Hitters Pitching: The Curious Cases of Position Players Pitching….In Close Games

The Diamondbacks sent a catcher to the mound in the 16th inning of 3-3 game on Sunday. Unsurprisingly, this did not work out. One of Jeff Mathis’ mid-80s ‘fastballs’ was launched to deep center and the D-backs lost. Position players are pitching these days more than ever before – and they’re entering the game in some surprisingly stressful situations. Is this a good idea? Does it ever work out?

Baseball has a reputation as a clunky, conservative old-boys club that’s resistant to change. But in recent years, with the rise of sabermetrics and instant replay, that idea is getting harder to defend. Nearly all aspects of the game are experiencing a statistically driven revolution – among them: pitching.

For a number of quantifiable reasons, starting pitcher pitch counts have been dwindling and the value of relief pitchers has been skyrocketing. Big data has given teams more confidence in their ability to engineer advantageous matchups between pitcher and hitter.

Historically, relief pitchers were just the ones not good enough to start – that’s not the case anymore. These days, teams are investing big bucks in their bullpen. One curious side-effect of this greater reliance on relief pitching: position players are being called on to pitch with unprecedented frequency.

The three seasons in the 100+ year history of the MLB that saw the most instances of hitters pitching were 2015, 2016, and 2017. 2018 is on pace to crush the record.

Pitching appearances by Position Players by Year:

• 2015: 27
• 2016: 24
• 2017: 34
• 2018: 27 (just through July 8th!)

As most baseball fans know, these players are called on almost exclusively by the losing team in massive blowouts. It makes sense. Why tax the arm of a 96MPH throwing reliever when you can throw in a catcher to eat up the innings and go home with a fresh pen for a game you actually have a chance to win?

Chris Jimenez gets it. He’s the most experienced non-pitcher pitcher in the MLB over the past few seasons. In 2017, he made 6 blow-out game appearances and posted a 7.20 ERA against players who were probably more interested in going home than scoring more runs. This is a real, if bizarre kind of asset for a team who finds themselves being blown out frequently. And in 162 games, blowouts will happen, they’re unavoidable.

“I’m not trying to pump myself up here,” Gimenez said. “But in the grand scheme of things, if someone can do something like that — so that you don’t have to stretch your bullpen guy that extra day — it could be huge for a team. Maybe if you use [the reliever] four days in a row instead of three, he gets hurt and you lose him for the rest of the season.”

The Unwritten Rule

Grant Brisbee of SB Nation astutely pointed out that while it makes lots of sense for the losing team to save ‘real pitchers’ in lost games – it makes an equal amount of sense for winning teams to do the same. But this just doesn’t happen.

Why? He hypothesizes it has to do with a concern for the feelings of the players on the losing team. It’s just rubbing salt in the wound to throw a position player on the mound if a team is the instigator of a blowout. Even with the sabermetric-led Enlightenment of recent years, baseball remains famous for its sensitivity to shaming and honor.

The Diamondbacks beat the Padres 20-5 on Saturday in a classic position player pitching game. They led 15-4 after just 4 innings and their starter, Robbie Ray, didn’t make it through the 5th. They used 3 relievers – 2 for more than one inning – to get through the final 4.2 meaningless innings.

While it may have hurt the Padres feelings, had they thrown in Jeff Mathis or Daniel Descalso to mop up the 8th and/or 9th – it may have also prevented them from having to do so the next day. There was no need to tax the valuable arm of a professional pitcher with a 15-run lead, it was only good manners. And it may have cost them the game Sunday.

How About the 5 Other Times (Since 2014) Position Players Have Pitched in Non-Blow Outs?

Witnessing the bizarre desperation of the Diamondbacks’ usage of Jeff Mathis in a deadlocked game made me wonder: When has this happened before? While it’s far from a common occurrence, it’s more common than you may think.

One of these occasions was September 30, 2017 when the 64-97 Detroit Tigers pulled a cute stunt in which Andrew Romine played all 9 positions. Remarkably, Romine pitched a scoreless 8th and the Tigers won 3-2. This was a joke though, it doesn’t count.

