Our 2017 Goose-Egg Reliever Rankings Are Here

Last month, we introduced a new statistic called the goose egg to measure relief pitchers (The quick-and-dirty version: A pitcher gets a goose egg for each scoreless, clutch relief inning.) Our research revealed that the best relievers of today are much less valuable than the best “firemen” of the 1970s and 1980s, such as Hall of Famer Goose Gossage, who would pitch multiple innings at a time, come in to pitch in tied games, and enter in jams with runners on base — important contributions that the save doesn’t reward, but the goose egg does.

But as Ben Lindbergh recently documented over at The Ringer, the hegemony of the save may have loosened just slightly. So far this year, the Cleveland Indians’ Andrew Miller — who might be the American League’s best reliever — has made five appearances that stretched over multiple innings. Miller, who has yet to allow a run on the season, doesn’t have any saves. But he does have 10 goose eggs, tying him for third in baseball. (All statistics in this article are accurate through the end of May 4.)

Even more encouraging is the case of the Astros’ Chris Devenski. He has pitched a Gossage-like 18.1 innings over eight appearances so far this year. (In 1975, when Gossage set the single-season record with 82 goose eggs, he pitched 141.2 innings over 62 appearances.) Devenski has only one save, but he has 10 goose eggs. With an exceptional ratio of 34 strikeouts against just two walks on the season, he has grown more comfortable with his multi-inning role. If the Astros keep moving him up their pecking order — Devenski has been used in some high-leverage situations so far, but also some medium-leverage ones — he’ll be a candidate to finish with 50 or even 60 goose eggs. No pitcher has reached the 60 goose-egg benchmark since Scot Shields in 2005.