Kenny Powers: Win Values
I was watching the latest episode of Eastbound & Down, the HBO show about the fictional, ex-superstar pitcher Kenny Powers and I was trying to figure out how good a pitcher he actually was. Turns out he has his very own fake website complete with stats:
Season Team G IP W L SV SO BB ER ERA Value Wins 2001 GWT* 15 23.0 4 0 12 28 0 1 0.39 ---- 2002 ATL 62 66.1 7 3 49 106 30 21 2.85 1.75 2003 NYA 64 62.2 7 3 39 79 20 33 4.74 1.13 2004 SFG 52 54.2 3 10 30 44 27 40 6.59 -0.46 2005 BOS 15 12.2 0 6 3 6 9 12 8.57 -0.31
Over the course of his relatively short career he was conservatively 2-some wins over replacement. His home run stats weren’t available so I just set them at 25% of his earned runs. That’s probably a bit high for his peak years, so maybe give him 3 wins if you want to be generous.
He barely made it to arbitration eligibility before he left baseball, so the dollar numbers aren’t too relevant.
In any event, the self proclaimed “greatest pitcher there ever was” didn’t even make it into the top 10 relief pitchers in his best season, but I’m still rooting for a comeback.
0
“You’re f@#$%in’ out!”
I’m F—ing in!!
4 wins and 12 saves in 15 games? Now that’s efficient.
Even if they did add up, he’d be the first player to record a win or save in every game of their season with atleast 7 games.
Here are the leaders, min 15 games:
Lefty Grove 1931 88%
Al Spalding 1875 88%
Trevor Hoffman 1998 86%
Freddie Fitzsimmons 1940 85%
Fred Goldsmith 1880 85%
K-Rod 2008 84%
…
Powers’ career rate of 74% is pretty impressive too.
Min 100 career games:
Al Spalding 76%
*Kenny Powers 74%*
Trevor Hoffman 66%
Bob Caruthers 65%
Mariano Rivera 65%
Larry Corcoran 65%
Chruisty Mathewson 63%
…
More proof that minor league stats just aren’t accurate!
Well, sort of. The 2001 Gwinnett Buttons were an indy league team, and they ran all kinds of wacky promotions, as indy league teams so often do. That season, they had Mexi Supermarket & Dollar Store Double Saver Thursdays. If a reliever got a save, he was credited with two saves, and attendees got double coupon savings at the supermarket with a qualifying ticket stub. So it was possible for a reliever to have more saves than games. Baseball statistics must always be read through the lens of time and place. In 1985 in Denver Mile High Stadium, Wade Rowdon looked a lot like Tim Wallach to me, but the ok average really wasn’t ok, the good power really wasn’t that good, and I was wrong.
Kenny Powers is a role model.
Have you seen his show??????? Have you seen his interviews?? He is vulgar, degrades women and you call him a role model? I wouldn’t let my anywhere near this man just for the reasons above. Hope you are not a mother. You need to read up on this man before you make a statement like that.
You just fell into the Sarchasm.
thank you for introducing me to this show. i’m only 10 mins into the first ep and it’s hilarious.
Does GWT* = Gwinnett? In ’01?
Those stats aren’t complete.
Kenny starts the first episode in Atlanta. After, presumably, his bitch of an agent “gets [Kenny Powers] paid,” he winds up in New York (“Hebrew” York, for those who haven’t heard Kenny editorialize on the show).
After New York we see him in San Francisco. When asked about playing there, he compares the sexually diverse culture of the Bay Area unfavorably with the predominant minorities of Baltimore, as in, he had played in Baltimore and formulated an opinion there. So Baltimore is missing.
Then, we cut to Kenny (Powers) in Boston pulling a Kenny (Rogers), before we find up in Seattle where Kenny finished out his career.
Thus, we’re missing both Seattle and Baltimore.
Whatever his stats were in Seattle, they were terrible. It’s possible his Seattle stats are lumped in with the Boston ones. I’m not convinced he played in Baltimore, but it’s definitely possible.
I don’t think he played in Baltimore, but he definitely would have seen it a lot while pitching in the AL East.
Also, one has to wonder how he could tell the Braves that they were f’ing out when he wouldn’t have even been in arbitration.
Easy, because he’s Kenny Powers! #55! Woo!
Some killer stats there KP!