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Homegrown Dodgers, Part II: The Pitching

Yesterday I looked at the offensive side of the Dodgers' homegrown players.  Today, we will take a look at the pitching and all the homegrown talent on the staff.

The homegrown talent is headlined by the ace Chad Billingsley and public enemy #1 Clayton Kershaw, a duo Dodger fans hope will lead the staff for many, many years to come.

Star-divide

Much like the offense, the Dodgers were long known for having a pitching staff filled with homegrown talent. From the beginning of the free agency period (1976) through 2001, the Dodgers averaged 54.0% of their innings coming from homegrown pitchers (my favorite inclusion on this list is 1982 draftee Jeff Hamilton -- the third baseman -- and his fateful loss in the memorable 22-inning game in Houston in 1989).  What followed was another drop in in-house contributions, much like the offense, and then a Logan White-infused resurgence.

Year(s) Homegrown IP % of Total IP
1976-2001 19915 2/3 54.0%
2002 102 2/3 7.0%
2003 190       13.0%
2004 157 2/3 10.8%
2005 137 1/3 9.6%
2006 263 1/3 18.0%
2007 312       21.5%
2008 617 1/3 42.7%

The Dodgers' homegrown innings percentage ranked 9th in MLB last year.  The NL West teams above them were the Giants (who led MLB with an amazing 75.8%) and Rockies (55.7%).

Rank Team Homegrown IP%
1) Giants 75.8%
2) Angels 71.1%
3) Pirates 61.0%
4) Blue Jays 56.0%
5) Rockies 55.7%
6) Twins 52.3%
7) Phillies 47.5%
8) Indians 46.3%
9) Dodgers 42.7%
10) Mariners 42.4%
MLB Average 37.3%

Again, the Dodgers are above the league average in homegrown pitching talent and a quick glance at the 2008 homegrown contributors shows a potential for a big jump in 2009:

Pitcher 2008 IP
Billingsley 200 2/3
Kershaw 107 2/3
Kuo 80       
Wade 71 1/3
Broxton 69       
Stults 38 2/3
Troncoso 38      
Elbert 6      
McDonald 6      
Total Homegrown IP 617 1/3
% of Total IP 42.7%

It's reasonable to expect a big jump in innings from Kershaw, McDonald, and Elbert, as well as likely increases from Troncoso and Stults (barring another bad outing with a 10-run lead in Coors Field, of course).

This is by no means scientific, but combining the percentages of innings by homegrown players with the percentage of plate appearances can give us an overall Homegrown Index, if you will.  Here is the 2008 Homegrown Index for all 30 MLB teams:

Rank Team Homegrown PA Homegrown IP Homegrown Index
1) Angels 68.3% 71.1% 69.7%
2) Rockies 78.6% 55.7% 67.1%
3) Giants 34.3% 75.8% 55.0%
4) Phillies 52.6% 47.5% 50.0%
5) Braves 63.8% 32.8% 48.3%
6) Twins 42.6% 52.3% 47.5%
7) Pirates 31.0% 61.0% 46.0%
8) Brewers 62.0% 29.4% 45.7%
9) D-Backs 55.9% 34.0% 44.9%
10) Dodgers 46.7% 42.7% 44.7%
11) Blue Jays 29.9% 56.0% 42.9%
12) Indians 33.0% 46.3% 39.6%
13) Red Sox 36.8% 39.9% 38.4%
MLB Average 36.8% 37.3% 37.0%
14) Rays 34.4% 35.9% 35.2%
15) Mariners 26.7% 42.4% 34.5%
16) Cubs 28.6% 38.5% 33.6%
17) Cardinals 42.2% 20.2% 31.21%
18) Yankees 35.6% 26.8% 31.19%
19) Royals 36.0% 25.6% 30.8%
20) Astros 27.1% 33.3% 30.2%
21) Marlins 20.2% 34.6% 27.4%
22) Rangers 28.4% 24.8% 26.6%
23) A's 25.1% 27.9% 26.5%
24) Tigers 29.5% 21.6% 25.5%
25) Mets 28.9% 22.0% 25.4%
26) Nationals 14.6% 35.5% 25.05%
27) Orioles 24.6% 25.4% 25.00%
28) Reds 30.9% 16.1% 23.5%
29) Padres 24.1% 17.2% 20.7%
30) White Sox 9.9% 25.3% 17.6%

So there you have it.  I go to the trouble of writing two posts about the homegrown talent on the Dodgers, create an index to show which teams are the most homegrown, and the Angels come out on top.  That sounds like par for the course during Arte Moreno's ownership:  the Angels always seem to be one step ahead!

