In part three of my statistical follow-up series, I cover a stat I came up with last year and followed closely throughout the year. A stopper is a starting pitcher of a game where there team has lost the previous three or more games. A stopper has the possibility of reversing any losing streak and simply “stopping” the bleeding. Who was the 2015 MLB Stopper of the Year?
Below are the 2015 stopper stats. A few items to point out before the individual player results: The St. Louis Cardinals had the least stopper attempts of all teams with only six, but that is what you get with a 100 win season. The Philadelphia Phillies led the league with 42 attempts. The Cardinals also led with a 1.86 ERA in team stopper stats, also logically correct since better stopper stats means less attempts. The Braves had the worst ERA with a 6.16 ERA. League-wide pitchers won 46.04% of their stopper stats, so it was more likely for a team to lose their next game if they were on a three-plus game losing streak.
*W/L numbers are team results; the starter didn’t necessarily earn the stat. Pitchers had to at least have three attempts to qualify*
| Pitcher | ERA | W | L |
| Archer | 0.00 | 0 | 3 |
| Arrieta | 0.29 | 4 | 0 |
| Kershaw | 0.36 | 2 | 1 |
| deGrom | 0.70 | 4 | 0 |
| Greinke | 0.94 | 3 | 1 |
| Harvey | 1.01 | 2 | 2 |
| Fernandez | 1.13 | 3 | 1 |
| Wacha | 1.35 | 2 | 1 |
| Ramirez, E. | 1.46 | 3 | 1 |
| Verlander | 1.52 | 3 | 1 |
| Kluber | 1.54 | 3 | 0 |
| Norris | 1.65 | 3 | 0 |
| Hernandez | 1.67 | 3 | 1 |
| Nola | 1.73 | 2 | 2 |
| Gray, S. | 1.82 | 3 | 2 |
| Price | 1.90 | 2 | 1 |
| Corbin | 2.08 | 2 | 1 |
| Samardzija | 2.25 | 5 | 1 |
| Porcello | 2.30 | 2 | 2 |
| Miley | 2.37 | 2 | 1 |
| Lewis | 2.49 | 2 | 2 |
| Eovaldi | 2.55 | 3 | 0 |
| Heaney | 2.60 | 2 | 1 |
| Syndergaard | 2.65 | 1 | 2 |
| Iglesias | 2.70 | 1 | 4 |
| Heston | 2.72 | 1 | 5 |
| Morgan | 2.73 | 2 | 2 |
| Gausman | 2.82 | 3 | 1 |
| Lester | 2.86 | 2 | 1 |
| Wood | 2.93 | 2 | 3 |
| Bauer | 3.00 | 1 | 2 |
| Haren | 3.00 | 3 | 3 |
| Odorizzi | 3.00 | 3 | 0 |
| Shoemaker | 3.00 | 3 | 1 |
| Shields | 3.15 | 5 | 1 |
| Salazar | 3.20 | 2 | 1 |
| Phelps | 3.20 | 1 | 2 |
| Bettis | 3.22 | 3 | 1 |
| Pomeranz | 3.31 | 2 | 1 |
| Estrada | 3.38 | 2 | 1 |
| Cashner | 3.43 | 1 | 2 |
| De La Rosa, R. | 3.46 | 4 | 2 |
| Anderson, Co. | 3.48 | 2 | 1 |
| Eickhoff | 3.50 | 1 | 2 |
| McHugh | 3.55 | 3 | 2 |
| Walker | 3.57 | 2 | 1 |
| Chen | 3.58 | 4 | 1 |
| Burnett | 3.60 | 3 | 0 |
| Ross, T. | 3.60 | 1 | 2 |
| Scherzer | 3.91 | 3 | 1 |
| Happ | 3.93 | 2 | 4 |
| DeSclafini | 3.96 | 4 | 4 |
| Hamels | 4.02 | 2 | 5 |
| Nelson | 4.03 | 2 | 5 |
| Buchholz | 4.05 | 2 | 2 |
| Marquis | 4.15 | 1 | 2 |
| Bumgarner | 4.18 | 1 | 3 |
| Kazmir | 4.26 | 1 | 4 |
| Sanchez, An. | 4.28 | 3 | 1 |
| Koehler | 4.29 | 3 | 6 |
| Martinez, N. | 4.30 | 3 | 1 |
| Duffey | 4.32 | 2 | 1 |
| Peavy | 4.33 | 2 | 3 |
| Miller | 4.42 | 2 | 4 |
| Hudson | 4.43 | 0 | 4 |
