Pitchers who raked
Posted by Andy on September 16, 2007
Click through for some info on the best-hitting pitchers of all time.
I did all of the following searches using the PI Batting Season Finder, setting the position to pitcher.
Here are the top 10 totals for homers by a pitcher:
Cnt Player **HR** From To Ages G PA AB R H 2B 3B RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions Teams +----+-----------------+-------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+ 1 Wes Ferrell 38 1927 1941 19-33 548 1345 1176 175 329 57 12 208 129 0 185 0 40 0 0 2 0 .280 .351 .446 .797 *1/7 CLE-BOS-TOT-NYY-BRO-BSN 2 Bob Lemon 37 1941 1958 20-37 615 1330 1183 148 274 54 9 147 93 0 241 2 49 3 9 2 1 .232 .288 .386 .674 *1/859 CLE 3 Red Ruffing 36 1924 1947 19-42 882 2083 1937 207 521 98 13 273 97 0 266 6 43 0 13 1 1 .269 .306 .389 .695 *1/79 BOS-TOT-NYY-CHW 4 Earl Wilson 35 1959 1970 24-35 405 838 740 95 144 12 6 111 67 0 271 5 22 4 7 0 0 .195 .265 .369 .634 *1 BOS-TOT-DET 5 Warren Spahn 35 1942 1965 21-44 783 2055 1872 141 363 57 6 189 94 0 487 7 68 14 23 4 2 .194 .234 .287 .521 *1 BSN-MLN-TOT 6 Don Drysdale 29 1956 1969 19-32 547 1309 1169 96 218 26 7 113 60 0 370 5 69 6 34 0 2 .186 .228 .295 .523 *1 BRO-LAD 7 Bob Gibson 24 1959 1975 23-39 596 1489 1328 132 274 44 5 144 63 0 415 8 72 18 13 13 10 .206 .243 .301 .544 *1 STL 8 Walter Johnson 24 1907 1927 19-39 933 2517 2324 241 547 94 41 255 110 0 251 13 70 0 0 13 4 .235 .274 .342 .616 *1/897 WSH 9 Bucky Walters 23 1931 1950 22-41 715 2149 1966 227 477 99 16 234 114 0 303 5 64 0 34 12 1 .243 .286 .344 .630 *15/47 BSN-BOS-TOT-PHI-CIN-BSN 10 Reb Russell 22 1913 1923 24-34 420 1062 976 142 262 48 25 172 42 0 130 15 29 0 0 9 3 .268 .309 .436 .745 *19/7 CHW-PIT
There a lot of pretty low career batting averages there. If you'd like to see the full list of career homer leaders by pitchers, click here.
So, then, let's look at leaders for batting average among pitchers, minimum 500 career plate appearances:
Cnt Player **BA** R PA From To Ages G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS OBP SLG OPS Positions Teams +----+-----------------+---------+----+-----+----+----+-----+----+-----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+ 1 George Uhle .289 172 1498 1919 1936 20-37 722 1360 393 60 21 9 187 98 0 112 4 36 0 0 6 8 .339 .384 .723 *1 CLE-DET-TOT-NYY-CLE 2 Doc Crandall .285 109 1033 1908 1918 20-30 500 887 253 35 19 9 126 118 0 94 4 24 0 0 9 0 .372 .398 .770 *1/46983 NYG-TOT-SLM-SLB-BSN 3 Wes Ferrell .280 175 1345 1927 1941 19-33 548 1176 329 57 12 38 208 129 0 185 0 40 0 0 2 0 .351 .446 .797 *1/7 CLE-BOS-TOT-NYY-BRO-BSN 4 Jack Scott .275 67 736 1916 1929 24-37 408 680 187 31 4 5 73 39 0 76 5 12 0 0 1 2 .319 .354 .673 *1/9 PIT-BSN-TOT-NYG-PHI 5 Don Newcombe .271 94 988 1949 1960 23-34 452 878 238 33 3 15 108 87 1 147 3 17 3 17 2 1 .338 .367 .705 *1 BRO-TOT-CIN 6 Sloppy Thurston .270 65 698 1923 1933 24-34 343 648 175 38 10 5 79 24 0 91 3 23 0 1 1 1 .299 .383 .682 *1/9 TOT-CHW-WSH-BRO 7 Red Ruffing .269 207 2083 1924 1947 19-42 882 1937 521 98 13 36 273 97 0 266 6 43 0 13 1 1 .306 .389 .695 *1/79 BOS-TOT-NYY-CHW 8 Carl Mays .268 113 1199 1915 1929 23-37 502 1085 291 32 21 5 110 66 0 116 4 44 0 0 1 1 .313 .350 .663 *1 BOS-TOT-NYY-CIN-NYG 9 Reb Russell .268 142 1062 1913 1923 24-34 420 976 262 48 25 22 172 42 0 130 15 29 0 0 9 3 .309 .436 .745 *19/7 CHW-PIT 10 Johnny Marcum .265 56 580 1933 1939 23-29 299 533 141 18 1 5 70 36 0 32 0 11 0 1 0 1 .311 .330 .641 *1 PHA-BOS-TOT
Boy, that Sloppy Thurston sure could hit. Note a couple of guys on this list, Doc Crandall and Wes Ferrell, had OBP over .350....pretty impressive. No automatic out.
Again, for the full leaderboard, click here.
Here's the pitchers with the most career seasons with at least 10 RBI:
From To Ages Seasons Link to Individual Seasons +-----------------+----+----+-----+-------+------------------------------+ Red Ruffing 1925 1942 20-37 15 Ind. Seasons Walter Johnson 1910 1927 22-39 15 Ind. Seasons Christy Mathewson 1902 1912 21-31 10 Ind. Seasons Warren Spahn 1949 1961 28-40 9 Ind. Seasons George Uhle 1921 1930 22-31 9 Ind. Seasons Burleigh Grimes 1919 1930 25-36 9 Ind. Seasons Pete Alexander 1912 1928 25-41 9 Ind. Seasons Early Wynn 1943 1958 23-38 8 Ind. Seasons Wes Ferrell 1929 1937 21-29 8 Ind. Seasons George Mullin 1902 1914 21-33 8 Ind. Seasons Bob Lemon 1948 1956 27-35 7 Ind. Seasons Schoolboy Rowe 1934 1947 24-37 7 Ind. Seasons Bucky Walters 1936 1944 27-35 7 Ind. Seasons Joe Bush 1918 1926 25-33 7 Ind. Seasons Bob Gibson 1961 1972 25-36 6 Ind. Seasons Jim Tobin 1938 1945 25-32 6 Ind. Seasons Ted Lyons 1929 1942 28-41 6 Ind. Seasons Dutch Ruether 1920 1927 26-33 6 Ind. Seasons Al Orth 1901 1907 28-34 6 Ind. Seasons
Only Bob Gibson played as recently as 1960. Pitchers appeared in a lot more games (and pitched much longer into individual games) in the earlier half of last century, so there was greater opportunity to amass 10 RBIs in a season. The full list of 10-RBI seasons is here.
So, let's take a look at all three leaderboards agaiun, but this just for active players.
First, career home run leaders among active pitchers:
Cnt Player **HR** From To Ages G PA AB R H 2B 3B RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions Teams +----+-----------------+-------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+ 1 Carlos Zambrano 12 2001 2007 20-26 206 438 403 42 89 14 2 33 5 0 149 0 28 2 8 1 0 .221 .229 .355 .584 *1 CHC 2 Livan Hernandez 9 1996 2007 21-32 361 881 783 56 181 34 2 72 6 0 107 4 85 3 27 0 0 .231 .240 .314 .554 *1 FLA-TOT-SFG-MON-WSN-ARI 3 Dontrelle Willis 8 2003 2007 21-25 179 397 345 38 78 9 4 34 21 0 64 1 29 1 5 0 1 .226 .272 .345 .617 *1 FLA 4 Jason Schmidt 7 1995 2007 22-34 319 705 591 28 62 9 0 21 22 0 282 2 89 1 5 0 0 .105 .140 .156 .296 *1 ATL-TOT-PIT-SFG-LAD 5 Kerry Wood 7 1998 2007 21-30 207 402 344 23 59 6 0 32 11 0 112 0 46 1 1 0 0 .172 .197 .250 .447 *1 CHC 6 Russ Ortiz 6 1998 2007 24-33 285 577 479 43 99 23 0 47 34 0 126 2 58 4 8 0 0 .207 .260 .292 .552 *1 SFG-ATL-ARI-TOT-SFG 7 Greg Maddux 5 1986 2007 20-41 722 1745 1531 102 265 35 2 81 33 0 402 5 174 2 14 10 3 .173 .193 .208 .401 *1 CHC-ATL-TOT-SDP 8 John Smoltz 5 1988 2007 21-40 711 1136 920 76 149 26 2 60 78 0 352 3 134 1 14 3 2 .162 .230 .211 .441 *1 ATL 9 Micah Owings 4 2007 2007 24-24 32 56 52 8 15 3 1 12 2 0 15 0 1 1 0 0 0 .288 .309 .615 .924 /*1 ARI 10 Kip Wells 4 1999 2007 22-30 235 332 301 28 61 10 1 17 4 0 129 1 26 0 0 1 0 .203 .216 .282 .498 *1 CHW-PIT-TOT-STL 11 Woody Williams 4 1993 2007 26-40 442 617 540 52 105 25 1 43 17 0 183 5 45 10 3 1 1 .194 .222 .267 .489 *1 TOR-SDP-TOT-STL-HOU 12 Randy Wolf 4 1999 2007 22-30 220 465 383 35 73 21 0 36 25 0 125 0 52 5 6 0 0 .191 .237 .277 .514 *1 PHI-LAD 13 Bronson Arroyo 3 2000 2007 23-30 193 225 199 11 20 7 0 10 6 0 93 1 18 1 2 0 0 .101 .130 .181 .311 *1 PIT-BOS-CIN 14 A.J. Burnett 3 1999 2007 22-30 177 305 258 12 34 6 3 9 12 0 124 2 33 0 3 0 0 .132 .176 .213 .389 *1 FLA-TOR 15 Adam Eaton 3 2000 2007 22-29 199 360 308 28 61 14 1 24 26 0 104 3 23 0 4 5 1 .198 .267 .279 .546 *1 SDP-TEX-PHI 16 Jason Marquis 3 2000 2007 21-28 267 404 375 42 78 22 2 30 8 0 89 1 19 1 6 1 0 .208 .226 .301 .527 *1 ATL-STL-CHC 17 Jorge Sosa 3 2002 2007 25-30 227 97 80 5 11 2 0 4 6 0 35 0 11 0 1 0 0 .138 .198 .275 .473 *1 TBD-ATL-TOT-NYM 18 Steve Trachsel 3 1993 2007 22-36 415 766 649 49 106 17 1 40 26 0 200 2 87 2 10 1 1 .163 .197 .206 .403 *1 CHC-TOT-NYM 19 Glendon Rusch 3 1997 2006 22-31 301 353 305 16 47 4 0 19 9 0 99 1 38 0 6 0 0 .154 .181 .197 .378 *1 KCR-TOT-NYM-MIL-CHC
Incidentally, hving not pitched in 2 years, Mike Hampton is no longer considered active, or else he's be at the top of this list with 15 HR. If you click on Dontrelle Willis' name above, you'll see that he's had at least 1 homer in every year of his career so far. I wonder what the record is for that among pitchers? Also note that Micah Owings is already 9th on the active list, despite 2007 being his rookie year. Everybody else on the list above has been active since at least 2003.
Here are batting average leaders, among all pitchers with at least 200 plate appearances in their career. This is everybody with a cumulative batting average over .200:
Cnt Player **BA** PA From To Ages G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS OBP SLG OPS Positions Teams +----+-----------------+---------+-----+----+----+-----+----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+ 1 Livan Hernandez .231 881 1996 2007 21-32 361 783 56 181 34 2 9 72 6 0 107 4 85 3 27 0 0 .240 .314 .554 *1 FLA-TOT-SFG-MON-WSN-ARI 2 Dontrelle Willis .226 397 2003 2007 21-25 179 345 38 78 9 4 8 34 21 0 64 1 29 1 5 0 1 .272 .345 .617 *1 FLA 3 Darren Oliver .221 243 1993 2007 22-36 414 217 17 48 11 0 1 20 8 0 74 3 15 0 5 0 0 .259 .286 .545 *1 TEX-TOT-STL-TEX-BOS-COL-NYM-LAA 4 Carlos Zambrano .221 438 2001 2007 20-26 206 403 42 89 14 2 12 33 5 0 149 0 28 2 8 1 0 .229 .355 .584 *1 CHC 5 Javier Vazquez .212 527 1998 2007 21-30 319 433 32 92 10 2 1 24 17 0 70 1 74 2 7 0 1 .243 .252 .495 *1 MON-NYY-ARI-CHW 6 Jason Marquis .208 404 2000 2007 21-28 267 375 42 78 22 2 3 30 8 0 89 1 19 1 6 1 0 .226 .301 .527 *1 ATL-STL-CHC 7 Jason Jennings .207 377 2001 2007 22-28 184 328 18 68 14 0 2 26 19 0 80 1 28 1 1 0 0 .252 .268 .520 *1 COL-HOU 8 Russ Ortiz .207 577 1998 2007 24-33 285 479 43 99 23 0 6 47 34 0 126 2 58 4 8 0 0 .260 .292 .552 *1 SFG-ATL-ARI-TOT-SFG 9 Jeff Weaver .205 219 1999 2007 22-30 290 190 13 39 6 1 0 13 6 0 64 1 22 0 1 0 0 .234 .247 .481 *1 DET-TOT-NYY-LAD-SEA 10 Kip Wells .203 332 1999 2007 22-30 235 301 28 61 10 1 4 17 4 0 129 1 26 0 0 1 0 .216 .282 .498 *1 CHW-PIT-TOT-STL 11 Mark Prior .201 234 2002 2006 21-25 108 204 19 41 10 0 1 13 8 0 81 0 22 0 2 0 0 .231 .265 .496 *1 CHC
Notice just how much lower all these numbers are than the since-1901 leaderboard above. Lower BAs, lower OBPs, and lower SLGs. No pitchers hit today like how they used to back then. Again, Hampton is at .242 for his career and would be first.
