Ubaldo Jimenez, Walks, and the Play Index

After another disappointing start last night, Ubaldo Jimenez now has a 4.83 ERA (and a 4.89 FIP and 4.44 xFIP) in 110 innings this season. He's striking out 8.02 batters per nine innings but is walking 5.40 per nine, which would not only be a career high but is also the highest among all MLB pitchers who have thrown at least 100 innings this season.

It's clear that the Orioles are not getting a good early return on the four-year, $50 million deal they inked Jimenez to in February. But this post isn't meant to bash Jimenez; there's enough of that going on already. I was curious how often starting pitchers could hand out walks and still pitch effectively. Jimenez has racked up the walks, but he clearly hasn't been effective. So I went to Baseball-Reference's Play Index and simply searched for pitchers (in the Expansion Era of 1961-2014) with seasons of more than 150 innings pitched, a BB/9 over 5.40 (where Jimenez is now), and an ERA+ over 100 (sorted by ERA+).

Rk	Player	SO	IP	BB9	ERA+ ▾	Year	Age	Tm	G	GS	W	L	W-L%	SV	ERA	FIP	HR9	SO9
1	Nolan Ryan	341	299.0	6.14	141	1977	30	CAL	37	37	19	16	.543	0	2.77	3.12	0.36	10.26
2	Don Schwall	91	178.2	5.54	129	1961	25	BOS	25	25	15	7	.682	0	3.22	4.09	0.40	4.58
3	Bart Johnson	153	178.0	5.61	123	1971	21	CHW	53	16	12	10	.545	14	2.93	3.36	0.46	7.74
4	Nolan Ryan	367	332.2	5.46	118	1974	27	CAL	42	41	22	16	.579	0	2.89	2.98	0.49	9.93
5	Sam McDowell	192	214.2	6.41	113	1971	28	CLE	35	31	13	17	.433	1	3.40	4.17	0.92	8.05
6	Russ Ortiz	164	207.2	5.42	113	1999	25	SFG	33	33	18	9	.667	0	3.81	4.95	1.04	7.11
7	Bo Belinsky	145	187.1	5.86	109	1962	25	LAA	33	31	10	11	.476	1	3.56	4.06	0.58	6.97
8	Jose de Jesus	118	181.2	6.34	107	1991	26	PHI	31	29	10	9	.526	1	3.42	4.24	0.35	5.85
9	Randy Johnson	241	210.1	6.16	105	1992	28	SEA	31	31	12	14	.462	0	3.77	3.61	0.56	10.31
10	Chuck Estrada	160	212.0	5.60	104	1961	23	BAL	33	31	15	9	.625	0	3.69	4.24	0.81	6.79
11	Randy Johnson	228	201.1	6.79	103	1991	27	SEA	33	33	13	10	.565	0	3.98	4.00	0.67	10.19
12	Ed Correa	189	202.1	5.60	102	1986	20	TEX	32	32	12	14	.462	0	4.23	3.78	0.67	8.41
13	Nolan Ryan	186	198.0	6.00	102	1975	28	CAL	28	28	14	12	.538	0	3.45	3.67	0.59	8.45
14	Dennis Blair	82	163.1	5.84	102	1975	21	MON	30	27	8	15	.348	0	3.80	4.70	0.77	4.52

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/17/2014.

An ERA+ of 100 is average, so it's not surprising that nearly half the names on the list are close to that mark. The most recent player to accomplish this feat was Russ Ortiz with the Giants in 1999. Three players in the table (Don Schwall, Jose de Jesus, and Dennis Blair) actually walked more players than they struck out. And Nolan Ryan (three) and Randy Johnson (two) appear in the table multiple times. Bart Johnson, in 178 innings in 1971, started 16 games and also managed to rack up 14 saves.

It should go without saying that it's extremely difficult to pitch well while walking so many batters. And Ubaldo Jimenez is no Nolan Ryan or Randy Johnson.