compared to the team's best hitter — is delightfully curious. Batters play a little over 150 games. An ace starting pitchers takes the mound in just over 30 games. So let's compare Johan Santana to — oh, let's just pick one of the above five out of a hat — Jermaine Dye.
Dye, an outfielder, has played in 140 games. In 571 plate appearances, Dye accumulated 165 hits, 43 of them home runs, for a .318 batting average. He has driven in 118 runs and scored 97 of his own. Awesome year.
Article comments
1 - sal m
you make the best argument for why pitchers shouldn't win the mvp when you noted that they only contribute every 5th (or so) day. you reinforce this point when you mention that santana averages less than 7 innings per start.
so not only does he play every 5th day but he participates in just a hair over 75% of the games in which he plays. this might be great for a pitcher in the current era of baseball, but it still pales in comparison to both the contributions to the team and the burdens assumed by the every day player.
and while the twins have a great record in the games santana starts, this record (which i think is 27-6) is not even in the top ten winning percentages posted in this category in at least the past 10 years.
santana for cy young, definitely. for mvp, not.
2 - Mark Saleski
when a pitcher is having a great year, his efforts have ripple effects that extend far beyond the "every 5th day" contribution...including indirect support of the bullpen.
it's not that simple.
3 - Matthew T. Sussman
Sal,
Every fifth day is only a good argument if on that day the pitcher and batter have equal workloads. Which is why I pointed out the comparative plate appearance stat.
Also keep in mind: Santana is 1/5 of the pitching staff, just as Dye is 1/9 of the lineup. Factor in bullpen and pinch hitters, and Santana still does more than Dye or Ortiz or Jeter.
4 - sal m
those stats don't have any relevance with regard to the fact that position players effect more games than pitchers. what part of the order an everyday player is of no importance in your above example and does nothing to diminish their accomplishment.
compare pitchers to pitchers and everyday players to everyday players.
especially when you consider that an everyday player's contribution goes well beyond at-bats, as fielding is a huge factor.
despite the stats provided, there's no evidence whatsoever that a pitcher like Santana "does more" than Jeter, Ortiz etc.
and the ripple effect of a good starter is overrated and minimum at best...ask robin roberts and bert blyleven.