All Giants rookie starters since 1910 (min. of 100 IP, 60% IP as starters) ranked by ERA+
Rk Player ERA+ WAR SO/9 IP Year Age 1 Jeff Tesreau 173 5.0 4.41 243.0 1912 24 2 Al Demaree 142 4.0 3.43 199.2 1913 28 3 Carl Hubbell 139 2.1 2.69 124.0 1928 25 4 Christy Mathewson 138 7.5 5.92 336.0 1901 20 5 Madison Bumgarner 135 2.1 6.71 106.0 2010 20 6 John Montefusco 133 6.8 7.94 243.2 1975 25 7 Larry Jansen 129 4.8 3.77 248.0 1947 26 8 Jerome Williams 128 2.2 6.05 131.0 2003 21 9 Ruben Gomez 128 4.2 4.99 204.0 1953 25 10 Al Worthington 126 1.3 4.59 102.0 1953 24
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/28/2010.
And a more recent query, since 1970 with the same criteria.
Rk Player ERA+ WAR SO/9 IP Year Age 1 Madison Bumgarner 135 2.1 6.71 106.0 2010 20 2 John Montefusco 133 6.8 7.94 243.2 1975 25 3 Jerome Williams 128 2.2 6.05 131.0 2003 21 4 Bob Knepper 117 2.7 5.42 166.0 1977 23 5 Bill Laskey 114 4.2 4.18 189.1 1982 24 6 Tim Lincecum 112 2.0 9.23 146.1 2007 23 7 Matt Cain 108 2.4 8.45 190.2 2006 21 8 John DAcquisto 101 2.5 6.99 215.0 1974 22 9 Brad Hennessey 92 0.6 4.87 118.1 2005 25 10 Pete Falcone 92 1.8 6.21 190.0 1975 21
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/28/2010.
For those wanting a refresher, MLB defines a rookie as:
A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list).
On our first list, Madison’s 2010 season ranks 5th all-time (since 1910) for a rookie starter on the Giants. His current 135 ERA+ places him among all-time greats such as Hubbell and Mathewson. It was a different time, but it’s hard to believe that Mathewson pitched 336 innings in his 2nd professional season of baseball — he accumulated a mere 33.2 IP in the 1900 season. John Montefusco won the Rookie of the Year Award for his fantastic (133 ERA+, 6.8 WAR) 1975 season. Jerome Williams will remind us that early success (128 ERA+, 2.2 WAR) doesn’t always lead to continued success. After posting 2.2 wins in his rookie season, Jerome Williams was worth only 1.1 wins over the rest of his career in 294.1 innings pitched and was out of baseball by age 25.
On the second ranking, our more modern group, Madison vaults all the way to the #1 position when ranked by ERA+. He doesn’t have the best WAR season — because he has ‘only’ pitched 106 innings — but he’s in the mix. If you’re going by a value added approach, it’s hard to best Montefusco and his 6.8 wins in ’75. Even though early success doesn’t equal career success, it’s very encouraging to see Bumgarner have a better start to his career than both Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum. Another note of interest is Bumgarner’s age. At 20-years-old, he’s the youngest on our modern list. Even younger than Matt Cain, who debuted at a very early age of 21-years-old, and quite a bit younger than guys like Montefusco, Hennessey, and Bill Laskey.
There was a lot of consternation about Bumgarner before his season began — velocity questions mostly — but he’s done a lot right this season. He’s throwing harder as the season has progressed and he’s looked fantastic. Even though we can’t pencil him into the Hall of Fame (yet!) his rookie season has been very, very encouraging.
