MadBum has, to date, faced 980 batters, with a FIP of 3.12. Sounds impressive, but Dave Cameron pointed out that he plays at AT&T, which suppresses homers, making his FIP look better than it should be. Apparently, 3.15 just isn't that impressive.
Well, here's a list of all of the pitchers with a FIP of 3.27 or better in their first 980 BFs as a starter, out of all MLB pitchers who debuted in the last 60 years, together with the year and their age when they reached that point:
| Year | Age | FIP | |
| Dwight Gooden | 1985 | 21 | 2.16 |
| Bill Singer | 1968 | 24 | 2.8 |
| Orel Hershiser | 1985 | 27 | 2.82 |
| Vida Blue | 1971 | 22 | 2.92 |
| Rick Reuschel | 1973 | 24 | 2.94 |
| Bill Gullickson | 1981 | 22 | 2.95 |
| Roy Oswalt | 2002 | 25 | 2.99 |
| Tim Belcher | 1989 | 28 | 3.03 |
| Mark Prior | 2003 | 23 | 3.04 |
| Fernando Valenzuela | 1982 | 22 | 3.05 |
| Bob Veale | 1964 | 29 | 3.12 |
| Shane Reynolds | 1995 | 27 | 3.14 |
| Don Sutton | 1967 | 22 | 3.14 |
| Grant Jackson | 1969 | 27 | 3.14 |
| Alejandro Pena | 1984 | 25 | 3.14 |
| Hideo Nomo | 1996 | 28 | 3.15 |
| Ed Halicki | 1975 | 25 | 3.18 |
| Jose DeLeon | 1984 | 24 | 3.19 |
| Gary Peters | 1964 | 27 | 3.20 |
| Ron Guidry | 1978 | 28 | 3.20 |
| Tim Lincecum | 2008 | 24 | 3.22 |
| Jeff Fassero | 1994 | 31 | 3.24 |
| Mike Cuellar | 1966 | 29 | 3.27 |
| Bob Moose | 1969 | 22 | 3.27 |
| Don Wilson | 1968 | 23 | 3.27 |
Disclaimer: in this post, I am using the basic Tom Tango formula for FIP, one that doesn't adjust for ballparks etc. That's simply because I don't have that sort of information in my database. As a result, my FIP differs from, say, Fangraphs FIP by +/- 0.1: I think that's a pretty decent approximation. Every Giants pitcher with a decent SS I checked differed by less than 0.05.
Disclaimer 2: Age is calculated by deducting the year of birth from the year in which the 980 BF point was reached. Look, I'm lazy.
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