Middle relievers are no more
Back in the 1980s there was a guy I worked with who like me, loved baseball. He had a very young son and joked that he was putting a ball between the kid’s fingers at night when he slept, so they would widen and make it easier for him to throw a split fingered fastball a la Mike Scott of the Astros. Former MLB pitcher, pitching coach and manager Roger Craig taught Scott that pitch and was an aficionado of the split fingered fastball. HOFer Bruce Sutter also used that pitch to fashion his Hall-of-Fame career.
My colleague’s thought was that the best job in the world was being a major-league middle-relief pitcher. Pretty much zero pressure, as you pitch infrequently and in mostly non-crucial situations. Most of the time you have a good seat to watch an MLB game. You get to fly around, eat good food make some money, albeit not anything like a star would get, and if you’re lucky hang around long enough to get a pension.
Today there are relief pitchers that neither start a game nor almost never finish a game, but they are not the middle relievers of old
I went on a search for reliever unicorns. Pitchers since divisional play began in 1969 who’d pitched in at least 100 games, and who started a game nor finished a game. I found exactly none. The closest anyone came was Scott Rice who pitched for the Mets in 2013 and 2014, somehow appearing in 105 games over his two season career. I vaguely remember him pitching for my favorite team. Rice finished nine games, but none were recorded as a save. Granted the Mets finished under .500 in both of those seasons under Terry Collins and save opportunities were limited.
How about a pitcher who never started or finished an MLB game?
Now that would be a true middle reliever, right? But sadly, I had no luck finding even one. I went one level down. Pitchers that pitched in at least 100 games never started a game and never recorded a save.
Eureka! Since 1969 through the 2023 season there have been 54 pitchers that never started a game nor recorded a save. 54 players in 54 years! If you are interested here’s the full list from Stathead. Don’t be surprised that there are many forgettable pitchers on this list.
Pitchers who pitched in 200 or more MLB games but never started a game nor recorded a save. There are 11 in all.
Ryan Webb — the workhorse of this list pitched in 375 games over eight seasons for the Padres, Marlins, Orioles, Indians (Guardians), and Rays from 2009–2016. He finished 105 of those games but somehow never recorded a save nor did any of the others below.
Jose Mijares — pitched in 324 games over eight seasons for the Royals, Twins, and Giants from 2008–2013. He finished 63 games in his career most of them for Minnesota.
Tim Collins — pitched in 275 games over six seasons for the Cubs, Royals, and Nationals from 2011–2019. He finished 52 games in his career.
Sam Freeman — pitched in 271 games over nine seasons for the Cardinals, Rangers, Brewers, Braves, Angels, and Nats from 2012–2020. He finished 42 games in his career.
Al Alburquerque — one of my favorite baseball names ever. He pitched in 264 games over seven seasons for the Tigers, Angels, Royals, and White Sox from 2011–2017. He finished 58 games in his career.
Hoby Milner — pitched in 233 games for the Angels, Brewers, Phillies and Rays from 2017–2023 and is the only active player on this list. He has since moved off this list finally recording his first MLB save this season in 2024! He’s finished 58 games in his career.
Jack Taschner — pitched in 222 games over six seasons for the Giants, Phillies, Pirates, and Dodgers from 2005–2010. He finished 47 games in his career.
Fernando Rodriguez, Jr. — pitched in 216 games over six seasons for the Angels, Astros, and Athletics. He finished 39 games in his career.
Doug Slaten — pitched in also pitched in 216 games over seven seasons for the D’Backs, Nationals, and Pirates from 2006–2012. He finished 55 games in his career.
Evan Marshall — pitched in 206 games over eight seasons for the D’backs, Mariners, Indians (Guardians), and White Sox from 2014–2021. He finished 32 games in his career.
Ryan Mattheus — pitched in 203 games over five seasons for the Nationals, Angels, and Reds from 2011–2015. He finished 54 games in his career.
What was remarkable to me was that all 12 pitchers who pitched in at least 200 games or more with no starts or saves, started their MLB career in 2005 or later. I thought there’d be many guys from the 1970s-1990s. Nope. The past 20+ years have seen a sea-change in how MLB teams utilized pitchers.
My recollection of middle relievers was that they were pitchers who only pitched in non-critical situations. Mop-up duty in blowouts whether their team was way behind or way ahead, which negates any save opportunity, unless, somehow, they pitched three innings in a blowout win to record a meaningless save. That circumstance no doubt includes many pitchers who pitched more than 200 games, never starting and having only one save! At the top of that list is Eric O’Flaherty, who pitched in MLB for 12 years appearing in 496 games, never having started a game, but he recorded one lone save for Oakland in 2014. My guess is he has saved the baseball from that game and has it up on his mantle.
If middle relievers can’t hack it, they get DFA’d today
Formerly middle relievers were clearly pitchers who were not good enough to start or relieve and were there to shoulder innings when the manager did not want to overburden the starters or good relievers. All that has changed as middle inning relievers now are much more displaceable and dispensable. There’s no need to carry a once effective late-inning reliever who is still being paid a higher salary when the pitcher is not performing. Bye-bye! A younger and less-expensive pitcher is preferred and if he falters, MLB teams will cycle through a bunch of pitchers until they find one that can succeed. Once that pitcher succeeds in the middle innings, the dream for him then is to become a late-inning reliever. For as long as that lasts!
Old school middle relievers are no more!
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About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and Substack.com.
