Position players pitching

In the 2023 season, there will be some new rules. Besides pitch clock, the MLB announced a change on when a team uses a position player to pitch. While seeing the rule change, I’m thinking about some position players who used to go on the mound last season.

In 2022, there were more than 100 pitching appearances by position players. While watching some highlights of these position players, I think about those position players who came to the mound in the 8th inning, 9th inning or extra innings. To understand a little bit more, I went to check on the statcast website.

Last year, Hanser Alberto had 159 plate appearances in the Dodgers uniform. He collected 38 hits. Additionally, Alberto went on the mound 10 times. All these 10 pitching appearances were in the 8th and 9th inning. He threw 152 pitches in 2022 and gave up 10 hits in 11 innings. Moreover, he threw a strikeout last year. That’s the only strikeout he threw so far in his career. In addition, Kody Clemens made 7 relief appearances in 2022. All these 7 relief appearances were in the 8th and 9th inning and he threw 88 pitches. He gave up 12 hits in 7 innings. Furthermore, he struck out 1 batter. Well, that batter is Shohei Ohtani. As a batter, Kody Clemens collected 17 hits last season. Kody Clemens’ father, Roger Clemens, made 2 relief appearances in 24 seasons in the MLB. Kody Clemens actually made more relief appearances than his father did. Furthermore, Nick Gordon played 138 games last year, hitting .272/.316/.427 with 9 home runs and 50 RBI. Additionally, he went on the mound 4 times for the Twins. He gave up 10 hits in 3.2 innings, 2 of those 10 hits were home runs. In total, he threw 85 pitches in the 8th and 9th inning. Finally, Luis Gonzalez made 5 relief appearances for the Giants last season. In the 8th and 9th inning, he threw 78 pitches. Moreover, he threw 8 pitches in the 7th inning. Meanwhile, Josh VanMeter made 3 relief appearances last season and tossed 3 innings. He threw 74 pitches in the 9th inning. But, very unfortunately, he gave up 15 hits and 5 of those 15 hits were home runs. His ERA was 39 in 2022. At the same time, 3 other pitchers each threw 60+ pitches in the 8th and 9th inning. Furthermore, Luis Torrens was the only player who tossed in the extra inning in 2022. On October 4th, 2022, in the first game of the doubleheader, he took the mound in the top of the 10th inning. He gave up a hit and allowed a run (unearned). The Mariners scored twice in the bottom of the 10th inning and Torrens actually earned a win. That’s the first win of his career. In 2022, there were more than 100 position players pitching appearances. With the new rule, we might not see so many position players take the mound in the 2023 season. Hanser Alberto threw 152 pitches last season. In the 2023 season, we probably won’t see a position player throw more than 100 pitches in a single season.