Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
February 22, 2007
Looper to Start

After nine seasons appearing just in relief, Braden Looper is being moved to the Cardinals starting rotation:

Yet, when the Cardinals arrived for spring training, Looper was slated to be in the starting rotation.

"I don't think it's an experiment," pitching coach Dave Duncan said. "I wouldn't even consider trying him as a starter if I didn't think physically and mentally he couldn't do it."

Looper's career change is atypical for many reasons. At 32, he has never pitched more than three innings in a single outing in his major league career.

"I've always kind of wanted to do it," Looper said. "I've never told anybody that. There was talk about it when I was with the Marlins one year but we needed a closer. People are sitting back saying, `This is a gimmick.' For me that's fuel for the fire. I want to prove everybody wrong if they don't think I can do it."

This is Looper's tenth season in the majors. Only seven major leaguers received their first start in the tenth year or later after their first appearance. The person who made the most starts was Jack Ogden, who made a brief appearance in 1918, then didn't reach the majors again until 1928. Bob Logan was pressed into service due to World War II. The only person who comes close is Chuck McElroy, who made five spot starts at the end of his career. I can find no record of anyone who became a full-time starter so late in his career. This is going to be a very interesting experiment. I can't wait to see what his stats look like after the third inning.


Posted by David Pinto at 06:05 PM | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I just hope it works out better than when Tony decided to bat the pitcher 8th. (Although, runs did go up when he did that, IIRC).

Posted by: JeremyR at February 22, 2007 08:47 PM

If you want to see a pitcher who was primarily a reliever but had some remarkable stats as a starter, try Earl Johnson Red sox 1940-50. In 1947 he won three 1-0 games and lost three 1-0 games as a starter. I doubt that any other pitcher ever did that in one season. He won 1946 WS opener in relief.
He & Warren Spahn were only two ballplayers to win battlefield commissions for bravery in WW II.

Posted by: Bob S at February 22, 2007 09:41 PM

~I can't wait to see what his stats look like after the third inning.~

Ugly is what I'm betting. I do wish him success, but I doubt that it will work out all right.

Posted by: rbj at February 23, 2007 02:06 PM
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