Feature Photo: Jeremy Hazelbaker, OF, Cardinals
With the All-Star break a tiny little speck in our rearview mirrors (although items in mirror may appear smaller than they appear), what better time, then, to take a deep breath, crunch some numbers, and delve deeper into the first half of the season’s Debutantes.
I promise you (or warn you) that once the regular season is over, and everyone is watching this thing called “the postseason” – which now apparently lasts until right before spring training – I’ll do a much deeper dive into a walk down 2016 MLB debut memory lane.
But for now, I’m just going to have some fun breaking down some non-statistical factoids on the 140 player debuts between April 3 (helloooooo, Cardinals outfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker!) and July 10 (yet another Cardinal, catcher Alberto Rosario, who wrapped up the first-half of debuts on July 9).
Number of Major League debuts made: 140.
Number of players who were actually called up to the majors at some point this season but were sent back down without getting into a game and, as of July 10, had still not made their debuts: 6. The list of players (all stats are as of games through July 16):
- White Sox catcher Kevan Smith was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte on April 24 when catcher Alex Avila went on the DL and penciled into the starting lineup to make his debut on April 25. But during batting practice, he suffered such severe back spasms that he was not only scratched from the lineup, but he was placed on the 15-day DL with “sacroliliac joint dysfunction.” Activated on May 22, he was optioned back to Charlotte but went back on the DL (this time the minor league DL) just a day later. His season numbers at Charlotte: .267 with three homers and nine RBIs in 13 games, 11 of them at Charlotte and two while on on rehab in the Arizona League.
- Giants right-hander Clayton Blackburn was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento on May 12 but optioned back to the River Cats on May 16 without having made an appearance. At Sacramento, he was 5-7 with a 5.03 ERA in 18 games, 16 of them starts, striking out 66 in 91.1 IP, while walking 25 and giving up 99 hits.
- Marlins left-hander Jarlin Garcia was recalled from Double-A Jacksonville on May 15 when it looked like the club might need some left-handed depth in its bullpen, but he was sent back to the Suns on May 19 without getting into a game. One of the club’s top young prospects, who pitched in the 2015 Futures Game, he was 1-3 with a 4.99 ERA in nine starts at Jacksonville, striking out 27 in 39.2 IP while walking 11 and allowing 38 hits, but has been on the DL since late May.
- Angels left-hander Chris Jones was recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake on May 30 and spent two days in the big leagues before being optioned back on June 1. A week later, on June 7, he was designated for assignment when the Angels acquired pitcher Jose Valdez from the Tigers and was outrighted off the 40-man roster on June 10. Jones is 3-8 with a 7.81 ERA in 13 starts for the Bees this season, striking out 48 in 65.2 IP and walking 20 while giving up 95 hits. This marks his 10th pro season having spent time with the Indians, Braves, Orioles, and Angels organizations.
- Braves second baseman Ronnier Mustelier had his contract purchased from Triple-A Gwinnett on July 3 as an MLB/MLBPA-approved 26th player during the club’s game against Miami that was played at Fort Bragg military base. Mustelier did not get into the game and returned to the minors after the contest. Mustelier, had he made his debut, would have ranked high in another category we list below: Oldest players to debut. He will turn 32 in August, as the Cuban-born infielder spent seven years playing professionally in his home country and then another six here, first coming up through the Yankees’ system, and then in the Triple-A level Mexican League, before signing with the Braves. At Gwinnett this year he was hitting .294 with three homers, 39 RBIs and 14 doubles in 82 games.
- The list also includes Marlins outfielder Yefri Perez who, like Mustelier, had his contract purchased on July 3 to serve as the Marlins’ 26th man in the game between Miami and Atlanta at the Fort Bragg military base. He did not appear in the game, and was sent back to Double-A Jacksonville afterwards. But – spoiler alert! – Perez was called back to the big leagues once again on July 15 and made his big league debut on July 17 doing exactly what he was brought there for – coming in as a pinch-runner, stealing a base and scoring a run.
This list does NOT include Orioles outfielder Sharlon Schoop, who was brought to join the team in Baltimore from Triple-A Norfolk with the possibility of his getting activated and into a game where they thought they might be short-handed, but it turned out he wasn’t needed so he was never technically “called up.” Boo. And double boo, because Schoop has been in the minors for 11 seasons. If any guy deserves a call-up, it’s him.
The 4-1-1 on the breakdown by position: Or maybe that should just be 1-1-1-1-1-1. This one’s not even close. Out of 140 debuts, 95 have been pitchers and 45 have been position players, even though most 25-man rosters have one or two more position players than pitchers. And while apparently only 10 percent of the population is left-handed, you wouldn’t know it if you looked at the breakdown of debutantes among pitchers: 27 percent of the pitchers making their big league debuts this season have been left-handers.
Oh, you want an actual numerical breakdown? No problem. 69 right-handed pitchers. 26 left-handed pitchers. (After this it gets a tiny bit dicey because position players, with the exception of catchers, often play more than one position but I tried to use their most commonly used designation here.) 18 outfielders. Seven first basemen. Six utility middle infielders. Five catchers (this surprised me because I thought there would be more). And three each of second basemen, shortstops and third basemen.
Who’s debuting who? It’s definitely been a good time to be a National League Central Division minor leaguer. The top two teams in terms of bringing up players have been the Reds (10) and Pirates (nine). Next on the list are the Braves and Athletics with seven each, followed by the Yankees, Cardinals and Rangers with six apiece. Who hasn’t really been looking to the kids to help out yet? The Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins and Milwaukee Brewers had two each. The Nationals’ only debutante through the All-Star break was mega-prospect pitcher Lucas Giolito, making them the only team with only one debut.
