In the final part to this series we’ll cover starting and relief pitchers. If an ASG team is like a normal team then 5 starters and 7 relievers will be picked. Not sure how this is done. For our purposes here only the top 4 for each league in each category will be highlighted.
Starters
This model has an abundance of starters at the top of the league so far this season. Seven out of top ten are starters, 15 of the top 25 are starters. This changes from year to year and many people can come up with many theories as to why but it doesn’t matter. It is what it is. Next year it will be different. Last year when we did this starters occupied 10 of the top 25 and 5 of the top ten.
Below are all starters in the top 25 of MLB, which includes all players, AL and NL, pitchers and hitters.
| Rank | WAA | Name_TeamID | Pos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| +001+ | 5.98 | Luis_Severino_NYA | PITCH | |
| +002+ | 5.98 | Jacob_deGrom_NYN | PITCH | |
| +004+ | 5.56 | Max_Scherzer_WAS | PITCH | |
| +005+ | 5.17 | Justin_Verlander_HOU | PITCH | |
| +007+ | 4.66 | Blake_Snell_TBA | PITCH | |
| +009+ | 4.43 | Trevor_Bauer_CLE | PITCH | |
| +010+ | 4.43 | Jon_Lester_CHN | PITCH | |
| +011+ | 4.41 | Aaron_Nola_PHI | PITCH | |
| +014+ | 4.26 | Mike_Foltynewicz_ATL | PITCH | |
| +015+ | 4.26 | Chris_Sale_BOS | PITCH | |
| +016+ | 4.12 | Corey_Kluber_CLE | PITCH | |
| +018+ | 3.88 | Gerrit_Cole_HOU | PITCH | |
| +020+ | 3.57 | Miles_Mikolas_SLN | PITCH | |
| +021+ | 3.44 | Ross_Stripling_LAN | PITCH | |
| +022+ | 3.44 | Charlie_Morton_HOU | PITCH |
And there you have it. Red is AL, blue is NL and all pitchers in this list are worthy of being picked. The above is a 7/4 snapshot in time. Let’s look at relief
Relievers
Most relievers get short shrift from baseball analysts and stat heads. Relievers don’t have the playing time of a starter or a regular hitter putting them at a disadvantage ranking them with starters. Their role is different. It is the sum of relievers on a relief staff that win baseball games. That said, the number one most valuable player in the history of MLB playoffs is Mariano Rivera.
| Rank | WAA | IP | ERA | Gs | Gr | Name_TeamID | Pos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +001+ | 9.30 | 141.0 | 0.70 | 0 | 97 | Mariano_Rivera_NYA | PITCH | playoffs |
He pitched a whopping 141 innings over 97 games which is how he was able to rise so high. He also won a few rings with the Yankees. The above is to put individual relievers in context. They rarely rise to the top but each of the below greatly helps their team eek out wins in baseball games. Being in the top 100 in this model means exellent no matter what position.
Here are the top 15 relievers in MLB according to this data model.
| Rank | WAA | Name_TeamID | Pos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| +031+ | 3.07 | Blake_Treinen_OAK | PITCH | |
| +033+ | 3.04 | Josh_Hader_MIL | PITCH | |
| +037+ | 2.81 | Jeremy_Jeffress_MIL | PITCH | |
| +041+ | 2.71 | Jared_Hughes_CIN | PITCH | |
| +042+ | 2.67 | Brad_Keller_KCA | PITCH | |
| +044+ | 2.60 | Collin_McHugh_HOU | PITCH | |
| +047+ | 2.56 | Kirby_Yates_SDN | PITCH | |
| +049+ | 2.50 | T.J._McFarland_ARI | PITCH | |
| +050+ | 2.50 | Kyle_Barraclough_MIA | PITCH | |
| +053+ | 2.44 | Yoshihisa_Hirano_ARI | PITCH | |
| +056+ | 2.39 | Aroldis_Chapman_NYA | PITCH | |
| +066+ | 2.18 | Seth_Lugo_NYN | PITCH | |
| +068+ | 2.14 | Sean_Doolittle_WAS | PITCH | |
| +069+ | 2.12 | Tony_Watson_SFN | PITCH | |
| +070+ | 2.10 | Steve_Cishek_CHN | PITCH |
Proof that stat heads don’t care for relief that much, the top reliever according to WAR, is Jared Hughes ranked #94 and it goes down from there. This model has 24 relievers in the top 100 including all 15 above.
Looks like Aroldis Chapman is having a good season again. Interesting how the Yankees ended up with all the players the Yankees traded to the Cubs and all the players the Cubs gave them.
All those players in the above table are worthy of being picked and possibly more further down this list.
That is all for All Star Picks this year. Another weekly Cubs status coming in a few days and there has been much movement (the good kind) to show. Cubs start a series with CIN again, the team with the #1 relief staff in baseball right now. <anti jinx>We’ll see if CHN can keep the streak going. </> A look see into minor leagues AAA, AA, and Aplus coming soon. Until then ….