After Logan Henderson’s solid outing on Aug. 4 in the second game of a four-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy asked one thing of reporters.
“Think of the youth of the pitching staff.”
Among the more youthful pitchers on the Brewers roster are Henderson and Jacob Misiorowski, who both made their debut in the major leagues at age 23.
It’s not hard to believe that the Brewers have the youngest average pitcher age in the majors, according to Baseball Reference. What makes that statistic stand out is just how well Milwaukee has done on the back of a young starting rotation that includes Henderson, Misiorowski and 24-year-old Kyle Harrison.
The math will tell you there’s no correlation between pitching-staff age and a team’s number of wins. If you map the data points and find the correlation coefficient, it will fall within the “no correlation” range. But comparing the performances of the youngest pitching staff to the oldest tells a different story.
The next two youngest pitching staffs in MLB are the Pittsburgh Pirates, with an average age of 27.2 years old, and the Los Angeles Angels, with an average of 27.6. Neither is among the top-10 highest-performing teams this season: the Pirates are 14th and the Angels are last.
Compare that to the teams with the top-3 highest-average pitcher ages: the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays and Atlanta Braves. All three are in the top-5 highest-performing teams, with the Braves even spending time in the first-place spot.
For all the Math Nerds out there, here’s the graph.
There isn’t much correlation this season between pitching-staff age and team performance, but it does show something: the Brewers are an anomaly.
Teams with a similar average pitching age are clustered in the middle with between 50 and 60 wins, and those that are closer to the Brewers in total wins are more concentrated on the side of the graph with older pitchers.
Not to say that the Brewers don’t have any experienced pitchers. Brandon Woodruff, who pitched nine games this year before a season-ending injury, is 34 years old and has played nine seasons in the majors. Trevor Megill, the team’s closer, is 32 years old and has five seasons of pitching under his belt. There also are new additions in Dustin May and Antonio Senzatela, who are 28 and 31, respectively.
A veteran presence on the team, while raising the average pitching age slightly – the average age was 26.9 before May and Senzatela were added – can help increase the success of younger pitchers.
“That’s what happens,” Murphy said. “When you show the team that you care enough to bring in veterans that can help us, man, it’s a big boost for that room.”
There’s an assumption that experience correlates to success, which can be true. Young guys have talent, but they can sometimes wilt under the big lights. Older guys can get worn down, but they have the experience to overcome hurdles and lead the team.
Murphy disagrees with that assumption.
“That would be presumed to be the case,” he said, “but in today’s game, there are so many phenomenal pitchers coming through that the league doesn’t know. I think it’s young guys that make that early adjustment now.”
In their performance this season, Misiorowski, Henderson and Harrison have definitely let the league know who they are, while adding to the list of reasons why the Brewers are the winningest team in baseball.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Why Milwaukee Brewers pitching staff is winning despite being MLB’s youngest
Reporting by Gabriella Hartlaub, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Gabriella Hartlaub, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
