Plunk Everyone

So far this season, there have been 77 pitchers who made their major league debut. 40 of them have hit at least one batter, for a total of 68 plunks by debut year pitchers. (I'm using the term "debut year" rather than "rookie" because MLB's definition of "rookie" is complicated and guys can be rookies in several different seasons.) The total plunks by debut year pitchers is not outstanding this year, but the number of new pitchers who have hit someone is the 2nd most in the last 20 years as of July 1, behind only 2006. The 2006 season had a bumper crop of debut pitchers with 47 of them hitting at least one batter by July 1, and a total of 94 plunks by debut pitchers by that date. In 2006, 67% of players who made their major league debut before 7/1 were pitchers - this year we're up to 68%, although last year it was a 50-50 split.

But this illustrates a disturbing demographic trend - major league baseball is churning through more and more pitchers in search of effective arms. We may reach the point by around 2025 where half of the under-50 population of America will be able to claim to be a failed major league relief pitcher, and they'll probably all open friendly bars in Boston where everybody knows your name.

It's true that teams balance out their call-ups somewhat during the course of the season though - from 1995 to 2008, 58.2% of debuts in the first 3 months of the season are by pitchers, but in September when the rosters expand, 58.3% of players who debut then are position players. But overall, since 1995, 55% of players who made their major league debut have been pitchers - which sounds awfully strange if you look at the number of pitchers in a baseball lineup on a given day, or the number of pitchers on a 25 man roster on a given day. Since most rosters only contain around 40% pitchers, the explanation is that the pitchers are not staying in the league for long, and need to be replaced at a higher rate. Oddly though, the Cardinals have been carrying 13 pitchers this season, and the Angels have somehow managed to have 22 players pitch for them this season, but only 20 players bat for them. It's unlikely they'll finish the season like that, but if they do, it'll be a first. Nobody since 1902 has had the total players who pitched for their team come within 10 of the number of players who batted.