No Pitcher Has Faced 40 Batters In The Last 11 Years

Starting pitchers are rarely allowed to face a lineup for the fourth time. Last season, a starting pitcher faced 30+ batters (three times through the lineup and at least the top three batters in the order for a fourth time) 104 times. That's out of 4,858 starts, or 4.3%.

Eleven full seasons have passed since a pitcher last faced 40 batters. That was CC Sabathia of the Brewers, who faced 40 Astros on August 18, 2008, throwing 130 pitches in Milwaukee's 9-3 win. (Indeed, only 29 pitchers have thrown 130+ pitches in those 11 years, with only three having topped 134 (and two of those games were no-hitters).)

Before that, 40+ BF happened once in 2002 (Bartolo Colon), once in 2001 (Chris Carpenter), once in 2000 (Kenny Rogers), once in 1999 (Tom Glavine), and six times in 1998.

Since Sabathia, the highest number of batters faced has been 38: Gio Gonzalez of the Nationals, against the Astros on August 8, 2012, and Cliff Lee of the Phillies, against Atlanta on April 16, 2014.

The number of times a pitcher has faced 40+ batters over the last nine decades is a startling illustration of how the management of pitching (and pitchers) has changed in major league baseball. In the last 39 seasons, 0 pitchers have faced 50 batters. It happened six times in a two-week period in 1949 (May 17-31).

1930-1939:  2503    (High: 87 - Eddie Rommel, Athletics, July 10, 1932
                                17-29-14-9-7; 18-17 (18) win over Cleveland
 
1940-1949:  1967    (High: 74 - Les Mueller, Tigers, July 21, 1945
                                19.2-13-1-5-6; 1-1 (24) tie with Athletics

1950-1959:  1150    (High: 71 - Robin Roberts, Phillies, September 6, 1952 (G1)
                                17-18-6-3-5 (CG); 7-6 (17) win over Boston

1960-1969:   622    (High: 62 - Tom Cheney, Senators, September 12, 1962
                                16-10-1-4-21 (CG); 2-1 (16) win over Orioles

1970-1979:   769    (High: 58 - Nolan Ryan, Angels, June 14, 1974
                                13-8-3-10-19; 4-3 (15) win over Red Sox*

1980-1989:   282    (High: 53 - Larry Gura, Royals, May 21, 1980
                                13-12-2-2-6; 2-4 (14) loss to Athletics

1990-1999:    34    (High: 46 - Tim Wakefield, Pirates, April 27, 1993
                                10-6-2-10-1, 172; 6-2 win (11) over Atlanta

2000-2009:     4    (High: 42 - Chris Carpenter, Blue Jays, June 9, 2001
                                9-9-6-6-5, 122 (CG); 1-6 loss to Marlins

2010-2019:     0

*: Luis Tiant (14.1-11-4-4-5) pitched a complete game for Boston, facing 56 batters, one of only four pitchers in the 1970s to do so (Ryan (58), Ross Grimsley (56), Rudy May (56)).

The record for batters faced is 96, set by Brooklyn's Leon Cadore, on May 1, 1920, in a 26-inning, 1-1 tie with Boston. He went six batters into his 11th (!) time through the lineup. His opponent that day was Joe Oeschger, who is #2 all-time, with 90 batters faced. Both men pitched a complete game that afternoon.

Oeschger is also tied for #7 on the all-time list, having faced 82 batters for the Phillies on April 30, 1919, pitching 20 innings (another complete game) in a 9-9 tie against Brooklyn.