In affiliation with Razzball.com and the All Star Series I am writing there, over the next few days the Fantasy Baseball Hall of Fame will be reviewing the history of fantasy statistics through the eyes of these All-Stars.  We’ve completed the main batting stats (AVG, R, HR, RBI, SB) and moved onto pitching, today we look at WHIP.

WHIP

I love this chart.  As we have seen offense has steadily been rising, almost continually through the 1980’s and 1990’s until the leveling off period of the past few seasons.  Despite this, pitcher WHIP’s have been improving, even during the peak offense years such as 1996 and 1998. 

Starting pitchers (in pink) have improved slowly but steadily up until the 2006 season.  Since then, WHIP’s have spiked and we’ll need to see if the overall trend reverses or continues to advance.  Closers (in yellow) have been improving through the decades, especially in the 2000’s where the improvement is dramatic.  The two straight lines in maroon and orange are the corresponding trend lines.

Compare the above to the following chart:

As we know league WHIP has been on the rise.  Yet, despite this, the elite pitchers have bucked this trend and improved their WHIP scores.  One theory to explain this is that athletes continue to get better as training techniques and modern medicines push athletes harder and further than they have gone before.  We see this all the time with batters – 70 HR, twenty batters reach 35+ home runs, etc.  Why can’t this be true for pitchers too – the best athlete, batter or pitcher, is improving. 

The remainder of the player pool, the non elites, would also benefit but not at such high a degree since talent is limiting.  This group is stuck competing against the ballparks - as field dimensions are further reduced the level of offense climbs.  What we’re left with is elite pitchers improving while the remainder of the player pool battles ballparks and steroids.  It’s a theory, but I am at a loss for a way to prove it.

Back to the All-Stars.  In 2004 starting pitcher WHIP was an all time low, with a mark 1.01 across all 6 starters.  This season featured two 16 point pitchers, a phenomenon only witnessed in the Randy Johnson era.  In 1995 Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson combined to accumulate 33.1 FBHOF points; in 1999 it was Johnson and Pedro Martinez at 35.9 points; in 2000 they teamed up again for 34.2 points; and finally in 2004 Johnson paired with Johan Santana for 32.1 points.  There is a reason why Johnson is the best fantasy player in history.

Johnson and Santana each had WHIP’s in the low 0.90’s and Ben Sheets was a third pitcher under 1.00, marking just the second time in the fantasy era three All-Star starters of the same year were able to do so.  The balance of the rotation was good as well:  Curt Schilling (1.06), Jason Schmidt (1.08), and Roger Clemens (1.16).

As the original graph depicts, relievers WHIP scores have been improving steadily through the decades.  As workloads are reduced and their roles specialized to ninth innings only, closers have had to face less and less competition making it more likely to attain incredible WHIP values.  Anyone can look at an Eric Gagne in his prime or a Mariano Rivera and tell they are great at what they do, but we can’t ignore the number of times they came into a game with a three run lead to face the bottom half of the order.  The 1980’s closer had to retire not only more batters, they were also specifically brought in to face the heart of the lineup from the opposing team, regardless of inning.  It is bizarre how baseball continues to be backward in this regard.

2007 was the peak for closer WHIP.  JJ Putz and Takashi Saito each held theirs under 0.80 (a feat accomplished 6 times in the fantasy era, four of which came in the last four years) and Joe Nathan managed a 1.88 ERA despite a 1.02 WHIP.

WHIP (Year, Player, Stat, Pos. Minimum)
SP: 1994 Greg Maddux, 0.90 (1.40)
CL: 1983 Dan Quisenberry, 0.93 (1.33)

(Note:  The value WHIP is also dependant upon the number of innings pitched.  Therefore, 1980’s closers may score higher than 2007 closers despite an inferior raw WHIP)