High Single Game Walk Totals
by
Asher B. Chancey,
BaseballEvolution.com
May 9, 2006
In tonight's game between the Orioles and Tigers, Daniel Cabrera and Nate Robertson each gave up five or more walks (Cabrera had seven). Meanwhile, in New York, Randy Johnson gave up five walks in three and two thirds (after not having walked a single batter in his first three games of the season).
These walks totals are a continuation of a season long trend of pitchers walking very high numbers of batters.
In fact, going into tonight, major league pitchers had walked 3250 batters in 954 games. This puts major league pitchers on pace for a total of 16,557 walks, or 1350 more batters than last season, 335 more than 2004, 668 more than 2003, and 331 more than 2002. And don't forget that there was no shortage of walks tonight - the pace has probably quickened.
While we have the rest of the season to wait and see if the 2006 Major League pitchers can approach the 2000 record of 18,238 walks, we can bide our time by taking a look at the alarming list of pitchers to have given up five or more walks in a single game so far this season:
| Date | Pitcher | Walks |
| 4/23 | Doug Davis | 9 |
| 4/12 | Daniel Cabrera | 9 |
| 4/21 | John Lackey | 7 |
| 4/15 | Jason Schmidt | 7 |
| 4/5 | Seth McClung | 7 |
| 4/26 | Seth McClung | 7 |
| 4/7 | Daniel Cabrera | 7 |
| 5/9 | Daniel Cabrera | 7 |
| 4/6 | Jeff Francis | 6 |
| 4/28 | Jeff Francis | 6 |
| 4/25 | Jake Westbrook | 6 |
| 4/14 | Scott Elarton | 6 |
| 4/28 | Matt Clement | 6 |
| 4/8 | Ted Lilly | 6 |
| 4/16 | Freddy Garcia | 6 |
| 4/21 | Brian Bannister | 6 |
| 5/4 | Jeremy Affeldt | 6 |
| 4/15 | Scott Olsen | 6 |
| 4/26 | John Lackey | 5 |
| 4/26 | Zach Duke | 5 |
| 4/9 | Jason Schmidt | 5 |
| 5/9 | Randy Johnson | 5 |
| 4/25 | Scott Kazmir | 5 |
| 4/8 | Jamey Wright | 5 |
| 4/20 | Jamey Wright | 5 |
| 4/3 | Carlos Zambrano | 5 |
| 4/18 | Carlos Zambrano | 5 |
| 4/30 | Carlos Zambrano | 5 |
| 4/28 | Casey Fossum | 5 |
| 4/19 | Scott Elarton | 5 |
| 5/5 | Vicente Padilla | 5 |
| 4/29 | Doug Davis | 5 |
| 5/9 | Nate Robertson | 5 |
| 4/19 | Ted Lilly | 5 |
| 4/7 | Pat Maholm | 5 |
| 4/23 | John Thomson | 5 |
| 4/13 | Oliver Perez | 5 |
| 4/30 | Oliver Perez | 5 |
| 4/22 | Daniel Cabrera | 5 |
| 4/30 | Steve Trachsel | 5 |
| 4/28 | Brandon Claussen | 5 |
| 4/15 | Rich Harden | 5 |
| 4/16 | Brian Bannister | 5 |
| 4/25 | Kyle Lohse | 5 |
| 4/13 | Jason Vargas | 5 |
| 4/18 | Jason Vargas | 5 |
| 4/11 | Joe Mays | 5 |
| 4/28 | Joe Mays | 5 |
| 5/7 | Lenny DiNardo | 5 |
| 4/23 | Russ Ortiz | 5 |
| 4/24 | Tom Glavine | 5 |
Don't worry - I am sure there is more where that came from . . . (to be continued).
Disagree with something? Got something to add? Wanna bring up something totally new? Asher resides in Alexandria, VA, and can be reached at asher@baseballevolution.com.
