Hey, Adam Ottavino, how about facing Babe Ruth FOUR times in a game, not one?

One of the ironies is that 33 year old relief pitcher Adam Ottavino is both mature and intelligent, at least as far as baseball players go. After recently running his mouth about how he would strike out Babe Ruth EVERY time, he wound up with a condescending "shout out" to the Babe. I can only imagine that the Babe would tell Ottavino to insert his "shout out" where the sun don't shine.

Lost in the predictable knee jerk junk from the usual sources on the predictable subjects is that Ottavino doesn't pitch the same amount as pitchers who pitched to the Babe. Back then starting pitchers pitched most if not all of the game. Now, one inning wonders like Ottavino have dominant strike out ratios, in part, because they pitch in only about five percent off their team's innings. They can muscle up and usually face batters only once in a game. So let's look at how often and how well Ottavino does based on facing batters the first, second and third time in a game. Spoiler alert: in his entire career, Ottavino has NEVER faced a batter four times in a game. Data from baseball-reference.com

Times Facing Opponent in Game

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I	Split	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	SB	CS	BB	SO	SO/W	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+
	1st PA in G, as SP	3	27	24	2	6	1	1	1	0	0	2	4	2.00	.250	.308	.500	.808	12	0	0	1	0	0	0	.263	133
	2nd PA in G, as SP	3	27	25	6	9	2	1	3	0	0	2	3	1.50	.360	.407	.880	1.287	22	0	0	0	0	0	0	.316	267
	3rd PA in G, as SP	3	15	11	2	4	2	0	0	0	0	4	2	0.50	.364	.533	.545	1.079	6	1	0	0	0	1	1	.444	215
	4th+ PA in G, as SP	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0						0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1st PA in G, as RP	363	1612	1403	168	323	49	5	34	7	1	161	441	2.74	.230	.315	.345	.660	484	37	20	11	16	19	12	.306	92
	2nd PA in G, as RP	18	64	58	7	18	3	0	3	0	0	5	14	2.80	.310	.365	.517	.882	30	2	0	1	0	1	0	.366	155
	3rd+ PA in G, as RP	1	5	5	2	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0		.600	.600	.800	1.400	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.600	305

Those three games for 4th PA (plate appearance) as SP (staring pitcher) has zero PA and three CS (caught stealing). Ottavino started three of five games in 2010 for St. Louis, his only major league starts. Then 2012-2018 for Colorado: 361 appearances, zero starts, 390 innings, 452 SO (strike outs). For Colorado: AB/SO: 1,426/452=3.15    One SO every 3.15 AB.

Ottavino throws righty. Ruth batted lefty.

Platoon Splits

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I	Split	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	SB	CS	BB	SO	SO/W	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+
	vs RHB	355	1062	938	118	202	33	3	22	45	6	90	318	3.53	.215	.289	.327	.617	307	28	13	7	13	8	7	.295	79
	vs LHB	295	688	588	84	161	25	4	19	25	5	84	146	1.74	.274	.370	.427	.796	251	12	7	6	3	13	6	.333	132
	vs RHB as RHP	355	1062	938	118	202	33	3	22	45	6	90	318	3.53	.215	.289	.327	.617	307	28	13	7	13	8	7	.295	79
	vs LHB as RHP	295	688	588	84	161	25	4	19	25	5	84	146	1.74	.274	.370	.427	.796	251	12	7	6	3	13	6	.333	132

The platoon splits include his 100 AB as a starter:

vs RHB: 938/318=2.95
vs LHB: 588/146=4.0

Maybe Ottavino forgot that he strikes out lefties much less frequently than righties: (4.0-2.95)/2.95=.3559 That's about 36% less frequently.

AB%	Split	G	PA	AB	AB/SO	SO	R	H	2B	3B	HR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
95.70%	1st PA in G, as RP	363	1,612	1,403	3.18	441	168	323	49	5	34	.230	.315	.345	.660
3.96%	2nd PA in G, as RP	18	64	58	4.14	14	7	18	3	0	3	.310	.365	.517	.882
0.34%	3rd+ PA in G, as RP	1	5	5		0	2	3	1	0	0	.600	.600	.800	1.400
	total	382	1,681	1,466		455

Even in the roughly four percent of his AB in a second PA, Ottavino has a SO ratio (AB/SO) 30% worse than for the roughly 96% of his AB in a first PA.

Ruth often faced starting pitchers for the third or fourth time as the pitcher tired. Advantage Ruth. Ottavino faces batters only once about 92% of the time. Advantage Ottavino. Somewhere in between would be a fair meeting place. What might happen then is for you to decide. Below are older posts that might help.

Would Aroldis Chapman make Babe Ruth faint? Sunday, March 8, 2015

Many great relief pitchers or not that difficult? Saturday, March 7, 2015

Babe Ruth never batted against Satchel Paige. Neither did Jackie Robinson. Friday, May 29, 2009