FanPost

Wade Davis and His Attempt at History.

Since the lowly days of the Devil Rays, good starting pitching debuts have been few and miles between. As of September 6th, 2009 the Rays (and Devil Rays) have had a combined 65 different starting pitchers ever throw a baseball for the team. The numbers range from Scott Kazmir's team leading 144 starts to Juan Guzman and his 1. Using Bill James' Game Score, we can see just how good great Wade Davis' Ray Debut is compared to every other debut in team history.

Pitcher Name Year Game Score
Doug Waechter September 3, 2003 88
Wade Davis September 6, 2009 75
Steve Trachsel April 3, 2000 74
Paul Wilson August 26, 2000 71
Jason Standridge August 9, 2001 69
Hideo Nomo April 9, 2005 68
Geremi Gonzalez May 17, 2003 66
Dwight Gooden April 15, 2000 65
Tony Saunders April 2, 1998 63
Victor Zambrano August 5, 2002 62
Seth McClung April 25, 2003 61
Dennis Springer April 4, 1998 60
Jeff Niemann April 13, 2008 60
Scott Kazmir August 23, 2004 60
Paul Abbott April 7, 2004 57
Casey Fossum May 17, 2005 56
Mark Hendrickson April 9, 2004 55
Dan Wheeler September 1, 1999 54
David Price September 22, 2008 54
Bryan Rekar July 9, 1998 53
Edwin Jackson April 22, 2006 52
Carlos Reyes May 27, 2003 51
Mickey Callaway June 12, 1999 51
Delvin James April 16, 2002 51
Tim Corcoran October 2, 2005 50
Albie Lopez May 28, 2000 50
Joe Kennedy June 6, 2001 50
Terrell Wade September 21, 1998 49
Jason Johnson April 23, 1998 49
Bobby Witt April 8, 1999 49
John Halama June 18, 2004 48
Rolando Arrojo April 1, 1998 45
Tanyon Sturtze August 5, 2000 45
Esteban Yan May 8, 1999 43
Cory Lidle October 3, 1999 42
Julio Santana June 9, 1998 42
Dewon Brazelton September 13, 2002 42
Andy Sonnanstine June 5, 2007 42
Damian Moss April 22, 2004 39
Steve Parris April 4, 2003 39
Mitch Talbot September 23, 2008 38
Jeff Wallace August 6, 2001 38
Brian Stokes September 3, 2006 38
Jae Seo July 2, 2006 38
Todd Ritchie September 18, 2004 37
Matt Garza April 2, 2008 37
Matt Ruebel May 25, 1998 36
Ryan Rupe May 5, 1999 36
Chad Gaudin August 16, 2003 34
James Shields May 31, 2006 31
Mike Judd April 22, 2001 28
Jorge Sosa June 25, 2002 28
Rick White May 31, 1998 27
Rob Bell June 14, 2003 26
Rick Gorecki April 3, 1998 22
Nick Bierbrodt June 7, 2001 22
Brian Rose May 12, 2001 21
Jim Parque April 2, 2003 21
J.P. Howell August 1, 2006 20
Dave Eiland September 25, 1998 20
Jason Hammel April 11, 2006 18
Wilson Alvarez March 31, 1998 17
John Webb April 20, 2005 16
Travis Harper August 4, 2000 15
Luis De Los Santos July 20, 2002 12
Juan Guzman April 7, 2000 10

While not the best, Davis' debut on Sunday was second best only to Doug Waechter's CGSO in 2003 and the best since Niemann started for the first time in 2008. I cannot wait to see this man progress.

This post was written by a member of the DRaysBay community and does not necessarily express the views or opinions of DRaysBay staff.