What's the Deal with Royals Starting Pitcher Gil Meche? - Why His Pitching Stats Make No Sense

Gil Meche has done it again in 2007. After pitching six years for the Seattle Mariners with stats that made no sense, Meche signed a huge 5 year $55 million dollar free agent contract with the Kansas City Royals and once again posted stats that made no sense. But this time his stats are completely reversed from what he did in Seattle.

From 1999-2006 Meche compiled a 55-44 (.556) record for the Mariners (he missed the 2001-2002 seasons after major arm surgery). Over the same time frame the Mariners overall record was 473-499 (.487). So Meche pitched .069 above his team. That is an excellent number that very few pitchers in major league baseball can match including many Hall of Fame pitchers. The average Hall of Fame pitcher is about .055. So Meche must have had pretty good pitching stats for the Mariners but he didn't.

Meche pitched a grand total of 815 innings for the Mariners and his ERA was 4.65. Not very good and 105% of what the American League ERA was over the time frame. In addition Meche's K rate was 6.4, which is fine, but his BB rate was 4.0. That's a very high walk rate and his K to BB ratio was just 1.6. A very low number and certainly not a number that a good pitcher would have. So how did Meche have a much higher winning percentage than his team? I don't know but have a few ideas as to why.

After signing the huge money contract Meche went just 9-13 (.409) with the Royals in 2007. The Royals overall record in 2007 was 69-93 (.426). So Meche pitched .017 worse than his already bad Royals team. So Meche must have posted bad stats in 2007 but he didn't. This time Meche pitched to very good stats but still had a lousy won-lost record.

Meche pitched 216 innings for the Royals and posted a 3.67 ERA. An excellent number and just 77% of the league ERA. In addition he K'd 6.5 batters per 9 innings and walked just 2.6 per 9. A fine K to BB ratio of 2.5. So why did Meche have a worse record than his team after posting such fine pitching stats? Again I don't know but have a few ideas.

In this day and age when a player's stats don't make sense we must consider how the use of performance enhancing drugs could play a part. Steroids, HGH, Amphetamines and other drugs have clearly played a role in skewering the stats of players like Barry Bonds. Bonds stats make sense until his late 30's when he started hitting like Babe Ruth at an age when virtually every players performance declines historically.

So could performance enhancing drugs play any part in Meche's wacky stats? I have never heard of Gil Meche being mentioned in any way shape or form with performance enhancing drugs. He's absolutely clean as far as I know. But we must consider the possibility. How could drugs play a role in his stats?

In horse racing it's not that unusual for horses to have spotty records but then to run great and win in big money races. Obviously the horses don't know when they are running in the big money races but their trainers certainly do. And some horse trainers have been known to cheat by using performance enhancing drugs on their horses. So when the big money races are on tap some trainers will use performance enhancing drugs on their horses leading the horses to run much better than they would have without the drugs.

How would this apply to a pitcher? Any pitcher who used performance enhancing drugs sporadically might very well have a spotty pitching record. When the drugs are used they pitch great but when the drugs are not being used they pitch awful. This could easily lead to a pitcher having stats that do not make much sense historically. Most pitchers are not very bad sometimes and very good at other times but the sporadic use of performance enhancing drugs could cause that to happen.

Another explanation as to why Meche's stats don't make sense could be his reaction to the major arm problem and surgery he had back in 2001. Due to fear of re-injuring his arm Meche pitches a certain way. When he gets into trouble early in a game he simply gives up rather than trying to throw extra hard and hurt his arm again and ends up getting bombed. But when he's pitching well he will tax his arm to try and get the win. This could explain his spotty record in Seattle but not in Kansas City but he may have tried hard and taxed his arm all year in 2007 to try and show everyone he was worth the big money contract he was given.

Still another explanation could be that Gil Meche is simply one of those one in a million people who do things differently than everybody else. He could simply march to the tune of his own drum and take different paths than the vast majority of people do. I'd like to see Meche get into the playoffs or World Series and see how pitches but that's doubtful with the Royals.

Personally, I have no idea why Gil Meche's stats don't make sense. When I look for the proper road to take in order to find the answer I'm still stumped and find myself once again turning to baseball's all time best pundit for the answer. "When you come to the fork in the road, take it." - Yogi Berra.