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Struggling to Arrive

Posted by Raphy on April 30, 2008

Phil Hughes has created quite a stir here in New York, by pitching miserably in his first 6 starts. Andrew Miller has been just as bad, if not worse, for the Marlins.

I thought that it might be interesting to look at the players who have had a similar experience to these prospects.

Here are my criteria:

1) Young: 23 or younger

2) Inexperienced: Less that 32 games (a current season's worth of starts) pitched in their career.

3) Starting a season: The team's first 30 games (6 games in a 5 man rotation)

4) Struggling: A game score of 35 of lower.

Hughes and Miller join 6 other pitchers with 4 games that match these criteria.

 Pete Redfern      1977     4 Ind. Games

 Jaime Navarro     1990     4 Ind. Games

 Rafael Medina     1998     4 Ind. Games

 Phil Huffman      1979     4 Ind. Games

 Jose Guzman       1986     4 Ind. Games

 Alex Fernandez    1991     4 Ind. Games

Not very encouraging if you're a Yankees or Marlins fan.

Here are the season and career totals for each of the pitchers:

Player Season W Season L Season ERA+ Career W Career L Career ERA+
Pete Redfern 6 9 78 42 48 90
Jamie Navarro 8 7 87 116 126 90
Rafael Medina 2 6 67 3 7 69
Phil Huffman 6 18 75 6 18 71
Jose Guzman 9 15 95 80 74 102
Alex Fernandez 9 13 88 107 87 115

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