Watching the Cub game this afternoon - I know, I am a glutton for punishment. Freddie Peralta is pitching for the Brewers. During the telecast they flashed on the screen a list of the lowest batting average against for pitchers since 1920. It shows that so far this season, Peralta is holding hitters to a lower batting average than the top five seasons since 1920.
Freddie Peralta - entering today's start: .136 average
JR Richard- 1980 - .166 average
Pedro Martinez - 2000 - .167 average
Louis Tiant - 1968 - .168 average
Nolan Ryan - 1972 - .171 average
Nolan Ryan - 1991 - .172 average
The purpose of showing that list was of course to point out just how great Peralta has been this season. But I thought about a couple of things the broadcast booth did not mention:
(1) Notice that Nolan Ryan holds the 4th and 5th spots. But what jumped out at me was that there is a 19 year gap between his 1972 and 1991 seasons. Talk about a guy being able to keep his 'stuff'. Ryan is 44 years old in 1991 and big league hitters still could not hit the guy.
(2) It was nice to see the name of JR Richard at #1. Some younger posters may not remember JR Richard, but I mean to tell you this guy had great stuff. He was 6'8" tall and could throw around 100 mph along with a wicked slider. A real shame that he suffered the stroke that basically ended his career at age 30.
Freddie Peralta - entering today's start: .136 average
JR Richard- 1980 - .166 average
Pedro Martinez - 2000 - .167 average
Louis Tiant - 1968 - .168 average
Nolan Ryan - 1972 - .171 average
Nolan Ryan - 1991 - .172 average
The purpose of showing that list was of course to point out just how great Peralta has been this season. But I thought about a couple of things the broadcast booth did not mention:
(1) Notice that Nolan Ryan holds the 4th and 5th spots. But what jumped out at me was that there is a 19 year gap between his 1972 and 1991 seasons. Talk about a guy being able to keep his 'stuff'. Ryan is 44 years old in 1991 and big league hitters still could not hit the guy.
(2) It was nice to see the name of JR Richard at #1. Some younger posters may not remember JR Richard, but I mean to tell you this guy had great stuff. He was 6'8" tall and could throw around 100 mph along with a wicked slider. A real shame that he suffered the stroke that basically ended his career at age 30.
Last edited:
