Minor League Workhorses: 1971-1975
It’s time again to check in on the status of the hardest-working pitchers in the minor leagues. Previously, we’ve examined the five-year periods of 1946-1950, 1951-1955, 1956-1960, 1961-1965, and 1966-1970. Now we’ll plunge fully into the decade of disco, disaster flicks, and Donny & Marie.
As a reminder, in order to reveal the top end of pitcher usage levels in the minor leagues, we:
– Record the top 10 pitchers in innings pitched in each minor league classification each season
– Compute the average stat lines of these top workhorses
– Compare the year-to-year changes
Remember that EP = Estimated number of pitches, using Tangotiger’s pitch estimation formula.
First we’ll look at the Triple-A leagues, including the Pacific Coast League, which operated under a unique “Open Classification” status from 1952 through 1957.
Class AAA/Open Top 10 Average Innings Leaders
Year Age G GS CG IP W L H BB SO ERA EP 1946 31 39 ? 24 280 18 15 262 78 157 2.69 4303 1947 32 39 ? 21 277 17 15 286 77 117 3.39 4290 1948 30 38 ? 18 251 16 13 268 93 122 3.93 4062 1949 30 41 ? 23 282 21 13 271 98 147 3.35 4448 1950 29 41 ? 21 283 19 14 270 102 133 3.46 4447 1951 28 36 32 18 249 16 12 220 98 123 3.22 3912 1952 31 40 34 20 270 18 14 238 79 135 2.76 4094 1953 29 42 34 18 266 19 13 253 84 115 3.30 4094 1954 29 39 34 17 258 17 13 229 101 162 3.15 4111 1955 29 39 34 19 259 19 13 237 76 129 2.88 3956 1956 28 38 32 17 245 16 13 244 85 133 3.43 3905 1957 25 35 31 14 233 16 11 215 92 139 3.29 3730 1958 28 35 30 14 226 15 11 209 76 127 3.31 3536 1959 29 36 31 13 233 15 11 226 73 122 3.31 3639 1960 27 38 30 13 225 14 12 226 66 121 3.37 3512 1961 28 36 30 11 218 14 9 214 65 123 3.47 3401 1962 28 35 30 13 225 14 10 219 67 139 3.28 3527 1963 26 38 30 14 224 15 13 220 61 143 3.50 3491 1964 24 36 30 12 217 13 12 198 65 166 3.08 3406 1965 24 33 30 11 215 14 11 209 65 140 3.61 3381 1966 23 33 31 13 224 14 11 218 67 151 3.36 3528 1967 26 35 31 14 231 15 12 226 65 131 3.05 3585 1968 25 35 32 17 241 16 11 220 60 151 2.77 3664 1969 ? 41 31 18 239 18 12 224 72 146 2.65 3719 1970 28 40 32 14 226 16 12 223 75 133 3.49 3587 1971 32 36 29 16 223 16 12 216 58 140 3.03 3456 1972 23 40 29 15 216 15 11 205 68 147 3.16 3407 1973 26 33 29 14 213 16 11 202 78 136 3.17 3401 1974 31 35 28 17 227 16 12 213 70 135 2.87 3535 1975 33 35 30 18 240 16 13 226 70 142 2.50 3717 1946-50 30 40 ? 21 275 18 14 271 90 135 3.37 4310 1951-55 29 39 34 18 260 18 13 235 88 133 3.06 4033 1956-60 27 37 31 14 232 15 12 224 78 128 3.34 3664 1961-65 26 35 30 12 220 14 11 212 64 142 3.39 3441 1966-70 26 37 31 15 232 16 12 222 68 142 3.05 3617 1971-75 29 36 29 16 224 16 12 212 69 140 2.94 3503
Here the influence of the Mexican League, which had begun to be felt in the late 1960s, remained strong. Unlike the north-of-the-border AAA leagues (the PCL, the American Association, and the International League), the Mexican League’s franchises weren’t major league farm clubs, and thus employed many minor-league-star veterans, in the manner of US minor league teams of years past. Such pitchers dominated the AAA innings-pitched leaderboard in this era, generally being significantly more heavily-worked than stateside prospects. Nevertheless, the Mexican League aces of the early 1970s weren’t allowed to rack up innings totals as high as those of AAA aces as recently as the early-to-mid 1950s — which is interesting given that major league aces in the early 1970s were being deployed in their heaviest workloads in decades.
