Sporcle Saturday: Top WHIP relievers for the Sox

As I was browsing around Baseball Reference for a different research project, I found myself taking a look at some various reliever statistics for the 2017 White Sox. One thing that caught my eye (beyond Tommy Kahnle’s gaudy 16.5 k/9) is that there are currently three relievers for the Sox with a WHIP of 1.0 or below; as you have probably guessed: David Robertson (1.0), Tommy Kahnle (.778), and Anthony Swarzak (.563).*

Now, I know: there are more complete analytic pitching statistics out there, but I like using WHIP for a fast peep: as FanGraphs says on its reference page, it works nicely as a starting point. Besides, the other pitching statistics are good fodder for future Sporcle Saturdays!

Anywho, I decided to run a search and see which relievers have recorded the best WHIPs for the White Sox. Thus, today’s quiz was born. Your challenge: name the top 25 reliever WHIPs in Sox history. Good luck!

Quiz Parameters

• As usual, the quiz will accept both first and last names in addition to last names only.
• Because there are several repeats on the list, and some recent names, you’ll only have 6 minutes to attempt completion.
• As hints, I’ve provided the WHIP and the season.
• When I ran the Play Index data, I specified that relievers had to pitch in relief in at least 80% of appearances, and appear in at least 40 games. So, no microscopic WHIPs due to a limited number of games.

Useless information to amaze, annoy, confound, and/or sadden your friends:

• The player with the highest WHIP on the overall list? Mike MacDougal in 2007, with a sparkling matte 1.961.
• Extending that out to the Majors as a whole, we have Eric O’ Flaherty leading the way with a 2.167 WHIP in 2015 between the A’s and the Mets (who traded for him to use as a lefty specialist down the stretch)
• The average triple-slash against for our top 25: .198/.255/.293, and an ERA and FIP of 2.34 and 2.80, respectively.

Direct link here

All data from baseballreference.com

*The usual caveat applies: these statistics were accurate prior to Friday’s game.