The "Maddux" 6/24/16

Hey baseball fans!

Last Sunday, Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels pitched the first "Maddux" of 2016! I know, when I read that he did that, I didn't know what a "Maddux" was either. After some research, I found that a "Maddux," named after the great Greg Maddux, happens when a pitcher pitches a complete game shutout while only throwing 99 pitches or less. The term was coined by journalist Jason Lukehart, who loved to watch the Atlanta Braves legendary pitcher play, in 1998, when he came across a game in which Maddux pitched a complete game shutout while using less than 100 pitches.

The the top five pitchers who have pitched a "Maddux" the most in the Maddux Era (1988-present) are as follows:
1. Greg Maddux   13
2. Zane Smith        7
3. Bob Tewksbury 6
t4. Tom Glavine     5
t4. Roy Halladay    5

To finish up this post on a new and cool statistic, here are five facts about pitchers pitching a "Maddux."

1. The active leaders in pitching a "Maddux" are Henderson Alvarez, Bartolo Colon, and James Shields, who each have four.

2. Obviously, walks are pretty detrimental when it comes to pitching a "Maddux," which explains why 57.7% of them (172 of 298) have been accomplished walk-less.

3. Roy Halladay pitched the only extra inning "Maddux" on September 6, 2003 against the Tigers. He went ten innings on 99 pitches that day and his Blue Jays won, 1-0.

4. Don Larsen's perfect game in Game Five of the 1956 World Series was a "Maddux," having only thrown 97 pitches that day in the Yankee win. In fact, there have been four other "Maddux" perfect games. Those were thrown by Dennis Martinez, Kenny Rogers, David Cone, and Philip Humber.

5. John Lieber holds the record for the fewest pitches pitched during a "Maddux" with 78. This amazing performance came on May 24, 2001 when he was pitching for the Cubs against the Reds. He held Cincinnati to just one hit all game.

Isn't this an interesting stat? I certainly think so. Thanks for reading this post and I hope you enjoyed it. Check back soon for more of "all the buzz on what wuzz."