Class AA Top 10 Average Innings Leaders
Year Age G GS CG IP W L H BB SO ERA EP 1946 29 38 ? ? 252 19 9 227 80 132 2.42 3874 1947 28 36 ? 20 253 18 11 238 77 132 2.83 3909 1948 25 40 ? 17 244 16 14 239 102 115 3.53 3938 1949 29 38 ? 17 239 16 11 242 85 99 3.57 3785 1950 27 40 ? 18 244 19 11 220 98 148 3.15 3908 1951 26 37 32 20 258 16 14 227 113 130 2.92 4123 1952 30 38 31 19 256 18 12 234 80 109 2.82 3913 1953 28 39 31 17 251 16 12 246 99 129 3.21 4036 1954 27 40 31 15 246 17 12 237 99 149 3.89 3982 1955 29 39 32 18 254 19 11 226 92 146 3.03 3985 1956 28 37 32 15 240 17 10 229 80 135 3.27 3775 1957 29 39 31 15 243 17 12 224 88 132 3.25 3826 1958 27 36 32 16 247 17 11 235 86 154 3.30 3920 1959 28 39 31 17 243 16 12 241 75 137 3.48 3820 1960 24 38 29 13 227 15 10 221 94 151 3.53 3716 1961 24 34 27 12 217 14 12 205 80 130 3.51 3462 1962 22 36 28 12 213 14 11 226 77 141 4.01 3485 1963 28 33 30 16 227 16 10 218 63 156 3.09 3551 1964 28 34 31 14 226 15 11 221 69 166 3.56 3592 1965 26 35 30 13 233 17 10 214 69 168 3.02 3645 1966 28 38 30 14 226 17 11 211 80 176 2.84 3642 1967 22 29 28 13 198 12 11 170 77 139 2.68 3153 1968 24 30 24 9 185 12 8 152 51 120 2.37 2791 1969 23 29 26 10 188 13 8 173 68 125 3.22 2992 1970 21 29 28 11 197 12 11 172 67 134 3.01 3086 1971 24 27 27 13 197 13 10 166 66 132 2.76 3059 1972 22 30 26 12 191 13 8 165 64 149 2.74 3006 1973 21 28 28 11 192 11 11 179 76 146 3.36 3127 1974 22 27 26 12 186 13 10 172 80 124 3.25 3031 1975 21 27 27 12 193 13 9 179 74 114 2.89 3077 1946-50 28 38 ? 18 246 18 11 233 88 125 3.10 3883 1951-55 28 38 32 18 253 17 12 234 97 133 3.17 4008 1956-60 27 38 31 15 240 16 11 230 85 142 3.37 3811 1961-65 26 34 29 14 223 15 11 217 72 152 3.44 3547 1966-70 24 31 27 11 199 13 10 176 69 139 2.83 3133 1971-75 22 28 27 12 192 12 10 172 72 133 3.00 3060
This level was now pure farm-club territory, and its ace pitchers were young and handled with care, in a manner similar to that which had been established in the late 1960s. While their overall workloads were about the same as in the preceding period, one slight difference is that the practice of strict role specialization was becoming more pronounced: these pitchers were deployed almost exclusively as starters, no longer handling the occasional relief stint as had long been common practice.
