A few years ago, friend of the blog Jason Lukehart created a statistic called the “Maddux,” which is when a pitcher throws a complete game shutout on fewer than 100 pitches. Only a handful of them happen every year, only slightly more common than no-hitters.
Angels starter Jered Weaver threw the first “Maddux” of 2016, shutting out the Athletics on 95 pitches on Sunday afternoon in Oakland. He yielded three hits (all singles) and a walk while striking out one in the effort. Weaver had just two runs of support, coming on an Albert Pujols ground out in the first inning and a Carlos Perez solo home run in the fifth.
Weaver, 33, lowered his ERA to 5.10 and evened his record at 6-6 with Sunday’s effort. His velocity was a hot topic of conversation during spring training. FanGraphs has his fastball at an average velocity of 82.5 MPH, by far the lowest of his career and about 1 MPH lower than his average velocity last season. Weaver topped out at 85 MPH on Sunday, per MLB.com’s Mike Petriello.