Plunk Everyone

Last week I confidently wrote that I was going to post the major league pitching leaders in the category of foul balls allowed, and that I fully expected no one to care about that. But, it turns out that commenter KL Snow (from Brewcrewball) almost cared about it, but was more interested in which pitchers give up the fewest foul balls.

So, here are the ten pitchers who have given up the fewest fouls this year, with a minimum of 500 batters faced:

Pitcher	Fouls	Total Pitches	Total Batters Faced
Tim Wakefield (BOS)	280	1841	528
Jason Berken (BAL)	291	1834	501
Fausto Carmona (CLE)	309	1973	513
Ervin Santana (LAA)	331	2058	544
Micah Owings (CIN)	343	2010	521
Brad Bergesen (BAL)	343	1864	519
Joba Chamberlain (NYY)	346	2480	645
Francisco Liriano (MIN)	347	2187	579
Derek Holland (TEX)	349	1964	538
Scott Richmond (TOR)	350	2043	528

And here are the ten pitchers who have the lowest number of foul balls, as a percentage of their total pitches thrown (fouls/total pitches):

Pitcher	Fouls as pct of pitches	Fouls	Total Pitches	Total Batters Faced
Joba Chamberlain (NYY)	13.95%	346	2480	645
Livan Hernandez (WSH)	13.98%	378	2704	732
Trevor Cahill (OAK)	14.44%	410	2840	729
Ryan Dempster (CHC)	14.61%	401	2744	729
Jason Marquis (COL)	14.71%	424	2883	824
Bronson Arroyo (CIN)	15.04%	462	3071	842
Tim Wakefield (BOS)	15.21%	280	1841	528
Chris Carpenter (STL)	15.60%	371	2378	674
Fausto Carmona (CLE)	15.66%	309	1973	513
John Lackey (LAA)	15.68%	395	2519	686

Now obviously, some of those foul balls count as strikes, so lets see what happens if we exclude the strikes and just look at non-strike fouls - or foul balls hit with 2 strikes in the count. Here are the pitchers who have given up the fewest non-strike fouls:

Pitcher	Non-strike fouls	Total Pitches	Total Batters Faced
Jason Berken (BAL)	87	1834	501
Tim Wakefield (BOS)	96	1841	528
Ian Snell (SEA)	108	2222	572
Ervin Santana (LAA)	113	2058	544
Jeff Suppan (MIL)	114	2401	658
Brad Bergesen (BAL)	114	1864	519
Francisco Liriano (MIN)	117	2187	579
Todd Wellemeyer (STL)	118	2019	542
Aaron Cook (COL)	120	2243	628
Fausto Carmona (CLE)	123	1973	513

And, non-strike fouls as a percentage of total pitches:

Pitcher	Non-strike Fouls as pct of pitches	Non-strike Fouls	Total Pitches	Total Batters Faced
Jason Marquis (COL)	4.30%	124	2883	824
Livan Hernandez (WSH)	4.62%	125	2704	732
Ryan Dempster (CHC)	4.63%	127	2744	729
Trevor Cahill (OAK)	4.65%	132	2840	729
Jason Berken (BAL)	4.74%	87	1834	501
Jeff Suppan (MIL)	4.75%	114	2401	658
Ian Snell (SEA)	4.86%	108	2222	572
Joba Chamberlain (NYY)	5.08%	126	2480	645
Yovani Gallardo (MIL)	5.15%	161	3125	776
Bronson Arroyo (CIN)	5.18%	159	3071	842

So those guys are all pretty good about not throwing a lot of pitches that get wasted or fought off and don't count for anything, except an increase pitch count. While we're here, we might as well see who gets the most pitches fouled off after two strikes.
Here are the league leaders in non-strike fouls:

Pitcher	Non-strike fouls	Total Pitches	Total Batters Faced
Scott Baker (MIN)	319	2884	733
Justin Verlander (DET)	302	3434	868
Max Scherzer (ARI)	277	2855	695
Randy Wolf (LAD)	276	3027	792
Cliff Lee (PHI)	251	3299	901
Jon Lester (BOS)	241	3136	780
Cole Hamels (PHI)	236	2866	742
Clayton Kershaw (LAD)	230	2808	657
Ricky Nolasco (FLA)	229	2714	705
Doug Davis (ARI)	222	3137	802

And, the leader in non-strike fouls as a percentage of total pitches:

Pitcher	Non-strike Fouls as pct of pitches	Non-strike Fouls	Total Pitches	Total Batters Faced
Scott Baker (MIN)	11.06%	319	2884	733
Max Scherzer (ARI)	9.70%	277	2855	695
Randy Wolf (LAD)	9.12%	276	3027	792
Scott Kazmir (LAA)	8.89%	208	2339	583
Justin Verlander (DET)	8.79%	302	3434	868
Ricky Nolasco (FLA)	8.44%	229	2714	705
Cole Hamels (PHI)	8.23%	236	2866	742
Clayton Kershaw (LAD)	8.19%	230	2808	657
Johan Santana (NYM)	7.84%	202	2575	702
Brad Penny (SF)	7.80%	209	2681	672

(And, because I feel the need to say something about people getting hit by pitches,)
Jorge De La Rosa leads the league in giving up non-strike fouls in plate appearances where he eventually hit the batter, with 6. He's hit 7 batters, but he gave up 6 non-strike fouls to those batters he plunked - the most he gave up in a single plate appearance was 4. On April 25th, Rockies rookie Matt Daley gave up 5 non-strike fouls to Casey Blake before getting tired of that game and hitting him. That's the most this season, in a single plate appearance that resulted in a plunking.

Labels: foul ball friday