Class A Top 10 Average Innings Leaders
Year Age G GS CG IP W L H BB SO ERA EP 1946 24 33 ? 19 235 17 9 213 93 177 2.76 3805 1947 23 34 ? 14 220 15 10 205 78 142 3.05 3500 1948 25 38 ? 19 245 17 13 235 106 152 3.48 4013 1949 22 36 ? 18 245 16 13 223 100 140 3.11 3916 1950 ? 34 ? 21 250 16 13 236 105 132 3.34 4025 1951 23 36 31 21 254 18 12 223 103 156 2.95 4056 1952 ? 40 31 22 268 18 14 263 109 160 3.46 4360 1953 ? 41 31 21 264 18 15 279 98 115 3.77 4245 1954 23 37 31 21 254 18 11 227 101 157 3.07 4056 1955 23 33 29 19 229 16 10 216 91 141 3.15 3687 1956 22 35 28 16 227 15 12 195 103 160 3.18 3690 1957 23 36 30 19 240 16 11 227 93 154 3.42 3874 1958 20 35 30 13 229 16 10 211 96 140 3.16 3705 1959 23 36 29 15 226 16 11 216 69 147 3.29 3546 1960 21 31 29 12 207 14 11 187 91 146 3.41 3383 1961 23 31 28 15 213 14 11 190 74 137 3.02 3345 1962 22 32 27 15 210 14 11 190 79 173 3.28 3398 1963 19 33 29 16 225 16 9 198 85 194 3.03 3641 1964 22 32 27 15 214 14 11 194 81 203 3.40 3504 1965 20 33 28 15 222 15 11 195 91 194 2.98 3634 1966 21 32 28 17 222 15 10 195 63 159 2.76 3420 1967 20 32 27 14 208 14 10 184 79 173 2.68 3365 1968 21 31 26 13 209 16 9 182 66 180 2.67 3305 1969 21 32 27 14 209 15 9 182 65 154 2.39 3265 1970 21 30 27 14 214 14 11 185 67 148 2.34 3322 1971 19 29 27 13 202 14 9 182 75 141 3.07 3226 1972 21 29 26 13 193 14 9 176 70 152 3.00 3104 1973 20 29 27 12 202 13 9 168 74 168 2.75 3208 1974 20 28 27 14 208 14 8 169 73 156 2.56 3252 1975 20 26 26 13 191 14 9 171 71 130 2.95 3039 1946-50 24 35 ? 18 239 16 12 222 96 149 3.15 3852 1951-55 23 37 30 21 254 18 12 241 100 146 3.28 4081 1956-60 22 35 29 15 226 15 11 207 90 149 3.29 3639 1961-65 21 32 28 15 217 15 10 193 82 180 3.14 3504 1966-70 21 31 27 14 213 15 10 186 68 163 2.57 3335 1971-75 20 28 27 13 199 14 9 173 72 149 2.86 3166
The change wasn’t dramatic, but ever-so-gradually the top-end workload of pitchers at this level was being reduced. For the first time it was rare to see a Class A pitcher surpass the 200-inning mark. And increasingly, as in the other classifications, these young aces were typically used in starter-only roles.
Rookie Class Top 10 Average Innings Leaders
Year Age G GS CG IP W L H BB SO ERA EP 1963 18 15 12 3 80 5 4 74 59 85 4.32 1486 1964 19 16 12 5 94 7 5 83 53 100 3.72 1642 1965 18 18 11 5 91 7 4 92 39 99 3.93 1562 1966 21 15 12 5 91 7 4 73 41 106 2.97 1523 1967 19 14 11 4 81 6 4 73 33 72 2.82 1328 1968 20 15 12 5 87 6 4 74 35 83 2.94 1415 1969 19 15 13 6 95 7 4 80 38 104 2.77 1569 1970 18 15 13 6 98 7 5 85 35 100 3.06 1593 1971 19 14 13 6 94 7 4 80 41 103 3.04 1575 1972 19 13 13 6 94 6 5 82 42 88 3.14 1560 1973 20 14 13 6 100 7 4 88 41 94 3.02 1653 1974 19 15 14 7 102 8 5 88 44 82 2.97 1667 1975 18 14 14 5 95 7 4 87 33 71 2.93 1514 1963-65 18 16 12 4 88 6 4 83 50 95 3.99 1563 1966-70 19 15 12 5 90 7 4 77 36 93 2.91 1486 1971-75 19 14 13 6 97 7 4 85 40 88 3.02 1594
There was no significant alteration from the prior period in the workload of these youngsters; if anything it was a tiny bit more extensive. As in the higher levels, they were now rarely called upon to handle any relief assignments, and also as in the higher levels, their complete game rates remained stable at slightly below 50%.
