2017 APBA Baseball by the Numbers: Pitching

Hey APBA Fans,

I’m back with the second segment of 2017 by the Numbers.  I took a look at the fielding numbers and ratings from the 2017 APBA Baseball set a couple days ago.  Today, I’m going through the Pitching.  For most of us, that means grades and ratings.

Before I do, the grades here are displayed and ranked by Master Grade grades.  For those not familiar with the Master Game (I haven’t played it in a while myself), the grades can be easily transferred to the Basic Game format using this chart:

Note: A long time ago, Grades 1-5 used to be considered a D pitcher.  That is no longer the case.

So let’s start with starting pitching.  Which pitcher had the coveted A grade?

I feel like we’re playing the game “Which one things is not like the other?”.  Kluber, Kershaw, Scherzer and Strasburg are all not only stars but had sub-3.00 ERAs in full seasons.  Brad Peacock who just snuck in with a low A, is a interesting choice.  Star-quality aside, he not only had a relatively hefty 3.00 ERA but only pitched 132 innings, way below the qualifying amount.

APBA must have felt Peacock needed the A grade to replicate his 13-2 W-L record.

Take a look at the overall distribution of grades among starting pitchers only.

When I first looked at the numbers, I thought the pitching grades were way down.  Comparing them to last year’s numbers, they ARE down but not as much as I thought.  There were a total of 52 Grade B or better starters compared to this year’s 43.  Like last year, there are no A&C starters.

Which team has the best rotation?  Well, it depends on how you look at it.

The Washington Nationals are the only team that can boast two Grade A starters.

However Arizona, who had the best ERA in the MLB, and Houston have the deepest rotations.  They have the most B or better starters with four each.

Considering that these two teams have eight of only 43 of said pitchers, that’s pretty dominant.

Switching gears to relief pitching, let’s see who is the best of the best.  Not surprisingly, there were a few that reached into the A&C territory.

None of these were gave me pause to question.

None of the fireballers were awarded the A&B grade unlike last year when two were honored.  Here is the overall distribution for relievers (keep in mind that split grade pitchers are counted twice in my calculations).  It’s worth mentioning that the C*s outnumber the B*s unlike last year.

Which team had the best bullpen??  I decided to count those teams with the most A*s.

Well, it is pretty much a landslide.

Yankee fans, rejoice!  There were a total a five Grade A relievers in pinstripes.  Chad Green is a 5(19*) or a C(A*) for those wondering.

Cleveland and Milwaukee get honorable mention with three A*s each from the pen.

Miscellaneous Ratings

Let’s look at the overall distribution of APBA pitching ratings starting with the control ratings like W and Z.

Here are the strikeout ratings X, Y and XY (I don’t have the K numbers in my calculations).

Here is the breakdown of the Master Game homeruns allowed ratings (G, H, L, and M).

In short, homerun regulation is up by APBA.  Only the H rating went down from last year and not by much.

For those who want to compare to last year numbers, here is 2016 by Numbers: Pitching.

Read more 2017 by the Numbers.  Stay tuned for the Hitting segment which is always a fun one!

Photo By Keith Allison on Flickr – Originally posted to Flickr as “Stephen Strasburg“, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link