Is April the cruelest month? Or the kindest? You know, you’d think that looking at debut dates, April would be overwhelmingly the most well-represented on this list, since so many newcomers break camp with clubs. And indeed, the most debuts took place in April, but (from my non-mathematical perspective) not by as large a margin as I would have expected.
April accounted for 54 of the 140 debuts through the All-Star break. May had 40, June 30 and July, through the break (so half of the month) had 16.
Not surprisingly, April 4 – “Opening Day” for the majority of teams – was the most well-represented with eight players making their debuts on that date (two Cardinals players, outfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker who was the first deb and pitcher Seung Hwan Oh, both checked in on “Opening Night,” April 3) and then April 5 had seven more debuts. But, in more random fashion, May 16 popped up with five players making their debuts, while May 18 and May 24 each had four.
The most interesting (to me) stat? From April 3 through July 9, there was only one span of more than three days – May 2-5 – where no one made his major league debut.
They say it’s your birthday: Well, it’s NOT my birthday too, yeah. Sadly, no October 6 debutantes (yet). But the months of May and December were overwhelmingly the most popular for our debutantes, with 17 players being born in each of those months. Not quite as lucky a month for debs? March and June, with just six apiece.
There were 17 sets of players who shared birthdays, including one very popular birthday – July 20 – that boasts THREE debutantes who have something to celebrate – Mets infielder Ty Kelly (1988), Reds outfielder Steve Selsky (1989) and the baby of the bunch, Braves pitcher Tyrell Jenkins (1992).
But of all those 17 shared birthdays, only three pairs of players were actually born on the same day: Dodgers pitcher Kenta Maeda and Padres infielder Ryan Schimpf (April 11, 1988); Mets infielder Matt Reynolds and Twins pitcher J.T. Chargois (December 3, 1990); and Astros infielder Tony Kemp and Dodgers pitcher Brock Stewart (October 31, 1991).
But the guy that doesn’t share his birthday with anyone else, and this should come as no surprise, is Cubs southpaw Gerardo Concepcion, who was born on February 29, 1992.
What’s My Age Again? Our debutantes’ ages ran the gamut from to 19 to 33. Korean-born pitchers and veterans of their home country’s professional leagues, Dae-Ho Lee (Mariners) and Seung-Hwan Oh (Cardinals), who were born just three weeks apart (June 21, 1982, and July 15, 1982 respectively), each made their MLB debuts at age 33 (both newly-minted 34-year-olds, as well). On the other end of the spectrum, Dodgers phenom pitcher Julio Urias’ May 27 debut came three months shy of his 20th birthday, as he’ll finally emerge from his teens on August 12, the only debutante born in 1996.
Among the other 137 debs, 1992 was a vintage year, well-represented by 25 players who turned or will turn 24 this year and one more, the aforementioned Concepcion, who celebrated his sixth birthday on February 29. Right behind was 1991 with 24 representatives, 1989 with 23, and 1990 with 21. Filling out the ranks: 15 players born in 1993, nine born in 1988, six born in 1994, five born in 1987, three born in 1986, two born in 1984, and one apiece from 1983, 1985, and 1995.
The name game, Part 1 (first names): What’s in a name? Well, if your name is Tyler (or Ty or, because I feel like adding it here, Tyrell), you’re a much surer bet to be a big leaguer. Out of 140 debuts, we had NINE players with a variation on that name (one Ty, one Tyrell and seven Tylers). Coming in second, with five apiece, were variations on Matt/Matthew and Joe/Joseph/Joey and Jose.
As far as first initials, J led the way at 23 with T not far behind at 20 (thanks to three Tim/Timothys, three Tonys and a pair of Taylors). The only first initials NOT represented? F, I, O, Q, X and Y.
The name game, Part 2 (last names): No shocker that there was a lot more variation with last names, but if you’re born into the Diaz family you’ve got a better shot at a big league debut this season than most (just ask Aledmys, Dayan and Edwin). The Anderson and Reed family trees each had a pair of debuts.
The last initial most commonly represented? M and S with 17 each. B was close behind at 16, with C in fourth at 13. No Is, Qs or Zs and, of course, no Xs (to this day, there has yet to be a major leaguer whose last name begins with X … we were rooting so hard for former minor leaguer Joe Xavier back in the day).
Baby Stick Around (gotta give some love to Joe Jackson’s “Look Sharp” album): As of July 10, 2016, exactly half of the 140 players who made their big league debuts this season were on active 25-man rosters as of the All-Star break. Another nine were on the major league disabled lists, but I hesitate to count them among the tally – even though they’re technically in the majors – because sometimes you don’t know who’s really injured and will stick around once they’re healthy and who is on what’s known as the “phantom DL”. So to be safe, I’m only counting active players.
A few notes of interest: 29 out of 30 of the teams had at least one active debutante still on their 25-man roster. The only one that didn’t was the Nationals, who only had Giolito as a debut player– and he was sent down on July 8.
The Rangers and Phillies led the charge with five active debutantes apiece, while the Cardinals, Rays, Braves and Rockies each had four. The Phillies and Rockies earn extra credit in that in both cases, ALL of the players who made their big league debuts with them this season are still in the majors (in the Phillies’ case that includes a pair of Rule 5 draftees, Tyler Goeddel and Odubel Herrera).
So, to sum up: If you want your future progeny to someday be a big league ballplayer, forget about signing him up for Little League in-utero, or spending your 401K on getting him on the very bestest of the bestest travel teams. Just name him Tyler, tie his right hand behind his back until he gets the hang of this southpaw thing, and watch your chances of future major league experience go up exponentially!