Class AAA Top 10 Workloads
Pitcher T Age Year League G GS CG IP W L H BB SO ERA EP Jose Peña R 32 1975 Mexican 42 30 25 287 21 12 216 102 199 1.85 4414 A. Pollorena R ? 1974 Mexican 38 32 25 260 25 7 225 67 183 2.18 3960 Jim Horsford R ? 1971 Mexican 29 29 22 243 18 9 235 86 131 2.44 3851 Rene Chavez R ? 1975 Mexican 34 31 17 234 18 10 204 104 187 2.35 3842 Norm McRae R 27 1975 Mexican 33 30 17 231 10 18 218 104 149 2.53 3802 Carl Cavanaugh R ? 1975 Mexican 36 30 18 249 12 16 267 52 111 2.71 3799 A. Pollorena R ? 1975 Mexican 35 30 23 254 20 11 236 50 136 2.37 3772 Carlos Carrasco R ? 1974 Mexican 35 32 18 234 17 13 266 82 65 3.62 3743 Dick Woodson R 26 1971 Pac. Coast 33 33 9 221 16 10 233 90 163 4.03 3696 Cesar Diaz R ? 1975 Mexican 37 30 14 230 11 18 232 62 170 2.78 3639
Mexican Leaguers nearly achieved a clean sweep here. Most of these aces were Latin stars who never appeared in the majors, but Peña posted this brilliant season a few years after a brief major league career — and we also saw him last time in a top-workhorse Mexican League campaign from 1966 when he was working his way up. The total of 4,414 estimated pitches he made in 1975 was the highest of any minor leaguer at any level since 1960.
Horsford we also saw last time; I don’t know if he was from the US or not, but in any case he enjoyed a long and hugely successful career in Mexico.
“Cool Mac” McRae hadn’t been an especially hot prospect, but had spent a fair portion of the 1970 season in the majors with the Tigers.
Woodson had been in the majors before the season we see above, and performed reasonably well. His work here was more effective than it might appear, as that 4.03 ERA was eighth-best in the high-scoring PCL of 1971. Thus in 1972 Woodson would be given another chance by the Twins, and would deliver an impressive workhorse season, with over 250 big league innings at an ERA+ of 119. After that, however, Woodson would quickly fade and disappear.
Class AA Top 10 Workloads
Pitcher T Age Year League G GS CG IP W L H BB SO ERA EP Doug Konieczny R 21 1973 Southern 28 28 17 213 12 12 194 83 222 2.66 3538 Danny Fife R 22 1972 Southern 29 29 12 221 14 7 177 88 156 3.10 3490 Bill Campbell R 23 1972 Southern 29 29 14 219 13 10 181 69 204 2.42 3451 Joe Sambito L 23 1975 Southern 30 28 10 209 12 9 200 85 140 3.01 3407 Lance Rautzhan L 22 1975 Eastern 28 28 21 218 14 10 200 62 115 2.06 3332 Sammy Ellis R 30 1971 Southern 28 28 11 208 11 15 192 82 125 3.72 3331 Willie Prall L 23 1973 Texas 31 31 11 186 12 14 191 106 160 4.31 3295 Leslie Scott R ? 1971 Texas 28 28 15 213 15 8 134 94 147 2.24 3288 Chris Batton R 20 1975 Southern 29 28 12 190 13 10 192 109 96 3.65 3258 Paul Siebert L 21 1974 Southern 26 26 18 211 15 7 188 67 120 2.56 3258
All of these were major-league-bound prospects with the exception of Scott, who never made it, and Ellis, who was on the way down after having flamed out following a hugely impressive couple of seasons with the Reds in 1964-65.
