Playoff Rookies Vs. Veterans

By the title of this post, I am not talking about MTV’s Real World/Road Rules challenge. I am talking about rookie postseason pitchers versus pitchers who have started a playoff game prior to this season.

Now that the first round of the postseason is over, I thought it would be interesting to see how the rookies did against the veterans.

There were 27 starters in the first round of the playoffs, 14 rookies and 13 veterans. As you can see, the stats are pretty comparable.

Of course Roy Halladay and Tim Lincecum helped the rookies, while Cole Hamels and Tim Hudson did their best to help the veterans.

On the flip side, Edinson Volquez‘s performance skewed the rookies’ numbers and Brian Duensing once again showed he is not ready for prime time for the veterans.

The reason I did this is because I think of one of the dumbest things analysts talk about is basing postseason success on “postseason experience.” What a guy does the year before or two years before has zero bearing on what happens that night.

While this little bit of research doesn’t “prove” my theory, it certainly helps the cause. Postseason rookie pitchers were just as successful as the guys who have had that ever-so-valuable “postseason experience” in 2010.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg