Good morning!
Entering Friday night's game against Anaheim, rookie pitcher Tanner Banks sports a 0.00 ERA over 12.1 IP. No runs, earned or otherwise, have been allowed on his watch. As a rookie playing in his first major league games, it would appear he has set a franchise record in that regard as no other White Sox rookie pitcher has gone this long without allowing a run. What a start and what a story!
While the odds are against him going much longer with allowing a run, a decent season in middle/long relief could be in the cards. My hope is that by season's end he's pitched well enough to qualify for today's Sporcle: relief pitcher seasons who have notched an ERA of 2.50 or lower while appearing in at least 30 games. To date, a Mark Buehrle's jersey number worth of White Sox pitchers in franchise history have accomplished that: how many can you name? Good luck!
Quiz Parameters
- In addition to the qualifiers above, a pitcher must have also appeared in at least 80% of their games as a reliever.
- I've allotted 15 minutes for completion attempts.
- For hints, I've provided the season and the final ERA of each pitcher in question.
Useless information to amaze, annoy, confuse, and/or confound your friends and family:
- The average FIP from the players on this list is 3.07, compared to an average ERA of 2.10.
- The highest number of IP on this list is 165.1, in 1965. That pitcher also led the AL that year in appearances (82) and WHIP (.974).
- The lowest BB/9 came from a pitcher in 1967, with 1.7.
- Among all MLB relief pitchers with the lowest BB/9 in baseball history (minimum 30 G), Dennis Eckersley leads the list at 0.5, accomplished in back-to-back seasons, 1989-1990.
All data from stathead.com