But though this crew put up stalwart performances in AA, none would succeed as a major league starter. Two, however, would achieve distinction in big league bullpens: Sambito had several excellent years as a relief ace in Houston, and Campbell presented a couple of the most extraordinary mega-workhorse reliever seasons of the 1970s as the highlight of his long career.
Class A Top 10 Workloads
Pitcher T Age Year League G GS CG IP W L H BB SO ERA EP Bob Knepper L 20 1974 California 30 30 16 238 20 5 239 80 247 3.18 3955 John D'Acquisto R 19 1971 Midwest 31 29 14 233 10 13 178 124 244 3.13 3942 Don Aase R 19 1974 Carolina 32 30 18 230 17 8 185 84 176 2.43 3614 John D'Acquisto R 20 1972 California 27 26 17 209 17 6 184 102 245 3.32 3605 Curt Isom L ? 1973 California 31 28 9 208 13 11 146 121 227 2.42 3547 Dennis Eckersley R 18 1973 California 31 31 11 202 12 8 182 91 218 3.65 3428 Rick Nitz R ? 1972 California 28 28 13 211 18 7 210 64 164 2.94 3380 Randy Hill L ? 1973 Carolina 28 28 8 203 14 4 175 100 135 2.93 3340 Domingo Figueroa L ? 1971 Fla. State 30 24 15 197 14 8 159 108 170 2.60 3324 Gerry Spencer R ? 1974 Carolina 29 29 12 214 11 7 195 70 115 2.94 3320
Knepper was always a pitcher I found particularly intriguing. An easygoing guy whose best pitch was an old-fashioned overhand slow curve, Knepper was maddeningly inconsistent in terms of effectiveness (indeed he’ll be featured in an upcoming volume of Saberhagen Gaps). But in terms of durability, he was solid as granite: the Clydesdale-caliber workhorse season we see him contributing at the age of 20 above was just the first in a long line. In the minors and majors combined, Knepper would exceed 200 innings 10 times in the 13 seasons from 1974 through 1986. He almost certainly would have bagged an eleventh had 1981 not been shortened by the strike, and the two other times in that span in which he didn’t reach 200 frames Knepper worked 155 (in triple-A in 1975, after having been promoted two levels following his tremendous class-A performance) and 180 (in 1982, in one of his periodic bad years). He would pitch through the age of 36, logging over 3,500 professional innings, and would never spend a day on the Disabled List.
Equally indestructible was Eckersley. At seventeen he went straight from high school to a full-time starter role in Class A, and the next year he was breezily handling the 200-inning assignment we see here. Over his extraordinary 27-season career, Eck would encounter just two DL stints, one in 1985 and another in 1989, neither keeping him out of action for more than a few weeks.
And then there’s John D’Acquisto. Possessor of a fastball in the all-time elite class, D’Acquisto did not possess the capability of placing it in the strike zone with regularity. The Giants organization supervised by owner-GM Horace Stoneham and Director of Player Development Carl Hubbell — a team with a pretty fair track record of producing top-end pitchers, including Mike McCormick, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, and Bill Hands within the most recent decade and a half — clearly felt that D’Acquisto’s development would be best served by in-game experience, and plenty of it. Following a Rookie League debut in which he walked 74 and struck out 84 in 55 innings, over the next four seasons at ages 19 through 22 Johnny D. worked 897 innings (issuing 482 walks and racking up 870 whiffs) and threw an estimated 15,321 pitches. Perhaps the arm injury he then encountered, and the degrees of arm trouble he would never subsequently escape, and which rendered him washed up by age 30, would have visited D’Acquisto anyway, but it’s certainly fair to question the risk/reward wisdom of exposing a prize prospect to that kind of workload.
Against all this drama, Aase’s story seems rather pedestrian. The season we see above was by far his best (and most heavily worked) in the minors. He would reach the majors at 22, and put together a pretty nice career as a starter and then a reliever, dealing with little more than the injury problems pitchers often face, lasting until he was 36.
