Although the 2006 Stros are quickly sliding into oblivion (I will post my next periodic analysis of the club’s 2006 season this weekend after the Stros reach the halfway point in the season on Saturday), Roger Clemens is still likely to make baseball interesting in Houston for the remainder of the season.
Earlier this week, Clemens pitched well (6 1/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO) in his second game of the season and, in so doing, became the first pitcher in Major League Baseball who has pitched after 1900 to reach 700 runs saved against average (“RSAA”) in his career. The following is the top ten pitchers in career RSAA who pitched after 1900, courtesy of Lee Sinins:
1 Roger Clemens 701
2 Lefty Grove 668
3 Walter Johnson 643
4 Greg Maddux 548
5 Pedro Martinez 526
6 Grover C Alexander 524
7 Randy Johnson 521
8 Christy Mathewson 405
9 Tom Seaver 404
10 Carl Hubbell 355
Clemens’ accomplishment is particularly notable because RSAA is arguably the best measure for the most important statistic in baseball for a pitcher — that is, saving runs for his team. As with its counterpart for comparing hitters — runs created against average (“RCAA,” explained here) — RSAA is valuable in evaluating pitchers because it focuses on the two most important things for a pitcher in winning baseball games — that is, not giving up runs and getting hitters out. RSAA measures the number of runs that a pitcher saves for his team relative to the number of runs that an average pitcher in the league would give up while obtaining an equivalent number of outs for his team (as with RCAA, RSAA is park-adjusted). Inasmuch as the hypothetical average pitcher’s RSAA is always zero, a player can have an RSAA that is either a positive number — which indicates he is an above average pitcher (i.e., Clemens) — or an RSAA that is a negative number, which means he is performing below average (i.e., remember Brandon Duckworth or Tim Redding?).
Moreover, RSAA is a the best measure for comparing pitchers who played during different eras. Inasmuch as RSAA measures a pitcher’s ability against that of an average pitcher in the pitcher’s league for each particular season, a pitcher’s lifetime RSAA measures how that pitcher performed against an average pitcher of his era. That’s really the best way to compare pitchers from different eras because comparing other pitching statistics — such as earned run average, wins and hitting statistics against — is often skewed between pitchers of hitter-friendly eras (i.e., the era in which Clemens has pitched) versus pitchers of pitcher-friendly eras (i.e., such as the late 1960’s and early 70’s).
Thus, Clemens’ career RSAA reflects that he is inarguably one of the greatest pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball. Enjoy watching him perform for the remainder of this season because it is becoming increasingly clear that the 2006 Stros as a team will continue to struggle. The following are Clemens’ career statistics through his most recent game:
