Cincinnati Enquirer: Edinson Volquez: Adjusted ERA pace would be best in history

I understand Justin Inaz is now contributing…but Adjusted ERA makes the Enquirer?! Wooo-eeee!

Edinson Volquez is off to a start that has him on pace for an unprecedented season for not only a Reds starting pitcher, but as the greatest by any starting pitcher in major league baseball history.

While his projected 24 wins (based on the six wins he has heading into today’s start against the Cleveland Indians) will fall well short of even Denny McLain’s modern record of 31 set in 1969, his projected ERA of 1.12 would match the modern record set by Bob Gibson in 1968 and he would shatter the single-season record in a little-known but important category: Adjusted ERA (also known as ERA+).

The Web site baseball-reference.com defines Adjusted ERA as a pitcher’s earned-run average that also takes into account the affects of the ballparks he pitches in and how his ERA rates in accordance to the league average (a good measuring stick because it takes into account what are considered pitchers’ years, like 1968, and hitters’ years). An Adjusted ERA of 100 is considered average (the higher the number the better), and according to baseball-reference.com only 503 times have pitchers posted an Adjusted ERA of 149 or higher, many that occurred prior to 1930.