Top Five Braves Right-Handed Starters

Mark Bowman’s top five Braves right-handed starting pitchers in Braves history. 

 

1. Greg Maddux 1993-2003 received 98 of the 108 first-place votes cast for the NL Cy Young Award from 1992-95. Maddux and Randy Johnson (1999-2002) are the only pitchers to ever win four straight Cy Young. Maddux produced a 1.90 ERA and a 219 ERA+ over the 89 starts he made over his first 3 seasons (1993-95) with Atlanta. His ERA was more than a run lower than those constructed by Jose Rijo (2.92) and Johnson (2.97), who ranked 2nd and 3rd, respectively, among all MLB pitchers during this span. During his final eight seasons spent with the Braves, Maddux’ 2.90 ERA produced from 1996-2003 ranked 4th among all MLB pitchers, trailing only Pedro Martinez (2.40), Kevin Brown (2.60) and Johnson (2.74).

 

Where should Maddux rank amongst the best right-handed starters in baseball history? His career 132 ERA+ ranks 7th, and of the 6 pitchers ranked ahead of him, Roger Clemens is the only one who pitched after 1930 (Maddux won more games than Clemens). Maddux’s 163 ERA+ with the Braves easily ranks as the best mark for a starter in franchise history. His 66.2 bWAR compiled over 2,526-2/3 innings ranks 3rd among Braves right-handed starters. His WAR is .07 less than that produced by John Smoltz, who logged 863-1/3 more innings than Maddux as a Brave. Phil Niekro ranks first among the franchise’s right-handed starters with the 89.6 WAR he amassed over 4,622-1/3 innings. Had Maddux maintained his same pace and equaled Niekro’s innings total, his WAR would have been approximately 121.

 

2. John Smoltz 2988-2008 ranks 2nd in MLB history with 15 postseason wins and his .789 postseason winning percentage. After the 1991 all star break Smoltz produced MLB’s fifth best ERA over the rest of the decade (Maddux ranked first). Smoltz won the 1996 NL Cy Young. Set the franchise record with 55 saves in 2002 and the career record with 154 saves. The only pitcher in MLB history with over 200 wins and 150 saves. Finished in the top 7 in Cy Young balloting at the age of 39 and 40.      

 

3. Kid Nichols 1890-1901 became the youngest pitcher to record 300 wins, at the age of 30 years 9 months 23 days. His 107.4 WAR was trumped only by Cy Young’s 107.7. Ranking third during this time was Amos Rusie with 65.7.

4. Phil Niekro 1964-1983 & 1987 recorded more wins (121) than any other pitcher over 40 years old in MLB history. Went 17-4 with a 3.61 ERA for the 1982 NL West champions. The 119 ERA+ shows Niekro remained an above average pitcher over two decades.  

 

5. Tim Hudson 2005-2013 one of only 21 pitchers in MLB history with more than 200 wins, 2000 strikeouts, and a .600+ career winning percentage. Went 113-72 in 9 seasons in Atlanta with a 3.56 ERA. Only Maddux (.688) and Glavine (.624) are the only pitchers in Atlanta history with a higher percentage than Hudson (.611).

Note: where I've borrowed tidbits from Bowman for most all these lists, for Maddux I pretty much reproduced his entire writeup. 

 

https://www.mlb.com/news/braves-all-time-best-right-handed-starters

 

After work yesterday I drove over to CVS to pick up a prescription for C. Went to the wrong CVS, so I double back to the correct one. Ate M’s leftover French fries for breakfast, two ham & cheese quesadillas for lunch, and popcorn for supper. Watched episode 3 of The Last Dance (Dennis Rodman) and Being Erica – which shows that even when you can travel back in time you can’t make everything work out the way you want. Erica deals with bullies, family matters, friends, etc. Interesting show.

Also watched the first five holes of The Match. The teams halved the first two holes. Tiger/Peyton won holes 3 and 4. Manning hit a nice long putt for birdie on four. Tiger beat Phil for the long drive on the third hole. On hole four Tiger hit closest to the pin – 8-1/2 feet. Peyton hit the green but Phil and Tom missed the green. Peyton and Charles Barkley are hilarious. Manning would get to talking about a topic, and occasionally look back at the camera. After a couple of hole Peyton switched from a white golf cap to a grey NOLA cap – “to change his luck” he said. Phil explained a chip shot before he hit it. Barkley said Phil was that friend “who always has to give the brain surgery answer.”

 

On hole five the players had to play the entire hole with one club. Tiger hit a four iron. Tom and Phil used a six. Brady hit into water. Up to that point he hadn’t been talking much, as his microphone wasn’t working well. He kept saying all he could hear was static. When he approached where his ball had gone out of bounds he asked the announcers where he should drop. There weren’t official rules officials on the course (Justin Thomas was serving as an on course roving reporter, but wasn’t with Brady at the time). One of the pro golfers in the studio piped up and told Brady what to do rules wise – at the same time a guy next to Brady was saying “Just drop it anywhere.” Brady did the right thing and dropped two club lengths from where the ball entered the hazard – on the gravel path, not the grass. Still he hit one of his first decent shots of the day.

 

Today's brown fashion sneakers. With black pants. And Batman socks. This one may be Instagram-worthy. You think?