The pitching matchup for tonight's game is Jon Niese vs. Manny Parra. A young lefthander, Niese spent most of the season playing for AA Binghamton of the Eastern League before being promoted for a span of seven starts to AAA New Orleans. After putting up results at both stops, he got tapped to make his major league debut tonight in Milwaukee. When he takes the mound in the bottom of the first (because he won't be batting in the top of the inning, right?), he'll be the forty-ninth pitcher to make his debut starting against the Brewers franchise. I thought it'd be interesting to look at who the other forty-eight were and how they did.
Cnt | Player | Date | Tm | Opp | WL | Score | Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | HR | GmSc |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bart Johnson | 9/8/1969 | CHW | @SEP | L | 1-2 | L | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 57 |
2 | Jerry Janeski | 4/10/1970 | CHW | MIL | W | 5-4 | W | 7.1 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 51 |
3 | Steve Dunning | 6/14/1970 | CLE | MIL | W | 9-2 | W | 5.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 50 |
4 | Steve Luebber | 6/27/1971 | MIN | MIL | L | 5-8 | 5.0 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 34 | |
5 | Lynn McGlothen | 6/25/1972 | BOS | @MIL | L | 0-2 | L | 7.1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 64 |
6 | Fred Holdsworth | 7/27/1972 | DET | @MIL | W | 8-5 | 5.0 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 35 | |
7 | Don Aase | 7/26/1977 | BOS | MIL | W | 4-3 | W | 9.0 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 68 |
8 | Rich Gale | 4/30/1978 | KCR | MIL | W | 3-0 | W | 7.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 68 |
9 | Rich Wortham | 5/3/1978 | CHW | @MIL | L | 0-4 | L | 6.2 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 47 |
10 | Dan Petry | 7/8/1979 | DET | @MIL | L | 1-3 | L | 7.1 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 47 |
11 | Rich Barnes | 7/18/1982 | CHW | @MIL | L | 3-9 | L | 1.2 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
12 | Stefan Wever | 9/17/1982 | NYY | @MIL | L | 0-14 | L | 2.2 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
13 | Allan Ramirez | 6/8/1983 | BAL | MIL | W | 7-3 | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 56 | |
14 | Mark Langston | 4/7/1984 | SEA | MIL | W | 3-2 | W | 7.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 63 |
15 | Joel Davis | 8/11/1985 | CHW | MIL | W | 4-1 | W | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 67 |
16 | Jeff Sellers | 9/15/1985 | BOS | @MIL | W | 4-2 | W | 6.1 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 49 |
17 | Bob Tewksbury | 4/11/1986 | NYY | MIL | W | 3-2 | W | 7.1 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 53 |
18 | Al Leiter | 9/15/1987 | NYY | MIL | W | 4-3 | W | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 64 |
19 | Dave Eiland | 8/3/1988 | NYY | @MIL | L | 5-6 | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 68 | |
20 | Alex Fernandez | 8/2/1990 | CHW | @MIL | W | 4-3 | 7.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 61 | |
21 | Scott Aldred | 9/9/1990 | DET | @MIL | W | 5-0 | W | 5.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 56 |
22 | Denis Boucher | 4/12/1991 | TOR | MIL | W | 5-4 | 5.1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 44 | |
23 | Wade Taylor | 6/2/1991 | NYY | MIL | W | 7-4 | W | 5.1 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 41 |
24 | Denny Neagle | 7/27/1991 | MIN | MIL | W | 7-4 | 3.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 47 | |
25 | Bob Wickman | 8/24/1992 | NYY | MIL | W | 9-8 | 6.0 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 46 | |
26 | Steve Karsay | 8/17/1993 | OAK | MIL | W | 6-3 | W | 6.1 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 55 |
27 | Mark Holzemer | 8/21/1993 | CAL | MIL | W | 7-6 | 6.0 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 33 | |
28 | Gar Finnvold | 5/10/1994 | BOS | MIL | L | 5-9 | 5.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 53 | |
29 | Tim Van Egmond | 6/26/1994 | BOS | @MIL | L | 4-5 | L | 7.2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 52 |
30 | Steve Wojciechowski | 7/18/1995 | OAK | @MIL | L | 0-4 | L | 5.0 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 38 |
31 | Brian Moehler | 9/22/1996 | DET | @MIL | W | 7-5 | 5.1 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 43 | |
32 | Brian Meadows | 4/4/1998 | FLA | MIL | L | 2-6 | L | 3.2 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 18 |
33 | Dan Reichert | 7/16/1999 | KCR | @MIL | W | 12-10 | 1.2 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 14 | |
34 | Buddy Carlyle | 8/29/1999 | SDP | MIL | W | 5-4 | 7.0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 66 | |
35 | Brian O'Connor | 5/13/2000 | PIT | MIL | W | 11-8 | 2.0 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 16 | |
36 | Adam Eaton | 5/30/2000 | SDP | MIL | W | 6-3 | W | 5.1 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 48 |
37 | Jose Acevedo | 6/19/2001 | CIN | MIL | L | 8-10 | L | 4.0 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 32 |
38 | Carlos Zambrano | 8/20/2001 | CHC | MIL | L | 2-10 | L | 4.0 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 25 |
39 | Juan Cruz | 8/21/2001 | CHC | MIL | L | 1-3 | L | 6.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 65 |
40 | Josh Pearce | 4/20/2002 | STL | @MIL | L | 3-5 | 4.2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 37 | |
41 | Nate Teut | 5/4/2002 | FLA | @MIL | L | 4-6 | L | 4.1 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 29 |
42 | Kirk Saarloos | 6/18/2002 | HOU | @MIL | L | 1-7 | L | 4.2 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 29 |
43 | Chin-hui Tsao | 7/25/2003 | COL | MIL | W | 7-3 | W | 6.1 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 49 |
44 | Zach Duke | 7/2/2005 | PIT | @MIL | L | 3-5 | 7.0 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 63 | |
45 | Anthony Reyes | 8/9/2005 | STL | @MIL | W | 5-2 | W | 6.1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 65 |
46 | Paul Maholm | 8/30/2005 | PIT | @MIL | W | 6-0 | W | 8.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 76 |
47 | Boof Bonser | 5/21/2006 | MIN | @MIL | L | 3-5 | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 63 | |
48 | Rick VandenHurk | 4/10/2007 | FLA | MIL | L | 2-3 | 4.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 52 | |
Total | All | -- | MLB | MIL | 27-21 | 206-220 | 16-14 | 270.1 | 276 | 158 | 144 | 112 | 185 | 23 | 48 |
The W's, L's, and scores are from the pitcher's point of view. So an L means the Brewers actually won the game and a W means they lost. Thus, in their 48 matchups against guys making their debut, the Brewers franchise has gone 21-27, including 14-16 when the rookie starter has picked up a decision. However, the Crew has actually outscored their opponents by 14 runs in these games, and they've won 9 of their last 12 such games going back to 2001. That said, the Brewers haven't hung a loss on an opposing debutant in six games, going back to 2002.
To look at totals for more recent results, let's turn to the past decade. In the 17 such games since the Brewers switched to the NL, here's what starters making their debut on the mound have done against the Crew:
85.2 IP, 89 H, 65 R, 62 ER, 38 BB, 72 K, 12 HR, 1.48 WHIP, 6.51 ERA, 44 average game score
For people who want to be bummed and/or say the team is punchless against guys like Niese, here are the last six starts:
38.1 IP, 29 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 12 BB, 37 K, 4 HR, 1.07 WHIP, 2.35 ERA, 61 average game score
Hopefully Jon Niese is a little more like Nate Teut than he is Paul Maholm in his debut.