But, cheer up Dodger fans.  There's still plenty of talent in the pipeline, and with Logan White on board there are plenty of reasons to be excited.

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What?

No post on the Shawn Estes signing!!! Outrage… ;)

by Brendan Scolari on Jan 9, 2009 7:55 PM PST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

I am a huge backer

of our homegrown pitching staff. These guys (Bills, Brox, CK and soon others) have been great and will only get better. I look fwd to Broxton being our closer for a long while and proving all the haters wrong!

by JLS23 on Jan 9, 2009 8:40 PM PST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

I don't think we have any

haters but more then a few doubters. Closer blowups are like elephant memories, what they last remember of Broxton is the beautiful arc of Matt Stairs fly ball silhouetted against the moon, dragging the hopes of Dodger fans along with it, and dashing them into a thousand pieces when gravity finally made the fly ball land just short of leaving Dodger Stadium.

Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen

by Phil Gurnee on Jan 9, 2009 10:54 PM PST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Has the ball landed yet?

I’m pretty sure the ball Stairs hit has never landed, and in fact is still orbiting Earth and helping to transmit the MLB Network to most all cities except of course for South Pasadena.

-Eric

by Eric Stephen on Jan 9, 2009 11:19 PM PST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

love this site,please keep up the very good job
train

by Bluetrain on Jan 10, 2009 1:31 AM PST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Homeboys for life

i like the homegrown aspects of the game.the yankees and the dodgers both have much more success with homegrown players.look at all the rookie of the years the dodgers had in a row.look at the yankee championships with homegrown players.dodgers championships of the fifties and the eighties are from homegrown players that dominated the field and their positions. great stats.as you really look at the dodgers when they sign a heck of alot of free agents they turn out not to do good.when most of the field players are brought up through the system they dodgers look to go far into playoffs.

"Read it and Weep" Slyde is right!

by image21972 on Jan 10, 2009 4:52 PM PST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

re:

Dodgers wouldn’t have any World Series since 1965 if not for the contributions of free agent Kirk Gibson(88) and traded for CF Rick Monday(81). Home grown is always better but I think you are looking through rose colored glasses and forgetting the contributions of players who were not signed by the team.
NL Championship Teams since Free Agency
74 – Jimmy Wynn, Andy Messersmith, Tommy John, Mike Marshall
77 – Dusty Baker, Rick Monday, Reggie Smith, Burt Hooten
78 – Same
81 – Monday, Ruess
88 – Gibson, Leary, Belcher

I’ll grant you that we have not done well via free agency but we would have zero pennants if not for the contributions of players we traded for outside of our organization. The powerhouse Dodgers from 74-81 were built on a great farm and maybe an even better trade record.

No NL pennant in 2008 but Manny certainly had more of an impact on our season then any of our home grown players.

Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen

by Phil Gurnee on Jan 10, 2009 9:20 PM PST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

re:re:
ive always enjoyed and appreciated the FA systeem, as long as mgt doesnt try to live off it. In other words , develope your own and then fill in the holes
train

by Bluetrain on Jan 10, 2009 9:41 PM PST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

re:

Thanks for the links on mlb.com.

Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen

by Phil Gurnee on Jan 10, 2009 11:47 PM PST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Two Straight Days

Over 800 visits. Woo hoo! Thanks to everyone for clicking on over.

-Eric

by Eric Stephen on Jan 10, 2009 11:54 PM PST to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Pitching.

Yes, I agree in feeling Billingsley and Kershaw can be the big two in years to come, although Kershaw still has to get a good full season’s work in. And I’m hoping Billingsley’s head hasn’t suffered permanent damage from his poor outings against Philly in the playoffs. I’m an older guy and I remember (Painfully) what happened to Tom Neidenfur (sp) after his similar disaster against St. Louis in the playoffs. He was never the pitcher he could have been after that—those kind of things DO affect guys. I say we get a voodoo witch doctor in the clubhouse for such things. I’m almost serious.

by nevernine on Jan 12, 2009 7:51 PM PST reply reply actions actions   0 recs

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