Junior Guerra

StaTuesday: Guerra proving better late than never

Published Jul. 5, 2016 11:44 a.m. ET

foxsports

The initial transaction for Milwaukee Brewers general manager David Stearns came just a few weeks after he was on the job when he claimed pitcher Junior Guerra off waivers from the Chicago White Sox.

Not a bad first impression.

Guerra, who began the season at Triple-A Colorado Springs, has been one of the pleasant surprises on the Brewers and perhaps the team's most consistent starting pitcher. After Monday's 1-0 win over Washington and Max Scherezer, in which Guerra tossed 7 1/3 shutout innings, he is 6-1 with a 2.93 ERA, 1.017 WHIP and 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings. Not too shabby for a guy who had pitched in just four major-league innings prior to the 2016 season (and had allowed three runs on seven hits).

In each of his first two starts with Milwaukee, Guerra allowed four runs in six innings. Since then, he has made 10 starts and allowed more than four earned runs just once (5 in 5 1/3 innings against the Dodgers on June 16) and has a 2.37 ERA and .190 opponent batting average during that span.

And did we mention that Guerra is 31 years old?

Turns out, Guerra is having one of the best rookie seasons by a starting pitcher who is at least 31 years old . . . well, ever.

Yes, it is hard to compare eras with pitchers. There's the Deadball Era, pre-integration, expansion, the Year of the Pitcher in 1968, steroid era and so on. A 3.50 ERA is not equal throughout the years.

One of the best ways to compare, however, is using ERA+, which compares a pitcher's ERA to the league average while adjusting to the pitcher's ballpark. An ERA+ of 100 is right at the average for that season while a lower number is worse and the higher the better.

Since 1901 there have been 54 pitchers who were age 31 or older who made at least 12 starts in a season. Of those 54, only 11 have occurred since 1996 and the majority of those have been pitchers moving over from a Japanese league to the major leagues. Nine made their debut during World War II (1942-45) while 11 began their careers in the Deadball Era (pre-1920).

Among this criteria - pitchers who debuted at 31 or older and started 12 or more games - Junior Guerra is currently second all-time in ERA+.

PITCHER	AGE	SEASON	TEAM	G-GS	IP	H	BB	K	ERA	ERA+
Jim Turner	33	1937	BOS (NL)	33-30	256.2	228	52	69	2.38	149
Junior Guerra	31	2016	MIL	12-12	76.2	55	23	67	2.93	143
Orlando Hernandez	32	1998	NYY	21-21	141	113	52	131	3.13	142
Hank Gornicki	31	1942	PIT	25-14	112	89	40	48	2.89	132
George McConnell	34	1912	NYY	23-20	176.2	172	52	48	2.57	131
Hisaschi Iwakuma	31	2012	SEA	30-16	125.1	117	43	101	3.16	121
Bob Logan	35	1945	BOS (NL)	34-25	187	213	53	53	3.18	121
Ray Kremer	31	1924	PIT	41-30	259.1	262	51	64	3.19	120
Hal Haid	31	1929	STL	38-14	154.2	171	66	41	4.07	117
Tsuyoshi Wada	33	2014	CHC	13-13	69.1	67	19	57	3.25	117
Hal Smith	31	1933	PIT	28-19	145	149	31	40	2.86	116
Roger Wolff	31	1942	PHI (AL)	32-25	214.1	206	69	94	3.32	115
Koji Uehara	34	2009	BAL	12-12	66.2	71	12	48	4.05	113
Ed Holley	32	1932	PHI	34-30	228	247	55	87	3.95	112
Hiroki Kurdoa	33	2008	LAD	31-31	183.1	181	42	116	3.73	112
Tot Pressnell	31	1938	BRO	43-19	192	209	56	57	3.56	111
Dazzy Vance	31	1922	BRO	36-31	245.2	259	94	134	3.70	111
Art Fowler	31	1954	CIN	40-29	227.2	256	85	93	3.83	110
Grady Adkins	31	1928	CWS	36-27	224.2	235	89	54	3.73	109
Tommy de la Cruz	32	1944	CIN	34-20	191.1	170	45	65	3.25	108
Hisanori Takahashi	35	2010	NYM	53-12	122	116	43	114	3.61	108
Peaches Davis	31	1936	CIN	26-15	125.2	139	36	32	4.39	107
Masato Yoshii	33	1998	NYM	29-29	171.2	166	53	117	3.93	107
Heinie Meine	33	1929	PIT	22-13	108	120	34	19	4.50	107
Kenshin Kawakami	34	2009	ATL	32-25	156.1	153	57	105	3.86	107
Pete Walker	33	2002	NYM/TOR	38-20	140.1	145	51	80	4.36	106
George Bell	32	1907	BRO	35-27	263.2	222	77	88	2.25	104
Johnny Niggeling	36	1940	STL (AL)	28-20	153.2	148	69	82	4.45	104
Sig Jakucki	34	1944	STL (AL)	35-24	198	211	53	67	3.55	103
Johnny Couch	31	1922	CIN	43-33	264	301	56	45	3.89	102
Dick Newsome	31	1941	BOS	36-29	213.2	235	79	58	4.13	101
Art Delaney	31	1928	BOS (NL)	39-22	191.1	197	56	45	3.78	101
Jocko Thompson	34	1951	PHI	29-14	119.1	102	59	60	3.85	100
Connie Marrero	39	1950	WAS	27-19	152	159	55	63	4.50	100
Oscar Judd	34	1942	BOS	31-19	150.1	135	90	70	3.89	96
Lou Tost	31	1942	BOS (NL)	35-22	147.2	146	52	43	3.53	94
Rip Sewell	32	1939	PIT	52-12	176.1	177	73	69	4.08	94
Steve Gerkin	32	1942	PHI (AL)	21-12	102	112	27	25	3.62	93
Walt Dickson	33	1912	BOS (NL)	36-20	189	233	61	47	3.86	92
Al Papai	32	1949	STL (AL)	42-15	142.1	175	81	31	5.06	90
Dennis Springer	31	1996	CAL	20-15	94.2	91	43	64	4.53	89
Billy Campbell	34	1908	CIN	35-24	221.1	203	44	73	2.60	89
Bill Beckmann	31	1939	PHI (AL)	27-19	155.1	198	41	20	5.39	87
John Martina	34	1924	WAS	24-14	125.1	129	56	57	4.67	87
Stoney McGlynn	35	1907	STL	45-39	352.1	329	112	109	2.91	86
Bob Spade	31	1908	CIN	35-28	249.1	230	85	74	2.74	84
Ed Donnelly	32	1912	BOS (NL)	37-18	184.1	225	72	67	4.35	82
Hap Collard	31	1930	PHI	30-15	127	188	39	25	6.80	81
Orie Arntzen	33	1943	PHI (AL)	32-20	164.1	172	69	66	4.22	81
John Eubank	33	1906	DET	24-12	135	147	35	38	3.53	78
John McPherson	35	1904	PHI	15-12	128	130	46	32	3.66	74
Bill Posedel	31	1938	BRO	33-17	140	178	46	49	5.66	70
Jack McFetridge	33	1903	PHI	14-13	103	120	49	31	4.89	64
Frank Oberlin	31	1907	BOS/WAS	23-12	94.2	105	47	36	4.47	56

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Junior Guerra

Milwaukee Brewers

Major League Baseball