One fine season does not a star make, but if Mike O'Farrell keeps producing seasons like the one he had in 1940, he'll certainly earn that title.
Here are Mike's stats for 1940:
Code:
G GS W L SV ERA IP H R ER HR BB SO CG ShO WHIP BABIP
36 36 23 8 0 3.51 300.0 300 140 117 16 58 119 25 5 1.19 .279
Mike tied teammate Ray Brown for second place in the league in wins, one behind Gene Schott of the Yankees.
His five shutouts earned him a tie with Brown and his former high school rival, Hugh Mulcahy, for the league lead.
Mike placed sixth in complete games, tenth in strikeouts, and sixth in WHIP. He also demonstrated some of the aggressiveness he displayed as a hard-hitting safety in football, nailing ten batters with pitches--the second most in the American League and tied for third in all of the majors.
His component ERA of 3.05 was considerably better than his real figure, indicating that he probably suffered more than his fair share of bad luck. His ERC mark was tenth in the American League...and amazingly, it was the worst figure among the Red Sox' four starters.
Mike was much more effective against lefthanded batters than he had been in 1939. Look how similar his lines against righties and lefties were:
Code:
vs. LHB .259/.295/.378
vs. RHB .260/.297/.374
Finally, Mike was quite the road warrior in 1940. He ended up pitching more often away from Fenway than he did at home, and among all major league pitchers, only the Dean brothers--Dizzy with 17, and Paul with 14--won as many road games as Mike did.
Code:
Home 9-4, 3.56
Road 14-4, 3.48
Mike is now 25 years old, a young veteran with over 1000 major and minor league innings under his belt. It's tough to say that any young pitcher who produces one excellent season has "made it," but I think it's safe to conclude that a lot of teams would like to have Mike O'Farrell on their side for the next decade or so.