Dodger Starters Making Their Major League Debut
by Eric Stephen on Apr 28, 2010 7:00 AM PDT
in Dodgers History & Records
Email
PrintWith John Ely set to make his major league debut today against the Mets, I thought I'd take a look back at other LA Dodgers making their major league debut as a starter. The most spectacular debut ever by a Dodger starter, and perhaps by any major leaguer, was that of Karl Spooner. The 23-year old Spooner made his major league debut for Brooklyn against the soon-to-be-World-Champion Giants on September 22,1954, and proceeded to strike out 15 batters in a complete game shutout. Spooner made one more start that season, three days later, and proceeded to shutout the Pirates, too, this time striking out "only" 12.
| Karl Spooner's Major League Debut | |||||||
| Date | Opp | IP | H | R | BB | K | Game Score |
| 9/22/54 | NYG | 9 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 93 |
| 9/26/54 | Pit | 9 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 88 |
I mean, it doesn't get any better than having a pair of shutouts and 27 strikeouts after your first two major league games, does it? You might be asking yourself, "If he is so good, why haven't I heard of Karl Spooner?" In two words: arm problems. He battled arm problems in 1955, and was a part-time starter and reliever, and never pitched in the major leagues again.
Spooner's debut was magnificent, but I am only going to focus on Los Angeles Dodger major league debuts. This is mostly because, thanks to Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference.com, the play-by-play data is available for every game since the franchise moved west. One of the more surprising finds was that there have only been 28 Dodgers since 1958 to make their major league debut as a starter. However, it does make sense, as so many prominent Dodger starters -- Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser, to name a few -- made their debuts in relief.
Amazingly, since 1971, only one Dodger starter -- William Brennan, in 1988 -- was hung with the loss in his major league debut. During that same period (18 starts), only one Dodger -- Terry Wells, in 1990 -- gave up more than three runs. The performance of Dodger starters making their major league debut has been pretty remarkable:
| LA Dodger Starters Making Their MLB Debut | |||||||||||
| Pitcher | Age | Date | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | GmScr | Dec | Team |
| Clayton Kershaw | 20 | 5/25/08 | 6.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 60 | W | |
| Hiroki Kuroda | 33 | 4/4/08 | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 71 | W | W |
| Chad Billingsley | 21 | 6/15/06 | 5.1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 49 | W | |
| Derek Thompson | 24 | 5/25/05 | 5.0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 55 | L | |
| Edwin Jackson | 20 | 9/9/03 | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 64 | W | W |
| Kazuhisa Ishii | 28 | 4/6/02 | 5.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 72 | W | W |
| Eric Gagne | 23 | 9/7/99 | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 75 | L | |
| Dennys Reyes | 20 | 7/13/97 | 6.0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 54 | W | W |
| Hideo Nomo | 26 | 5/2/95 | 5.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 68 | L | |
| Pedro Astacio | 23 | 7/3/92 | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 87 | W | W |
| Jim Neidlinger | 25 | 8/1/90 | 6.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 56 | L | |
| Terry Wells | 26 | 7/3/90 | 6.0 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 41 | W | |
| Ramon Martinez | 20 | 8/13/88 | 7.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 68 | W | |
| William Brennan | 25 | 7/19/88 | 4.2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 39 | L | L |
| Shawn Hillegas | 22 | 8/9/87 | 8.2 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 65 | W | W |
| Rick Sutcliffe | 20 | 9/29/76 | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 65 | W | |
| Doug Rau | 23 | 9/2/72 | 9.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 77 | W | W |
| Doyle Alexander | 20 | 6/26/71 | 8.0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 63 | W | |
| Sandy Vance | 23 | 4/26/70 | 6.0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 51 | L | L |
| John Duffie | 21 | 9/18/67 | 5.0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 52 | L | L |
| Don Sutton | 21 | 4/14/66 | 7.0 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 59 | L | L |
| Mike Kekich | 20 | 6/9/65 | 3.1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 40 | L | L |
| Bill Singer | 20 | 9/24/64 | 6.1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 57 | L | |
| Larry Miller | 27 | 6/21/64 | 6.1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 55 | L | L |
| Nick Willhite | 22 | 6/16/63 | 9.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 82 | W | W |
| Jim Golden | 24 | 9/30/60 | 7.0 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 45 | W | W |
| Ralph Mauriello | 24 | 9/13/58 | 0.1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 33 | L | L |
| Bob Giallombardo | 21 | 6/21/58 | 4.0 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 27 | L | |
| Totals | 28 starts |
170.1 | 122 | 157 | 51 | 67 | 128 | 58.2 avg | 9-7 | 15-13 | |
| Averages | 6.08 IP/GS | 2.69 ERA |
1.110 WHIP |
3.54 BB/9 |
6.76 K/9 |
||||||
| Since 1971 (18 starts) |
13-5 | 6.44 IP/GS | 1.94 ERA |
0.983 WHIP |
2.95 BB/9 |
7.22 K/9 |
|||||
Pedro Astacio and Nick Willhite each reached the Spooner Zone, pitching a shutout in their debut. But for the last 40 solid years, Dodger debuts have been quite successful.
