There are a lot of crazy stats within Fernando Rodney’s amazing comeback season for the Rays, including the fact that he converted his 46th save in 48 chances last night and now has a 72/16 K/BB ratio in 72.1 innings at age 35 after walking more batters than he struck out for the Angels last year.
This stat, however, is the most shocking: Last night Rodney lowered his ERA to 0.62, which means he’s one more scoreless inning from tying Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley for the lowest ERA of all time among pitchers with 50-plus innings in a season.
Eckersley had a 0.61 ERA during his incredible 1990 season for the A’s, allowing five earned runs in 73.1 innings. And here’s where it gets spooky: Rodney has currently allowed five earned runs in 72.1 innings, so if he tosses a scoreless frame next time out he’d match Eckersley’s runs and innings total exactly.
Tampa Bay has six games remaining on the schedule, so Rodney will get an opportunity to throw more than one more inning. In other words, if he doesn’t cough up another run this season Fernando Rodney is going to break Dennis Eckersley’s record.