Rookie Class Top 10 Workloads
Pitcher T Age Year League G GS CG IP W L H BB SO ERA EP Steve Cline R ? 1974 Pioneer 16 16 10 116 8 7 115 64 108 3.96 2042 Larry Groover L ? 1974 Pioneer 18 17 10 118 9 6 92 59 117 2.29 1972 Bill Bird R ? 1974 Pioneer 15 15 11 121 8 6 94 42 108 2.08 1901 Bob Falcon L ? 1973 Pioneer 14 13 7 99 8 3 71 51 180 2.36 1765 Ed Plank R 21 1973 Pioneer 14 12 8 106 7 4 108 43 78 3.06 1759 Barry Bagley L ? 1972 Pioneer 13 13 8 104 7 4 97 44 110 2.68 1757 Butch Metzger R 19 1971 Pioneer 13 13 4 106 6 5 88 46 108 3.91 1755 Randy Smith L ? 1973 Pioneer 14 14 7 103 6 8 117 37 87 3.50 1740 Mark Klein R ? 1973 Appal. 14 13 9 111 7 4 89 34 93 3.16 1719 Mike Weiss R ? 1971 Pioneer 13 13 7 97 7 4 84 57 108 3.80 1713
More evidence, on top of that which we’ve observed already, that the connection between standout Rookie League workhorse performance and major league success is tenuous at best. Of this bunch, only Plank and Metzger (both, interestingly, Giants’ prospects) made the majors at all, and neither of them lasted very long.
I seem to recall reading, when Plank was a fringe player with the Giants, that he was a distant relative of his namesake Hall of Famer. But none of the sources I’ve searched now confirm it, so maybe it isn’t so.
One More Thing
Do you remember way back in the 1951-1955 chapter, when I noted the phenomenon of several “workhorse relievers”? They haven’t proven to be a common occurrence in the periods since, but they have been showing up from time to time, and were particularly notable in the early 1970s Mexican League.
It is an extremely intriguing manner of deploying a pitcher, that obviously never caught on at the major league level. Here is the complete list of the most extreme examples I’ve uncovered from 1946 through 1975. All of these guys were in the top ten of their league’s pitchers in innings pitched:
Pitcher T Age Year League G GS CG IP W L H BB SO ERA EP Cecil Hutson R ? 1953 Georgia State 75 6 4 265 17 12 246 98 156 3.46 4208 Alfredo Ortiz L ? 1972 Mexican 74 28 17 213 15 13 224 37 113 3.72 3221 Cecil Hutson R ? 1952 Florida State 67 11 8 270 21 10 251 71 126 2.57 4081 Juan Suby R ? 1969 Mexican 66 22 15 243 19 17 204 77 158 2.63 3739 Norm Hughes R ? 1955 Florida State 65 24 11 302 18 16 291 145 142 3.90 4961 Juan Suby R ? 1971 Mexican 64 21 9 216 22 12 208 46 111 2.63 3244 Juan Suby R ? 1970 Mexican 58 26 8 214 20 14 219 58 139 3.57 3369 Alonso R ? 1954 WTNM 58 27 17 261 22 16 307 75 177 5.28 4275 Frank Smith R 21 1949 Texas 57 23 15 239 17 11 203 100 143 2.93 3801 A. Williams R ? 1956 California 55 22 12 242 9 16 277 125 135 5.28 4200 Joe Drach R ? 1955 Florida State 54 17 10 284 14 12 263 106 142 3.01 4476 Hogg R ? 1960 California 52 15 9 222 15 10 201 93 212 2.59 3691 Kendig R ? 1956 Georgia-Florida 51 18 14 242 20 10 196 74 227 2.45 3790 F. Maytorena R ? 1972 Mexican 50 27 14 222 16 12 172 108 131 2.39 3556 Malone R ? 1953 Longhorn 50 24 15 281 25 6 286 113 162 3.94 4590 Julio Navarro R 20 1956 Florida State 49 22 20 246 24 8 186 120 216 2.16 4033 Bob Dustal R 20 1956 Georgia-Florida 47 18 12 248 18 7 199 89 150 2.21 3826
Next Chapter
Minor League Workhorses: 1976-1980