34 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
i was in the rf bleachers for the dennys reyes game
fun times – iirc he gave up a huge bonds bomb and little else
his continued employment in the major leagues 13 years later is my explanation to my wife for why I am tying my infant son’s right arm to his body for the next 5 years
also per wikipedia dennys’ nickname is “the big sweat” and “he has been criticized for his weight”
by lchristmas on Apr 28, 2010 7:12 AM PDT via mobile reply actions
Mets lineup
Pagan CF
Cora 2B
Reyes SS
Bay LF
Wright 3B
Davis 1B
Francoeur RF
Barajas C
Maine P
by Eric Stephen on Apr 28, 2010 7:13 AM PDT via mobile reply actions
Great stuff
I remember everyone from Sandy Vance on. Most exciting was Edwin Jackson’s because it was his birthday, facing Randy Johnson, pennant race in Sept.
Derek Thompson gave everyone hope then blew out his arm.
Ishi got everyone excited then ran into the dreaded Dodger command disease. I think he started it.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
I Hope Ely can do like Eric Stults (remember him?) did vs the Mets a few years back
A “nobody” spot starter who shut ’em down.
There's no need to fear, Underdog is here! / Broncos/Dodgers/Lakers fan in Niners/Raiders/Giants/Warriors country, and damned proud of it.
He has been the pleasant surprise
of the bullpen. At least we have one. Still waiting for Kuo to actually finish an inning he starts.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Monasterios will get hit hard eventually
Just for now he’s arguably been the best reliever besides Broxton. :o
by Chad Moriyama on Apr 28, 2010 9:04 AM PDT up reply actions
The rules of Bizarro Baseball dictate that Ely will pitch well today and we will win. I don’t make this stuff up.
by kinbote on Apr 28, 2010 8:28 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs
Where is the game simulation
is Xeifrank sleeping in?
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Man- Pedro Astacio
was a beast in his debut season.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Doug Rau, Pedro Astacio, Nick Wilhite all got to shake hands with the catcher
Shawn Hilligas came oh so close.
It is no wonder none of ever heard of Ralph Ralph Mauriello. Only allowed him to face five batters. Isn’t that odd?
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Dennys Reyes
was only 20, a starter, and looked like the 2nd coming of Fernando. Seems like he’s been an effective loogy forever now.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Jon has the Dodger lineup
at Dodger Thoughts
Martin C
Kemp CF
Ethier RF
Loney 1B
Blake 3B
Belliard 2B
Paul LF
Carroll SS
Ely P
Martin has 20 previous leadoff starts (19 at the end of 2008, 1 last year)
Kemp back to the two hole
I expect a whole lot of wailing when the masses see Loney batting cleanup.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
I wonder when Steiner will acknowledge that Ely is the starter. Will he act shocked when Ely emerges from the dugout in the bottom of the 1st?
by Michael White on Apr 28, 2010 8:43 AM PDT up reply actions
Maybe he’ll break out the Bill Simmons’ line about wrestling…“wait a minute…that’s John Ely’s music!!!”
by Eric Stephen on Apr 28, 2010 8:45 AM PDT up reply actions
He certainly proved he is not a reader of TBLA
Vinny’s people would have let him know. If Vinny was on the air he’d be quoting these debut starts.
Patience is for those who die waiting for something to happen
Even if he didn’t read True Blue LA, both Gurnick and Jackson had the news, and Ely was in the damn clubhouse yesterday too.
by Eric Stephen on Apr 28, 2010 8:50 AM PDT up reply actions
off to Citi Field
Fortunately, the pneumonia hasn’t kicked yet in from last night. LOL Hopefully, Dodgers can end this debacle on a high note!
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on True Blue LA
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- College player makes impossible over the fence catch to save tournament game (Video)
- Security!: Camden Yards guard collides with Royals’ Mike Moustakas
- The Juice: Nelson Cruz matches career high eight RBIs, Pujols stays hot in Seattle
- Benches clear at Fenway as Red Sox-Rays rivalry heats up
- Keeping good company: Albert Pujols becomes fourth-youngest player to hit 450 home runs
