Today’s Sportstat: June 22, 2020
How will the new Brewers players’ debuts match up with other Brew Crew debuts?
When (or if) the 2020 Major League Baseball season begins, the Brewers will have several new players who have never suited up in a Brewers uniform who will likely play important roles for the club. Players like outfielder Avisail Garcia, catcher Omar Narvaez, infielders Justin Smoak and Luis Urias, and pitchers Brett Anderson, Eric Lauer and Josh Lindblom will be making their debut with the Brewers in 2020 (hopefully).
The question: When they do make their debuts, will they start with a bang or a whimper? When compared to other Brewers, will any of these new players have a Brew Crew debut like Carlos Gomez? After coming to the Brewers in a trade with the Twins, Gomez made his Brewers debut on April 5, 2010 with four hits in five at-bats, a solo HR and a stolen base.
Or will any of the pitchers have a debut like Yovani Gallardo? Making his MLB and Brewers debut on June 18, 2007, Gallardo was the starting pitcher and winner in the Brewers 5-4 win over the San Francisco Giants. Gallardo went 6.1 innings and allowed only four hits and struck out four in the victory.
Let’s take a look at some of the Brewers debuts for some of the club’s top players over the years. Baseball-Reference.com on the Brewers’ team page lists the team’s Top 24 players in franchise history based on each players’ WAR rating (WAR stands for Wins Above Replacement). The stat gives a number to each players’ overall contribution to the team. Robin Yount tops the Brewers franchise with a 77.3 WAR, followed by Paul Molitor (60.0) and Ryan Braun is third (46.8).
Here is a snapshot of the top 24 Brewers player’s debut with the team.
Robin Yount, April 5, 1974: 0-for-1, walk
Paul Molitor, April 7, 1978: 1-for-5, one RBI
Ryan Braun, May 25, 2007: 1-for-4, two RBIs
Cecil Cooper, April 7, 1977: 1-for-4
Teddy Higuera, April 23, 1985: 5.1 IP, seven hits, 4 ER, five strikeouts (no decision-starting pitcher)
Don Money, April 6, 1973: 0-for-3
Jeff Cirillo, May 11, 1994: 0-for-0, came in as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning, no at-bat
Ben Sheets, April 5, 2001: 6.0 IP, six hits, 5 ER, five strikeouts (starting pitcher, losing pitcher)
George Scott, April 15, 1972: 0-for-4, one RBI
Jim Gantner, September 3, 1976: 2-for-4, one run scored, one walk
Geoff Jenkins, April 24, 1998: 2-for-4, solo HR, two runs scored
Ben Oglivie, April 8, 1978: 2-for-5, two runs scored, one walk
Carlos Gomez, April 5, 2010: 4-for-5, double, solo HR, two runs scored, stolen base
Sixto Lezcano, September 10, 1974: 3-for-5, one RBI
Chris Bosio, August 3, 1986: 3.0 IP, three hits, one earned run, one strikeout (came in as a reliever, no decision)
Gorman Thomas, April 6, 1973: 1-for-3, triple
Yovani Gallardo, June 18, 2007: 6.1 IP, four hits, 3 ER, 4 strikeouts (Starting pitcher, got the win)
Bill Wegman, September 14, 1985: 7.0 IP, five hits, two earned runs, four strikeouts (starting pitcher, no decision)
Mike Caldwell, June 19, 1977: 2 IP, no hits, one walk, one strikeout (came in as a reliever, no decision)
Jonathan Lucroy, May 21, 2010: 1-for-2
Prince Fielder, June 13, 2005: 0-for-4
Jeromy Burnitz, September 3, 1996: 0-for-4
Moose Haas, September 8, 1976: 3 IP, three hits, one earned run, two strikeouts (came in as a reliever, no decision)
Corey Hart, May 25, 2004: 0-for-1, strikeout
In addition to the above 24 players, the Brewers have five more players who played with the team who are members of baseball’s Hall of Fame (in addition to Yount and Molitor): Rollie Fingers, Hank Aaron, Ted Simmons, Trevor Hoffman and Don Sutton. Their Brewers debuts went as follows:
Rollie Fingers, April 11, 1981: 1.2 IP, two hits, no earned runs, one strikeout, one walk (came in as a reliever, got the save)
Hank Aaron, April 8, 1975: 0-for-3, walk
Ted Simmons, April 11, 1981: 0-for-4, one run scored, one strikeout
Trevor Hoffman, April 27, 2009: one inning pitched, no hits, no earned runs (came in as a reliever, no decision)
Don Sutton, 9 IP, complete game, eight hits allowed, four earned runs, two walks, three strikeouts (starting pitcher, got the loss)
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Today’s Sports Stat: October 11, 2018
TODAY’s SPORTSTAT-October 11, 2018
This is the fifth year in the Milwaukee Brewers 50-year franchise history (one year in Seattle as the Pilots, 49 seasons in Milwaukee) that they have made the playoffs. The National League Championship Series (NLCS) versus the Los Angeles Dodgers is the eighth different playoff series the team has played in those 50 seasons: they played in one post-season series in 1981, two in 1982, one in 2008, two in 2011, and face the Dodgers in their second playoff series of 2018.
