Anthony Swarzak is scheduled to start for the Twins tonight. Haven't heard of him? That could be because he's never pitched in the majors before. Since joining the National League in 1998, the Brewers have faced eighteen starting pitchers making their major league debut. It's been done before, it never hurts to look again at a rundown of how they did:
| Player | Date | Tm | Opp | W/L | Score | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | GmSc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brian Meadows | 4/4/1998 | FLA | MIL | L | 2-6 | 3.2 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 18 |
| Dan Reichert | 7/16/1999 | KCR | @MIL | W | 12-10 | 1.2 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 14 |
| Buddy Carlyle | 8/29/1999 | SDP | MIL | W | 5-4 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 66 |
| Brian O'Connor | 5/13/2000 | PIT | MIL | W | 11-8 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 16 |
| Adam Eaton | 5/30/2000 | SDP | MIL | W | 6-3 | 5.1 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 48 |
| Jose Acevedo | 6/19/2001 | CIN | MIL | L | 8-10 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 32 |
| Carlos Zambrano | 8/20/2001 | CHC | MIL | L | 2-10 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 25 |
| Juan Cruz | 8/21/2001 | CHC | MIL | L | 1-3 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 65 |
| Josh Pearce | 4/20/2002 | STL | @MIL | L | 3-5 | 4.2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 37 |
| Nate Teut | 5/4/2002 | FLA | @MIL | L | 4-6 | 4.1 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 29 |
| Kirk Saarloos | 6/18/2002 | HOU | @MIL | L | 1-7 | 4.2 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 29 |
| Chin-hui Tsao | 7/25/2003 | COL | MIL | W | 7-3 | 6.1 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 49 |
| Zach Duke | 7/2/2005 | PIT | @MIL | L | 3-5 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 63 |
| Anthony Reyes | 8/9/2005 | STL | @MIL | W | 5-2 | 6.1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 65 |
| Paul Maholm | 8/30/2005 | PIT | @MIL | W | 6-0 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 76 |
| Boof Bonser | 5/21/2006 | MIN | @MIL | L | 3-5 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 63 |
| Rick VandenHurk | 4/10/2007 | FLA | MIL | L | 2-3 | 4.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 52 |
| Jonathon Niese | 9/2/2008 | NYM | @MIL | W | 6-5 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 23 |
| All Players | 1998-2008 | MLB | MIL | 8-10 | 87-95 | 88.2 | 96 | 70 | 67 | 42 | 74 | 13 | 43 |
The won-loss marks and scores are from the perspective of the pitcher's team, so the Brewers have actually gone 10-8 in games started by opposing pitchers making their major league debut. "GmSc" stands for game score, a fun little number that tries to rate the effectiveness of a pitcher's start without getting too complex. The pitcher list contains some eminently forgettable names and some guys who still give the Brewers fits, but taken together, they didn't do well in their first starts:
Here are the rate stats for their 88 2/3 combined innings: 9.74 H/9, 7.11 RA, 6.80 ERA, 4.26 BB/9, 7.51 K/9, 1.32 HR/9
For quick and dirty comparisons' sake, the Brewers have turned starters making their major league debuts into Chan Ho Park with a few more homers. Hopefully they make Swarzak's stats look like Park's 2009 numbers.