Highest starting pitching grade of 17
Last night, I posted some breakdown number on defense from the new set. It’s time for the second in our 2016: by the numbers series which deals with pitching.
The big stories? There are no A&C or A&B pitchers. Two of the highest graded pitchers, Rich Hill and Clayton Kershaw, on the same team. Yet, the Cubs seem to get the edge overall.
By the way, the disk uses pitching grades similar to the Master Game. For those that don’t play the MG, here is a reference that might help:
| MG grade | BG grade |
| 1-4 | D |
| 5-9 | C |
| 10-14 | B |
| 15-19 | A |
| 20-24 | A&C |
| 25+ | A&B |
Let’s get started with some general distribution breakdowns starting with starting pitching. There were no A&C (or A&B) starters in the 2016 APBA set.
| Starter Grades | Distribution |
| A&B | 0 |
| A&C | 0 |
| A | 7 |
| B | 45 |
| C | 82 |
| D | 87 |
There were seven A starters though. Here they are. You know, I drafted Rich Hill in the Illowa APBA League as a Cub rookie way back when. I had since released him. Who knew?
| Starter | Grade |
| Rich Hill | 17 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 17 |
| J.A. Happ | 16 |
| Kyle Hendricks | 16 |
| Jon Lester | 16 |
| Rick Porcello | 16 |
| Max Scherzer | 15 |
Here is how the relievers break down. By the way, split grade pitchers are counted twice as far as this informal process is concerned.
| Reliever Grades | Distribution |
| A&B* | 2 |
| A&C* | 9 |
| A* | 40 |
| B* | 86 |
| C* | 80 |
| D* | 49 |
Zach Britton and Cam Bedrosian are among the elite with an A&B grade in 2016. They are joined by nine A&C relievers.
| Reliever | Grade |
| Zach Britton | 28 |
| Cam Bedrosian | 25 |
| Donnie Hart | 24 |
| Aroldis Chapman | 23 |
| Andrew Miller | 23 |
Taking a look at the control rating distribution among the set. FYI… the ZZ rating does not reveal itself in the disk so we have no idea who has that yet.
| Control ratings | Distribution |
| W | 99 |
| Z | 140 |
Like the ZZ rating, the K and R rating are unbeknownst to us via the disk. Still, he are the X, Y and the XY strikeout ratings and how they play out among the set.
| Strikeout ratings | Distribution |
| X | 96 |
| Y | 117 |
| XY | 84 |
I know many of you play the Master Game so I thought I would work with the HR ratings…
| MG HR ratings | Distribution |
| L | 92 |
| M | 19 |
| G | 104 |
| H | 34 |
I’ve always found A pitchers with no strikeout or control letters to be somewhat of an oddity. Turns out there were only three in this set, all relievers.
| A* “plain” pitchers | Team |
| Donnie Hart | BAL |
| Jeremy Jeffress | TEX |
| George Kontos | SF |
So which team had the best three starters based strictly on grade? It was close. Appropriately, the Cubs win out with two As and a very high B.
| Pitcher | Team | Grade |
| Kyle Hendricks | CHC | 16 |
| Jon Lester | CHC | 16 |
| Jake Arrieta | CHC | 14 |
The Los Angeles Dodgers who made the postseason were very close. They also had two As with a slightly lower graded B pitcher. Of course, Hill is slightly limited and didn’t play for LA for much of the season.
| Pitcher | Team | Grade |
| Rich Hill | LAD | 17 |
| Clayton Kershaw | LAD | 17 |
| Kenta Maeda | LAD | 11 |
Finally, which team had the best bullpen? There were some good ones out there but alphabetically, I had to go all the way to the end to get to the best one. No team could really touch Washington’s five A (or better) relievers.
| Pitcher | Team | Grade |
| Mark Melancon | WAS | 22* |
| Matt Belisle | WAS | 17* |
| Sammy Solis | WAS | 17* |
| Blake Treinen | WAS | 17* |
| Marc Rzepczynski | WAS | 16* |
The Texas Rangers came close with four A* pitchers.
Two down and I’ve got Hitting up next. That’s always a fun one. Don’t change that dial!
Nice job Tom. Always enjoy reading your articles
thanks, Terry! I’ve been doing this series since 2007 I think. It’s a lot of fun.
Happy Holidays!!
Tom
“Zach Britton and Cam Britton?”
Haven’t you heard of Zach’s brother, Cam?? ;)
*sheepishly* It’s fixed. thanks!