Surprisingly low WAR

[packs]

Hard to understand Rick Reuschel's place in the WAR pantheon too. He finished with 69.5, good for the 106th best WAR of all time. Baseball-Reference ranks him as the 32nd best starting pitcher of all time.

Does anyone really believe that?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by packs

Hard to understand Rick Reuschel's place in the WAR pantheon too. He finished with 69.5, good for the 106th best WAR of all time. Baseball-Reference ranks him as the 32nd best starting pitcher of all time.

Does anyone really believe that?

Here's what makes no sense to me. On the four individual metrics that BR uses, he is pretty terrible, but when it comes to JAWS he vaults up to 32nd. What is the explanation here?

Hall of Fame Statistics
Black Ink
Pitching - 7 (440th), Average HOFer ≈ 40
Gray Ink
Pitching - 111 (232nd), Average HOFer ≈ 185
Hall of Fame Monitor
Pitching - 49 (290th), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame Standards
Pitching - 31 (156th), Average HOFer ≈ 50
JAWS
Starting Pitcher (32nd)

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Here's what makes no sense to me. On the four individual metrics that BR uses, he is pretty terrible, but when it comes to JAWS he vaults up to 32nd. What is the explanation here?

Hall of Fame Statistics
Black Ink
Pitching - 7 (440th), Average HOFer ≈ 40
Gray Ink
Pitching - 111 (232nd), Average HOFer ≈ 185
Hall of Fame Monitor
Pitching - 49 (290th), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame Standards
Pitching - 31 (156th), Average HOFer ≈ 50
JAWS
Starting Pitcher (32nd)

JAWS is the Average of career WAR and 7 year peak WAR for a player. The others have to do with things like leading the league in statistical categories or reaching different statistical milestones so Reuschel is definitely seen better by WAR than he is from his basic stats.

[Mike D.]

I think the guys like Reuschel are really interesting...WAR is just one measure, but it's generally a pretty good indicator of a player's overall impact, adjusted for era, park, etc. The players who don't make sense, either because their total seems too high or too low, are interesting to look at to understand why.

With Reuschel, I think it's a combination of throwing a lot of innings and being pretty good at limiting both walks and home runs that makes WAR "like" him more than you may think.

Also, WAR is a counting stat...BBR has him worth 18.3 WAR AFTER his age 35 season....hanging around a long time help.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by jayshum

JAWS is the Average of career WAR and 7 year peak WAR for a player. The others have to do with things like leading the league in statistical categories or reaching different statistical milestones so Reuschel is definitely seen better by WAR than he is from his basic stats.

I would bet we can't find another example with THAT huge a disparity.

[cgjackson222]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I would bet we can't find another example with THAT huge a disparity.

Buddy Bell (shown below) was a defense-first player, so he had almost no black ink, but a good JAWS.
Ozzie Smith and Bill Dahlen are two other examples.