Here are several stats about the past history of the Brewers in the playoffs and some stats about Brewers players in the post-season.
- The Brewers have never won a Game 6 or a Game 7 in the playoffs in their history. They are 4-3 in Game Ones; 2-5 in Game Twos; 4-3 in Game Threes; 4-2 in Game Fours; 3-2 in Game Fives; 0-2 in Game Sixes; and 0-1 in Game Sevens.
- The team has a playoff record of 17-18 (through the 2018 Colorado series). They are 12-6 (.667 winning percentage) at home and 5-12 (.294) in road playoff contests.
- The Brewers are 6-8 after a loss in the playoffs… 7-7 after a win.
- If the Brewers have lost two straight games in a playoff series, they are 6-0 in the next game after a two-game playoff losing streak. If they have won two straight in a playoff series, the Brew Crew is 2-3 in the next game.
- Milwaukee is 5-2 in their first home game of a playoff series.
- The Brewers have won three playoff series in their history (1982, 2011 and 2018) and have lost four series (1981, 1982, 2008 and 2011).
- Ryan Braun holds the Brewers team record for most career post-season hits with 27. He is followed by Robin Yount (22), Paul Molitor (22), Charlie Moore (17), Cecil Cooper (15) and Jerry Hairston (15). How many of you had Hairston on this list?
- Prince Fielder has the most career HRs in the post-season for Milwaukee with four. Molitor and Ted Simmons follow with three each, and Braun, Corey Hart, Ben Oglivie, Gorman Thomas and Rickie Weeks (two each) are the only other Brewers players to have two or more career post-season home runs for the club.
- Cooper tops the list with 13 career post-season RBI for the Brewers. The only other Brewer with 10 or more is Braun with 12.
- Mike Caldwell is the only Brew Crew pitcher to win more than one post-season game for the Brewers.
- Shaun Marcum is the only Brewers pitcher to lose three or more post-season games for the Brew Crew. He was 0-3.
- John Axford (3), Bob McClure (2) and Pete Ladd (2) are the only relief pitchers to have more than one save for the Brewers in the post season.
- Yovani Galardo leads the Brewers pitching staff with the most career post season strikeouts with 20. He is followed by Pete Vukovich (16), Don Sutton (140, Zack Greinke (13) and Chris Narveson (13).
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Today’s Sports Stats: March 13, 2018
Can Chase Anderson end an “ugly” trend that has affected the Milwaukee Brewers over the past four seasons?
It was announced yesterday that Anderson will be the Opening Day starting pitcher for the Brew Crew this season. It is certainly an honor that Anderson deserves.
The problem, however, is that Brewers’ Opening Day starting pitchers over the last four seasons have gone on to have less-than-stellar seasons in the year they started Game One.
Anderson is the fifth different Opening Day starting pitcher for the Brewers in the last five years. The others: Yovani Gallardo (2014), Kyle Lohse (2015), Wily Peralta (2016) and Junior Guerra (2017).
The trend is that these last four pitchers mentioned in the previous paragraph had losing records that season they got the nod to start Opening Day: Gallardo went 8-11 in 2014; Lohse was 5-13 in 2015; Peralta ended 2016 at 7-11; and last year, Guerra ended the year with a 1-4 record. Needless to say, the Brewers are hopeful that Anderson can break this disturbing trend.
Looking back to the 18 Opening Day starting pitchers for the Brewers since 2000, there were only seven seasons where the Opening Day starting pitcher ended the year with a winning record. Gallardo was the O.D. starter each year from 2010-2013 and ended each of those four years with winning records. Ben Sheets was the team’s O.D. starter in 2005, 2007 and 2008 and ended those three years with more wins than losses. (Note: Doug Davis was the starter in 2006 and ended that year with an 11-11 record.)
The Brewers since 2000 have started nine different Opening Day starting pitchers…
Steve Woodard, 2000
Jamey Wright, 2001
Ben Sheets, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008
Doug Davis, 2006
Jeff Suppan, 2009
Yovani Gallardo, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
Kyle Lohse, 2015
Wily Peralta, 2016
Junior Guerra, 2017
The above nine pitchers went a combined 179-183 in the years they were the O.D. starting pitcher for the Brewers, a .494 winning percentage. The best season of the O.D. starters since 2000 was Sheets in 2007; he was the O.D. starter that year and ended the season with a 12-5 record (.706 winning percentage). The worst was Steve Woodard in 2000; he was the O.D. starter in 2000 and ended that year with a 1-7 (.125 winning percentage) for the Brewers.
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