Quality start

Don Sutton registered 483 quality starts during his Major League Baseball career.

In baseball, a quality start (QS) is a statistic for a starting pitcher defined as a game in which the pitcher completes at least six innings and permits no more than three earned runs. The quality start was developed by sportswriter John Lowe in 1985 while writing for The Philadelphia Inquirer.[1] He wrote that it "shows exactly how many times a baseball pitcher has done his job."[2]

The quality start was created to be an accurate measure of a starting pitcher's performance.[2] However, the implied earned run average (ERA) of a minimum quality start has been criticized, with Tim McCarver noting "three runs for six innings ... means the ERA would be 4.50 ... Rubbish."[3]

  1. ^ Neyer, Rob (2006-04-13). "Quality start still a good measure of quality". ESPN.
  2. ^ a b Lowe, John (December 26, 1985). "A stat for off-season: A new gauge of starting pitchers". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 1D. Retrieved January 24, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference SBnation was invoked but never defined (see the help page).