Homegrown Dodgers, Part II: The Pitching
by Eric Stephen on Jan 9, 2009 5:00 PM PST
in Dodgers History & Records
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PrintYesterday 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.
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… ;)
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!
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
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 up reply actions
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!
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
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
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 up reply actions
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 up reply actions
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.
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