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You May Have Forgotten: Kevin Appier

31 December 2009, 11:32 am

Besides actually putting people into Cooperstown, the Hall of Fame ballot is a good way to reflect on very good players of times gone by. And yeah, sometimes that’s only five years ago but not everyone has a great memory. This year, for me, Kevin Appier was the guy who I found I’d mostly forgotten. I’m sure that I’m not the only one, so consider this a brief refresher course.

For 8 seasons, Kevin Appier was a really good pitcher for the Royals. How good? Take a look:

Year Age W L W-L% ERA G GS CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP WP ERA+ WHIP SO/BB
1990 22 12 8 .600 2.76 32 24 3 3 185.2 179 67 57 13 54 2 127 6 6 139 1.255 2.35
1991 23 13 10 .565 3.42 34 31 6 3 207.2 205 97 79 13 61 3 158 2 7 121 1.281 2.59
1992 24 15 8 .652 2.46 30 30 3 0 208.1 167 59 57 10 68 5 150 2 4 165 1.128 2.21
1993 25 18 8 .692 2.56 34 34 5 1 238.2 183 74 68 8 81 3 186 1 5 179 1.106 2.30
1994 26 7 6 .538 3.83 23 23 1 0 155.0 137 68 66 11 63 7 145 4 11 130 1.290 2.30
1995 27 15 10 .600 3.89 31 31 4 1 201.1 163 90 87 14 80 1 185 8 5 123 1.207 2.31
1996 28 14 11 .560 3.62 32 32 5 1 211.1 192 87 85 17 75 2 207 5 10 138 1.263 2.76
1997 29 9 13 .409 3.40 34 34 4 1 235.2 215 96 89 24 74 2 196 4 14 137 1.226 2.65

He finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1990 (behind Sandy Alomar and True Yankee Hero Kevin Maas) and followed it up with 7 more awesome years. He only finished in the top 5 of Cy Young voting once in 1993 which went down like this:

Rank Tm Vote Pts 1st Place W L W-L% ERA G CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB SO HBP
1 Jack McDowell CHW 124.0 21.0 22 10 .688 3.37 34 10 4 256.2 261 104 96 20 69 158 3
2 Randy Johnson SEA 75.0 6.0 19 8 .704 3.24 35 10 3 255.1 185 97 92 22 99 308 16
3 Kevin Appier KCR 30.0 1.0 18 8 .692 2.56 34 5 1 238.2 183 74 68 8 81 186 1

So he probably should have gotten more than, you know, one 1st place vote but wins are often blinding to the powers that be. 1993 is also notable for being the year that Randy Johnson stopped walking so many dudes and became frightening.

So what happened after 1997? A sad thing that derails many pitchers: Major arm surgery. He had surgery to repair a torn labrum in early 1998 and was never really the same, although he did pull two more good years together. Here

Year Age Tm W L W-L% ERA G IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP WP ERA+ WHIP SO/BB
1998 30 KCR 1 2 .333 7.80 3 15.0 21 13 13 3 5 1 9 1 1 61 1.733 1.80
1999 31 TOT 16 14 .533 5.17 34 209.0 230 131 120 27 84 4 131 7 10 94 1.502 1.56
1999 31 KCR 9 9 .500 4.87 22 140.1 153 81 76 18 51 3 78 6 5 103 1.454 1.53
1999 31 OAK 7 5 .583 5.77 12 68.2 77 50 44 9 33 1 53 1 5 79 1.602 1.61
2000 32 OAK 15 11 .577 4.52 31 195.1 200 109 98 23 102 10 129 9 6 104 1.546 1.26
2001 33 NYM 11 10 .524 3.57 33 206.2 181 89 82 22 64 4 172 15 12 117 1.185 2.69
2002 34 ANA 14 12 .538 3.92 32 188.1 191 89 82 23 64 2 132 7 7 113 1.354 2.06
2003 35 TOT 8 9 .471 5.40 23 111.2 120 69 67 21 43 4 55 8 6 83 1.460 1.28
2003 35 ANA 7 7 .500 5.63 19 92.2 105 60 58 17 36 4 50 8 4 78 1.522 1.39
2003 35 KCR 1 2 .333 4.26 4 19.0 15 9 9 4 7 0 5 0 2 115 1.158 0.71
2004 36 KCR 0 1 .000 13.50 2 4.0 7 8 6 0 3 0 2 0 2 35 2.500 0.67

You may also notice that I removed CG and SHO from this table where it appears on the first–that’s because after his labrum surgery he pitched only 3CG over these seasons, two of which were shutouts so it’s not really worth noting. Here’s a top level view look at his pre and post surgery numbers:

Years W L ERA G CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP WP ERA+ WHIP K/9 K/BB
1989-1998 105 80 3.34 259 31 10 1680.1 1496 673 623 116 573 27 1373 33 63 135 1.231 7.4 2.40
1999-2004 64 57 4.48 155 3 2 915 929 495 455 116 360 24 621 46 43 101 1.409 6.1 1.73

Baseball graveyards are full of  pitchers like Appier who had good/very good/excellent careers derailed by injuries. Most of them didn’t even get to have eight good to great seasons, so in that respect Appier actually came out ahead of the pack. It’s a little sad, but I’m thankful of the things that pop up and jolt my memory about guys like him. Maybe this time I won’t forget.

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2 Comments

  1. HOVG says:
    December 31, 2009 at 11:56 am

    I liked Appier…still do. He hit the scene like plenty of Kansas City pitchers did in the mid-80s to early 90s…but failed to live up to the hype and expectations. Not to come across as “Johnny Cut and Paste”…but here’s what I said about Appier over at The Hall.

    Unfortunately, Kevin Appier isn’t one of those players that warrented much attention prior to now.

    But that’s not to say he wasn’t good.

    If I told you that Appier had a career ERA of 3.74 and ten years with ten or more wins would you care?

    No?!?

    Thought so.

    All kidding aside, Appier’s career started with a bang.

    In his first four full season with the hapless Royals (1990-1993), the righty compiled a .630 winning percentage (he was 58-34) and a 2.80 ERA. And in 1993, he even led the American League in ERA!

    Add to that his one All-Star Game appearance and a 2002 World Championship with the Angels and you have a good, serviceable pitcher.

    But that’s about all.

    Reply to this comment

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