| Sabathia | 4.43 | 2 | 2 |
| Hendricks | 4.50 | 2 | 1 |
| De La Rosa, J. | 4.53 | 3 | 5 |
| Tillman | 4.58 | 2 | 4 |
| Locke | 4.63 | 2 | 2 |
| Kennedy | 4.64 | 4 | 4 |
| Kendrick | 4.68 | 2 | 2 |
| McCullers | 4.74 | 0 | 3 |
| Jungmann | 4.76 | 2 | 1 |
| Teheran | 4.80 | 6 | 3 |
| Lincecum | 4.86 | 2 | 1 |
| Gonzalez, M. | 4.95 | 2 | 6 |
| Karns | 5.04 | 1 | 3 |
| Graveman | 5.09 | 2 | 2 |
| Danks | 5.14 | 0 | 4 |
| Harang | 5.25 | 2 | 4 |
| Zimmerman | 5.25 | 3 | 1 |
| Anderson, Ch. | 5.59 | 3 | 2 |
| Finnegan | 5.63 | 1 | 2 |
| Doubront | 5.94 | 2 | 1 |
| Bassitt | 6.00 | 1 | 3 |
| O’Sullivan | 6.10 | 3 | 4 |
| Gibson | 6.11 | 1 | 2 |
| Peralta | 6.26 | 2 | 3 |
| Leake | 6.26 | 1 | 3 |
| Colon | 6.35 | 1 | 2 |
| Rodon | 6.64 | 3 | 1 |
| Hale | 6.75 | 0 | 3 |
| Fiers | 6.84 | 0 | 5 |
| Gonzalez, G. | 6.98 | 1 | 3 |
| Pineda | 7.02 | 0 | 3 |
| Correia | 7.07 | 0 | 3 |
| Garza | 7.23 | 0 | 4 |
| Santiago | 7.24 | 1 | 2 |
| Richards | 7.27 | 3 | 2 |
| Simon | 7.31 | 2 | 4 |
| Sampson | 7.66 | 3 | 3 |
| Perez, W. | 8.06 | 1 | 4 |
| Lohse | 8.27 | 1 | 3 |
| Greene | 8.59 | 1 | 2 |
| Wisler | 8.68 | 1 | 5 |
| Lamb | 9.75 | 0 | 3 |
| Williams | 9.77 | 0 | 4 |
| Pelfrey | 9.78 | 1 | 3 |
| Rodriguez, E. | 10.29 | 1 | 2 |
- What is eye-popping right off the bat is much more than last year, the best stopper stats belonged to well-known team aces.
- Archer, Arrieta, Kershaw, deGrom and Greinke, all Cy Young hopefuls towards the end of the season, had the five lowest stopper ERAs in the league.
- Jake Arrieta wins Stopper of the Year (maybe that’s what propelled him to the NL Cy Young) with a perfect 4-0 record in stopper appearances and a 0.29 ERA. He also pitched 31 innings, nearly averaging eight innings for a team who presumably was desperately wishing to avoid using their bullpen. Chris Archer is the hard-luck loser as he did not allow a run in any of his three stopper appearances but somehow the Tampa Bay Rays lost all three of those games. Jake deGrom has to be mentioned as well with a perfect 4-0 record but “only” a 0.70 ERA.
- There are a lot of excellent candidates for worst Stopper of the Year but my vote goes to Jerome Williams of the Philadelphia Phillies. Williams went 0 for 4 with a 9.77 ERA. He only managed to pitch 15 2/3 innings in the four starts, less than a four inning average per start.
- Worst stats for an ace? Might be Madison Bumgarner who only won 1 of 4 tries and had a 4.18 ERA in his appearances. Cole Hamels – last year’s Stopper of the Year – took a hit and went 2-5 with a 4.02 ERA. Six of the seven happened with the Phillies, but his one with the Rangers – 6 innings pitched, 6 earned runs.
- Some other surprise numbers? Justin Verlander with a nice bounceback year – 3-1 with a 1.52 ERA. Jeff Samardzija saw his most success in stopper opportunities – 5-1 with a 2.25 ERA.
Call to the Bullpen 
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