The 28-yr Old Record-Breaking Rookie

His story may not follow the same Hollywood storyline as Chris Coste, but Athletics rookie reliever Brad Ziegler has made quite a splash since his call to the big leagues on May 30. Ziegler, who maintains his own blog titled Getting Ziggy With It at Athletics Nation, was drafted in 2002 by the Athletics before returning to school, incidentally where he played alongside Ryan Howard. The Phillies drafted him the following year but, following shoulder tendinitis, deemed him unworthy of even their low single-A affiliate.

Though the outlook appeared to be bleak, Brad caught on with an independent team and, after four starts, found himself a member of the Athletics farm system. After a few seasons in the minors, Ziegler shifted to a sidearm or submarine delivery and steadily improved. Following a strong start in AAA this year, the Athletics brought him up to “the show,” where he has yet to disappoint.

In fact, he has tossed 27 innings without allowing a runner to cross home plate. While not even half of Orel Hershiser’s consecutive scoreless innings streak it is actually the new record for most scoreless innings to begin a major league career. The previous record, 25 innings, belonged to George McQuillan who did so in 1907, his rookie year with the Phillies.

Brad doesn’t throw hard but currently possesses a groundball rate of 69.9%; his GB/FB is a ridiculous 4.64. Given the amount of flyballs given up we would expect him to have surrendered at least one home run, so it isn’t as if his lack of gopher balls is extremely lucky. Overall his numbers look like this:

0.00 ERA, 2.86 FIP, 0.81 WHIP, .202 BABIP, 4.33 K/9, 2.00 BB/9, 2.17 K/BB, 100% LOB

He isn’t striking out many hitters but his low walk rate has resulted in a quite respectable strikeout to walk ratio. Few runners have reached base thanks to an extremely low BABIP and the aforementioned walk rate, and as his 100% LOB and new record suggests, none of these runners have scored. 27 major league innings isn’t really enough to gauge anything with regards to a true talent level or expected results moving forward, but here are Brad’s current ranks amongst relievers with at least 20 innings pitched:

T-1st, least home runs allowed with 0
1st, 0.00 ERA (second place is Joe Nathan at 1.05)
1st, 100% LOB%
1st, 4.64 GB/FB
2nd, 69.9% GB (Roy Corcoran of the Mariners is higher)
4th, .202 BABIP
4th, 0.81 WHIP
6th, 1.44 REW
T-9th, 1.05 WPA/LI (tied with Jonathan Papelbon)
10th, 2.00 BB/9

Suffice it to say, Brad Ziegler has had a very impressive first 23 games, ranking in the top ten in a number of statistical categories. His numbers may regress as the season goes on but he has done enough at this point to be known as more than a former teammate of Ryan Howard. Brad is definitely, as his blog suggets, getting ziggy with it, and opposing hitters are paying the price.