Each of the other 4 games have been situations similar to that of Diamondbacks’ on Sunday. Close game, extra innings, empty bullpen. How did they fare? Did they do the right thing? Did they have a choice?

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Miami Marlins, 7/3/2018

This game, occurring just 5 days before the Mathis loss, ended more happily for the team to put the position player on the mound. Much has been made of the Rays experimental 4 man pitching rotation that features a starter-less “bullpen-day”.

This radical approach has been mostly working out well for the Rays, but this game was a real test. It happened to be one of their famous bullpen days and as such they had used 4 relievers to get through the first 9 innings – beautiful. The problem is there would be 7 more.

The Rays had only one man left in the bullpen after the 15th. Then they got a timely and powerful burst of offense in a 5 run, top of the16th. This gave them the confidence to send catcher Jesus Sacre out to close the game, despite having one more real pitcher available.

Sacre gave up three consecutive singles and a sac fly. His lead shrank to four and the Rays wised up. They called on the pitcher who quickly and competently recorded the final 2 outs. The Rays won 9-6.

Yes, the Rays won and a position player pitched. But he only recorded one out and the move was quickly identified as a mistake. Plus – he had a 5 run lead.

Toronto Blue Jays vs. Cleveland Indians, 7/1/16

Fans at this 6 hour, 13 minute game were given little to be excited about until the 18th inning when position players started pitching. The game was tied 1-1 and the Blue Jays bullpen was empty. In a stubborn refusal to disrupt their starting rotation, Toronto called on infielder Ryan Goins to pitch in the top of the 18th.

Goins gave up two quick singles before miraculously forcing a pair of ground balls, one of which was a double play. After failing to score in the bottom of the inning, the Blue Jays were in the same awkward position heading into the 19th.

This time they chose…. a different position player: infielder Darwin Barney. The hope for another scoreless inning faded immediately. Barney gave up a HR to the first hitter he saw and the Blue Jays lost 2-1.

How did the Indians avoid the embarrassment of position players pitching? They bit the bullet and put in a starter. Trevor Bauer – who was scheduled to start the following game – pitched the final 5 innings for Cleveland. Yes, he missed his next start – but the Indians won the game.

Chicago Cubs vs. Colorado Rockies, 7/29/14

This is about as good as a position player pitching scenario can go. The Cubs, having blown through their bullpen, sent a catcher, John Baker to the mound in the top of the 16th. Baker got the first batter to pop out in foul territory, walked the second, then was saved by a ground ball that the Cubs turned into a double play.

Baker – who will most definitely never forget this day – was leading off the bottom of the inning. He walked, worked his way around the bases, and eventually scored the walk-off run on a sac fly to earn his own win. It was Baker’s only pitching appearance ever.

Chicago White Sox vs. Boston Red Sox, 4/16/14

This one went exactly how these types of games are supposed to go. Thanks to a bizarre 8th inning in which the White Sox used four separate pitchers (and only gave up one run) -they had fully depleted their ‘pen by the end of the 13th.

At this point they sent utility man Leury Garcia to the mound. Much like Mathis, Garcia got off to a great start with a quick two outs on a ground out and fly out. The third out was a problem however, after walking consecutive batters he surrendered a game winning, two run double.  They may have regretted some things about that 8th inning.

Can It Ever Be Justified?

Position players are really bad at pitching and it’s becoming ever more popular to throw them into that role. This move makes an abundance of sense when a game is hopelessly out hand, but it’s a far less obvious move when the game is close.

There is some high level, statistically supported conversation to be had here about weighing the potential cost of a disruption to the starting rotation against the near very certain immediate cost of inserting a non-pitcher into a high leverage situation. I am not qualified or prepared for this conversation.  To my mind though (and the recent history supports this perception) electing to have a position player pitch in a tied game in extra innings is something close to surrendering defeat. Can that ever be justified?

Next: All time great left fielders

Furthermore, it is very much worth wondering if teams on the right sides of blowouts should be preserving real pitchers and allowing position players to mop up. When will the grand new value being placed on arm health eclipse baseball’s antiquated concern with ‘rubbing it in’? After all – it just makes sense and in this new Enlightened Age of Reason, sense seems to prevail. That being said, nonsense is a part of the beauty of baseball.