In his fourteenth MLB season with his eighth different organization, veteran left-hander Jose Quintana continues to chug along, carrying a sub-3.00 ERA as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers heading into mid-May. That could obviously have a direct effect on the Chicago Cubs, who are looking to de-throne the Brew Crew in the NL Central, but that’s now what we’re here to talk about.
In his next start, barring a Ryan Pressly-level meltdown, Quintana will surpass 2,000 innings pitched in his big-league career. He’ll become the 450th pitcher in MLB history to hit the mark, but just the sixth active hurler, joining the likes of Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Chris Sale, Charlie Morton and Clayton Kershaw.
To give you an idea of just how rare that club is – there have been more than 11,000 pitchers in Major League Baseball over the last 150 or so years – which means only about four percent eclipsed the 2,000-inning mark in their careers.
For Quintana, the journey began back in 2012 as a member of the Chicago White Sox. He quickly established himself as a top-of-the-rotation arm there, earning an All-Star nod and getting down-ballot AL Cy Young votes in 2016. He’s best known at this point for being a part of the trade that saw then-prospects Dylan Cease and Eloy Jimenez head to the South Side, with Quintana joining a Cubs rotation in dire need of reinforcements at the 2017 trade deadline.
Jose Quintana never lived up to the hype as a member of the Cubs
Leading up to that deal, Quintana amassed 21.2 bWAR with the White Sox in five-plus seasons. But in four years with the Cubs, the left-hander was worth just 3.6 bWAR. In fact, if you add up his bWAR pitching for every team besides the Sox, he’s at just 11.4 bWAR since that trade – really giving you an idea of how high that early career peak was.
That’s not to say he’s not still capable of being an effective starter. You don’t hit 2,000 innings without being able to get guys out consistently. Since the start of 2022, pitching for the Pirates, Cardinals, Mets and Brewers, Quintana has pitched to a 3.35 ERA and 120 ERA+ in 81 starts – enjoying a nice resurgence here in the latter years of his career.
He’ll always be a controversial topic for Cubs fans, despite Eloy Jimenez’ cratering out in recent years, but it’s still an accomplishment worth tipping your cap to – even if it comes with him pitching for one of Chicago’s most despised foes.