Cubs closer Carlos Marmol piling up strikeouts at historic rate
Jul 7, 2010, 12:45 PM EDT
Carlos Marmol picked up his 16th save of the season last night by striking out five of the seven batters he faced, giving him an amazing 77 strikeouts in 40.2 innings on the year. To put that in some context, consider that Nick Blackburn, John Lannan, and Brad Bergesen have combined for 78 strikeouts this season … in 234 innings.
Not only is 77 strikeouts in 40.2 innings by far the best rate of Marmol’s career–which is saying something given that he’s had double-digit strikeouts per nine innings in each of the past three years–it would be the highest strikeout rate in baseball history among pitchers with at least 50 innings in a season.
Here’s how Marmol would fit into the current leaderboard:
YEAR SO/9 CARLOS MARMOL 2010 17.04 Eric Gagne 2003 14.98 Billy Wagner 1999 14.95 Brad Lidge 2004 14.93 Armando Benitez 1999 14.77 Billy Wagner 1998 14.55 Billy Wagner 1997 14.38
No pitcher in baseball history has ever managed to crack 15 strikeouts per nine innings, yet Marmol is currently at 17.04. Amazing.
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- JimmyY - Jul 7, 2010 at 1:07 PM
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Trade him now for whatever you can get, his value is as high as it will get. Cubs are going nowhere so you might as well.
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- The Beer Baron - Jul 7, 2010 at 2:09 PM
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So where is the uproar about Marmol not making the All Star team like there is for Strasburg?
