Dodger debuts are always special

Phil Gurnee ♦ June 1, 2018 ♦ 1 Comment

Position player debuts are exciting but there is something different when it is a starting pitcher. Especially a starting pitcher who is considered a bonafide prospect and not someone just filling in like let’s say, Stephen Fife.

Yeah, this is going to be a long list.

Not as long as I thought it was going to be. The criteria were very simple. Making their first appearance must be a start, for the Los Angeles Dodgers. So if the first appearance was a relief appearance like Walker Buehler last summer his first start will not show up on this list.

I’m going to sort it by game score.

Yeah, Pedro Astacio was on top. I thought Ross Stripling would be near the top and he clocks in at number 5. Doug Rau who seems to be quite undervalued as a Dodger pitcher had the 3rd best debut ever.

Does anyone even remember that Jose De Leon struck out more in his first start than any other LAD when he fanned nine on Sept 4th, 2016? Well, it turns out I can’t even read my own list. Ishii and Astacio both fanned ten, but still that Jose De Leon debut was awesome.

The worst first start ever belongs to Zach Lee. That is not a surprise. What is a surprise is that Julio Urias had the 4th worst start. The last time I got together with the TBLA gang was to watch his debut at a bar in Hollywood.

I think the most famous first start debut was Edwin Jackson defeating Randy Johnson on his  20th birthday.

The starts that I can remember:

Pedro Astacio, Doug Rau, Eric Gagne, Ross Stripling, Kazuhisa Ishii, Kuroda….oh hell, who am I kidding, I saw them all except for Sutton and Singer, and these guys who I never heard of – Nick Willhite, Larry Miller, John Duffie, Jim Golden, Ralph Mauriello, and Bob Giallombardo.

So many of these were gone so fast like Matt Magill, Stephen Fife, Jim Neidlinger, Derek Thompson, Red Patterson, and Terry Wells

Where will Dennis Santana fit on this list? In about eight hours we will know.

Player                      Date  Tm Opp   Rslt  IP  H ER BB SO GSc
Pedro Astacio      1992-07-03(2) LAD PHI  W 2-0 9.0  3  0  4 10  87
Nick Willhite      1963-06-16(2) LAD CHC  W 2-0 9.0  5  0  1  6  82
Doug Rau              1972-09-02 LAD STL  W 5-1 9.0  3  1  2  2  77
Eric Gagne            1999-09-07 LAD FLA  L 1-2 6.0  2  0  1  8  75
Ross Stripling        2016-04-08 LAD SFG  L 2-3 7.1  0  1  4  4  74
Kazuhisa Ishii        2002-04-06 LAD COL  W 9-2 5.2  2  0  3 10  72
Hiroki Kuroda         2008-04-04 LAD SDP  W 7-1 7.0  3  1  0  4  71
Hideo Nomo            1995-05-02 LAD SFG  L 3-4 5.0  1  0  4  7  68
Ramon Martinez        1988-08-13 LAD SFG  W 2-1 7.2  4  1  4  5  68
Kenta Maeda           2016-04-06 LAD SDP  W 7-0 6.0  5  0  0  4  66
Shawn Hillegas        1987-08-09 LAD ATL  W 5-2 8.2  7  2  3  6  65
Rick Sutcliffe        1976-09-29 LAD HOU  W 1-0 5.0  2  0  1  3  65
Edwin Jackson         2003-09-09 LAD ARI  W 4-1 6.0  4  1  0  4  64
Matt Magill           2013-04-27 LAD MIL  L 4-6 6.2  4  2  2  7  63
Doyle Alexander    1971-06-26(2) LAD SDP  W 4-3 8.0  7  2  0  3  63
Clayton Kershaw       2008-05-25 LAD STL  W 4-3 6.0  5  2  1  7  60
Don Sutton            1966-04-14 LAD HOU  L 2-4 7.0  7  2  1  7  59
Stephen Fife          2012-07-17 LAD PHI  L 2-3 6.0  4  1  3  1  58
Jose De Leon          2016-09-04 LAD SDP  W 7-4 6.0  5  3  0  9  57
Bill Singer           1964-09-24 LAD CHC  L 3-4 6.1  4  1  5  1  57
Nathan Eovaldi        2011-08-06 LAD ARI  W 5-3 5.0  4  2  2  7  56
Jim Neidlinger        1990-08-01 LAD SFG  L 1-2 6.0  7  1  1  3  56
Larry Miller       1964-06-21(2) LAD CIN  L 1-2 6.1  5  2  5  5  55
Derek Thompson        2005-05-28 LAD ARI  L 4-5 5.0  2  2  4  4  55
Dennys Reyes          1997-07-13 LAD SFG  W 9-3 6.0  4  3  4  6  54
Red Patterson      2014-05-01(2) LAD MIN  W 4-3 4.2  2  1  3  1  54
John Duffie           1967-09-18 LAD NYM  L 2-7 5.0  3  1  3  4  52
Sandy Vance           1970-04-26 LAD NYM  L 1-3 6.0  4  3  1  0  51
Hyun-Jin Ryu          2013-04-02 LAD SFG  L 0-3 6.1 10  1  0  5  50
Chad Billingsley      2006-06-15 LAD SDP  W 7-3 5.1  6  2  2  3  49
Jim Golden            1960-09-30 LAD CHC  W 7-5 7.0  6  5  4  4  45
Terry Wells           1990-07-03 LAD CHC  W 7-6 6.0  8  4  1  6  41
John Ely              2010-04-28 LAD NYM  L 3-7 6.0  6  5  3  4  41
Mike Kekich           1965-06-09 LAD PHI  L 3-7 3.1  2  4  5  5  40
William Brennan       1988-07-19 LAD STL  L 2-3 4.2  6  3  3  2  39
Brock Stewart         2016-06-29 LAD MIL  L 0-7 5.0  8  5  2  7  36
Julio Urias           2016-05-27 LAD NYM  L 5-6 2.2  5  3  4  3  35
Ralph Mauriello       1958-09-13 LAD PIT  L 4-9 0.1  3  3  1  1  33
Bob Giallombardo      1958-06-21 LAD PIT L 7-11 4.0  7  5  3  2  27
Zach Lee              2015-07-25 LAD NYM L 2-15 4.2 11  7  1  3  16

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/1/2018.