The Braves' Jair Jurrjens Is On Quite The Streak

by Jacob Peterson on May 30, 2011 2:00 PM EDT

With another excellent effort last night, Jair Jurrjens continued his excellent start to the 2011 season. In his 9 starts, he has yet to give up more than 2 earned runs in a start. Equally impressive is that he has yet to walk more than 2 batters in any start.

Jurrjens' walk rate for the season now stands at 1.5 BB/9 (or 4.5% BB%). That's half of his previous career levels of 3.2 BB/9 and 8.5 BB%. It is undoubtedly the key to his renewed success, as his strikeout rate has actually gone down this year (5.2 K/9 compared to 6.4 K/9 career before this year).

How impressive is Jurrjens' streak? Well, he's only the third starting pitcher since 1919 to start a season with 9 games of 2 or fewer ER and 2 or fewer BB. Here's the list:

Juan Marichal, 10 in 1966
Bill Hands, 9 in 1968
Jair Jurrjens, 9 in 2011

No one else has even had an 8-game streak to start a season. Not even Greg Maddux (whose longest streak to start a season was actually only 5 games).

Of course, the "to start a season" modifier is kind of cheap, because really, why does it matter when the streak starts? Jurrjens also fares extremely well when you consider all streaks, not just those to start a season. His 9-game streak ranks in a many-way tie for 17th all time. Here are the only 16 players to top him:

Rk	Player	Strk Start	End	Games	W	L	IP	ERA	Tm
1	Mort Cooper	1942-08-14	1943-05-09	14	11	1	127.1	0.92	STL

2	Greg Maddux	1995-05-23	1995-07-29	13	9	0	105.2	1.19	ATL

3	Kevin Brown	1996-04-26	1996-07-06	12	6	4	83.1	1.40	FLA
	Jim Merritt	1967-06-25	1967-08-18	12	5	3	101.1	1.60	MIN

5	Greg Maddux	2002-06-15	2002-08-07	11	5	1	64.0	1.27	ATL
	Butch Henry	1995-07-15	1997-09-19	11	6	2	71.0	1.14	MON-BOS
	Greg Maddux	1994-07-02	1995-05-07	11	8	2	83.2	1.08	ATL
	Tom Seaver	1973-07-09	1973-08-25	11	6	3	95.0	1.23	NYM
	Juan Marichal	1965-09-30	1966-05-26	11	9	0	99.0	0.73	SFG
	Dutch Leonard	1945-04-22	1945-06-27	11	6	3	79.0	1.25	WSH
	Jesse Barnes	1920-07-17	1920-09-06	11	8	2	87.1	1.03	NYG

12	Dan Haren	2009-05-28	2009-07-18	10	7	1	75.0	1.44	ARI
	Greg Maddux	1997-04-06	1997-05-27	10	6	0	68.2	1.18	ATL
	Bryn Smith	1988-06-22	1988-08-12	10	4	1	66.0	1.50	MON
	Steve Hargan	1974-08-17	1975-05-08	10	5	3	71.1	2.14	TEX
	Ray Prim	1945-08-08	1945-09-20	10	6	4	77.2	1.39	CHC

17	Jair Jurrjens	2011-04-16	2011-05-29	9	7	1	65.2	1.51	ATL
	17 others			9

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/30/2011.

Boy, that Greg Maddux guy was pretty good, wasn't he?

Among those tied with Jurrjens with a 9-game streak are Chris Carpenter (2008-9), Zack Greinke (2009), Kevin Millwood (1999), and the Hall of Famers Don Drysdale (1968) and Pete "Grover Cleveland" Alexander (1919).

Not bad company for a 25-year-old.

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Comments

…and jinxed.

by joshmaurer on May 30, 2011 3:16 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

It has been very impressive...

..but I do have to note that it is Grover Cleveland “Pete” Alexander, not the other way around. He was named after Grover Cleveland, who was the 22nd President of the US when Alexander was born; he was born during Cleveland’s first term.

by cavebird on May 30, 2011 4:48 PM EDT reply actions

7.1 innings per start

Is pretty nice too.

Our crappy lucky team *WAS* better than your good unlucky team.

by Richard R on May 30, 2011 5:06 PM EDT reply actions

Interesting that of the 16 ahead of him, only three are HoFers. (Marichal, Seaver and we might as well count Maddux – I’d say it’s a reasonable assumption that he’ll get in one of these days). Even if you count Maddux four times, it’s still only six out of 17. And there are a lot of great HoFers who are not on this list…

The amazing thing about Jurrjens is that he seems to do it with magic. Not many Ks, often only throws two pitches, and isn’t really overpowering. Kinda like that guy Maddux…

by blwfish on May 30, 2011 6:36 PM EDT reply actions

Well...

It’s either 6 out of 17, or 4 out of 14. If you count Maddux multiple times, you have to do it on both sides of the ratio :)

Most people use statistics the way a drunk would use a lamppost—for support, and not for illumination.
www.duwanis.com

by duwanis on May 31, 2011 8:28 AM EDT up reply actions

Gotta feel kinda bad for Kevin Brown

12 games 3 runs or fewer, and he goes 6-4.

My buddy and I just decided that the braves would be set if we could get Matt Kemp, Jose Reyes, and Albert Pujols.

by willlinn on May 17, 2011 2:13 PM EDT

by Bronn on May 30, 2011 7:23 PM EDT reply actions

I feel less bad, because he was a poster boy for steroids.

-C

It’s rough to sit through these games and not have someone that can’t hit a Ball?

by cthabeerman on May 31, 2011 12:06 PM EDT up reply actions

Jair is elite

There i said it again. What!?

by romone_braves91 on May 30, 2011 9:39 PM EDT reply actions

Can we stop

with the threads like this pointing out how amazing someone has been. Everytime it seems to jynx the player and start a down trend in their performance.

by drumzalicious on May 31, 2011 1:17 AM EDT reply actions

kindagree

by dank7 on May 31, 2011 2:16 AM EDT up reply actions

Then we'd never get to praise our players.

We might as well not do any game-recaps after we win, isn’t that jinxing our team as well?

Jason Heyward homeruns make babies stop crying.. Jason Heyward homeruns also make babies, period.

by TheMelkHasSpoiled on May 31, 2011 8:05 AM EDT up reply actions

Oh, don't worry about it...

The Philly fans still think he sucks, so it sort of evens everything out.

"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti

by sddbaker on May 31, 2011 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions