An interesting stat by which to rate starting pitchers

Rating the skill of a starting pitcher is very subjective. Many people look at the big three—Wins, ERA and Ks—in order to get an idea of how well a pitcher is doing. The clear problem is that wins are very reliant on the team as a whole. Also, a pitcher can record a high number of Ks, but still allow long balls, walks, run, et cetera. ERA is a bit better, but a starter can have a low ERA but not go very far into games, which would be an asset for any starter.

There's also the Baseball Writers of America system, whereby they use a random number generator to choose the best pitcher in the NL and AL at the end of each season.

I've always found Quality Starts (QS) to be a good way of rating a pitcher's performance, it has nothing to do with his team's performance but focuses only on a pitcher's performance and ability to go at least six innings into a start.

Recently, I read about a very interesting stat: Game Score. Game Score is designed to measure a starting pitcher's dominance over the game. It's much more in depth than QS, making it more complicated, but it takes a lot more into account. A pitcher starts the game with a "score" of 50. Points are then added or subtracted:

+1 Each out recorded
+2 Each inning completed after the 4th
+1 Each strikeout
-2 Each hit allowed
-4 Each earned run
-2 Each unearned run
-1 Each walk

Therefore, a high GS is good and a low GS is bad. Unfortunately, I can't find any database information for the GS of individual pitchers over the season, but FYI, the Jays currently sit 13th in the league with an average GS of 50.0 dead on. The Giants lead the majors with 54.6 and the Indians are bringing up the rear with 44.3.

UPDATE:

Today Halliday had a GS of 55; Price had a GS of 62.

I'm going to try and keep track of the GS for Jays' pitchers after each game.

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