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.
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.