Andrew Cashner, Jacob deGrom Among Pitchers Suffering From Poor Run Support

Run support is a stat that directly effects a pitcher’s win-loss record. Because of this, a lot of baseball people have disregarded wins and losses, chalking them up to a team stat rather than an actual player stat. A perfect example of this came in 2010 when Felix Hernandez led the American League in ERA (2.27) but had a pedestrian 13-12 win-loss record. Obviously dominant, Hernandez still won the AL Cy Young Award despite a lack of support from the 61-win Mariners. Still, though, old-school baseball folks put a lot of stock in 20-win seasons and 300-win careers. Is it fair? Probably not.

Every year, good pitchers suffer from a lack of run support and have crummy win-loss records. And then on the other hand, some pitchers are awful but get a lot of run support and have good records because of it. Here are some of the worst cases of pitchers getting a raw deal in the run support department.

Jose Urena

Last year, Urena had the 13th-best run support average (5.8). He wound up with a career-best 14-7 record while maintaining a 3.82 ERA. While his ERA this year isn’t quite as good (4.63), it’s also not awful. His record, however, 2-10, looks awful. That’s because he has the worst run support average in the MLB (2.7).

2018 Stats: 4.63 ERA, 2-10 W-L, 2.7 RS (No.80)

Michael Fulmer

Different pitcher, same trend. Last season, Fulmer was an All-Star and wound up with 10 wins. He ranked 18th in run support and had an ERA of 3.83. This year, he’s getting the 79th-best run support and his record reflects it.

2018 Stats: 4.50 ERA, 3-9 W-L, 2.8 RS (No.79)

Andrew Cashner

Like Urena, Andrew Cashner’s stats from last season look much better because he was getting run support. In 2017 with the Rangers, Cashner went 11-11 with a 3.40 ERA while ranking 22nd in run support (5.4). This year, however, he’s with the Orioles (and that’s not good for anyone). He has the third-lowest run support average and his record (2-9) has suffered even though his ERA (4.40) is respectable.

2018 Stats: 4.40 ERA, 2-9 W-L, 2.9 RS (No.78)

James Shields

Once an elite pitcher in baseball, Shields is having a bounce-back year in 2018. In fact, his ERA (4.26) is the lowest he’s had since 2015. With that said, his record is atrocious (4-11) because the White Sox, simply, cannot hit.

2018 Stats: 4.26 ERA, 4-11 W-L, 3.7 RS (No.65)

Jacob deGrom

Jacob deGrom has the best ERA in the entire National League (1.71) but isn’t getting any run support (3.9). In turn, he has just five wins on the season. By comparison, last year’s NL ERA leader — Clayton Kershaw — finished with 18 wins in 2017.

2018 Stats: 1.71 ERA, 5-5 W-L, 3.9 RS (No.62)

OPPOSITE END OF THE SPECTRUM

Yovani Gallardo

Although he’s only pitched in nine games this year, Gallardo is getting tons of run support. With that said, his ERA is over 7.00 but his record (4-1) looks excellent. He doesn’t qualify for league leaders but his run support average (8.4) would be the best in the league, by far, had he qualified.

2018 Stats: 7.18 ERA, 4-1 W-L, 8.4 RS 

For complete run support rankings, click here.