Saturday, June 10, 2023

The highest relative SO/H ratios for guys with 100+ IP, 1900-2021

This is a follow up to my last post. But in this case a pitcher's SO/H ratio is compared to the league average. Data in this case is from the Lee Sinins Complete Baseball Encyclopedia.

I called up two sets of pitchers. One was the top 200 in relative SO/9IP ratio. That is, each pitcher's SO/9IP ratio was divided by the league average. The other set was the top 200 in relative H/9IP. I figured that the highest relative SO/H ratios would come from pitchers in these two groups.

The table below shows all the pitchers whose SO/H ratio was at least 3.00 times as high as the league average.

Pitcher

YEAR

IP

SO/H

Lg SO/H

Rel. SO/H

Bob Feller

1937

149

1.29

0.36

3.58

Pedro Martinez

2000

217

2.22

0.62

3.57

Rube Waddell

1902

276.1

0.94

0.26

3.55

Goose Gossage

1977

133

1.94

0.56

3.43

Dazzy Vance

1924

308.1

1.10

0.33

3.35

Bruce Sutter

1977

107.1

1.87

0.57

3.26

Mitch Williams

1987

108.2

2.05

0.63

3.23

Johnny Vander Meer

1941

226

1.17

0.37

3.19

J.R. Richard

1980

113.2

1.83

0.58

3.18

Bruce Sutter

1979

101.1

1.64

0.52

3.16

Dazzy Vance

1925

265.1

0.89

0.28

3.16

Pedro Martinez

1999

213.1

1.96

0.63

3.13

Nolan Ryan

1976

284.1

1.69

0.54

3.12

Tom Hall

1970

155

1.96

0.63

3.10

Mariano Rivera

1996

107.2

1.78

0.58

3.05

Mark Littell

1977

104.2

1.45

0.48

3.05

Lefty Grove

1926

258

0.85

0.28

3.03

Herb Score

1956

249

1.62

0.54

3.02

Nolan Ryan

1977

299

1.72

0.57

3.00

 

Most of these guys came up on both lists. For some reason, their relative SO/H ratios were just very slightly different on the two different lists. Feller was just a bit ahead of Martinez in both cases.

In 1937, Feller had 9.04 SO/9IP and allowed 7.01 H/9IP for a ratio of about 1.29. The league average SO/9IP was 3.63 while for H/9IP it was 10.02 for a league average ratio of .36. Then 1.29/.36 = 3.58. So Feller's relative SO/H ratio in 1937 was 3.58.

What about Spencer Strider, who had the highest non-relative SO/H ratio ever in a season of 2.35 last year? What is his relative ratio?

The league average SO/H ratio in the NL in 2022 was 1.03. So then 2.35/1.03 = 2.28. Strider's relative ratio is far below the guys in the table here. On the best SO/9IP list, that would be just 104th. On the best relative H/9IP list it was 78th.

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