And finally here is the COMPLETE list of all active pitchers with 10-RBI seasons:
From To Ages Seasons Link to Individual Seasons +-----------------+----+----+-----+-------+------------------------------+ Dontrelle Willis 2005 2006 23-24 2 Ind. Seasons Micah Owings 2007 2007 24-24 1 Ind. Seasons Carlos Zambrano 2006 2006 25-25 1 Ind. Seasons Livan Hernandez 2004 2004 29-29 1 Ind. Seasons Randy Wolf 2003 2003 26-26 1 Ind. Seasons Russ Ortiz 2003 2003 29-29 1 Ind. Seasons Kevin Millwood 2002 2002 27-27 1 Ind. Seasons Jason Jennings 2002 2002 23-23 1 Ind. Seasons John Smoltz 1996 1996 29-29 1 Ind. Seasons
That's it, folks! Hampton's got 2 himself.
It's just so much harder for a pitcher to get 10 RBIs these days. In a full season, he might get 35 starts and an average of 2-3 plate appearances per start. That's just roughly 80-90 plate appearances per year, for which getting 10 RBIs would require some pretty good hitting.
So, then, here is a simple RBI career leaderboard for active pitchers:
Cnt Player **RBI** From To Ages G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions Teams +----+-----------------+--------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+ 1 Tom Glavine 89 1987 2007 21-41 692 1617 1302 91 244 25 2 1 98 0 324 2 212 3 14 1 0 .187 .245 .212 .457 *1 ATL-NYM 2 Greg Maddux 81 1986 2007 20-41 722 1745 1531 102 265 35 2 5 33 0 402 5 174 2 14 10 3 .173 .193 .208 .401 *1 CHC-ATL-TOT-SDP 3 Livan Hernandez 72 1996 2007 21-32 361 881 783 56 181 34 2 9 6 0 107 4 85 3 27 0 0 .231 .240 .314 .554 *1 FLA-TOT-SFG-MON-WSN-ARI 4 John Smoltz 60 1988 2007 21-40 711 1136 920 76 149 26 2 5 78 0 352 3 134 1 14 3 2 .162 .230 .211 .441 *1 ATL 5 Russ Ortiz 47 1998 2007 24-33 285 577 479 43 99 23 0 6 34 0 126 2 58 4 8 0 0 .207 .260 .292 .552 *1 SFG-ATL-ARI-TOT-SFG 6 Woody Williams 43 1993 2007 26-40 442 617 540 52 105 25 1 4 17 0 183 5 45 10 3 1 1 .194 .222 .267 .489 *1 TOR-SDP-TOT-STL-HOU 7 Steve Trachsel 40 1993 2007 22-36 415 766 649 49 106 17 1 3 26 0 200 2 87 2 10 1 1 .163 .197 .206 .403 *1 CHC-TOT-NYM 8 Matt Morris 37 1997 2007 22-32 301 639 531 34 88 17 0 2 27 0 209 0 80 1 1 0 1 .166 .206 .209 .415 *1 STL-SFG-TOT 9 Randy Wolf 36 1999 2007 22-30 220 465 383 35 73 21 0 4 25 0 125 0 52 5 6 0 0 .191 .237 .277 .514 *1 PHI-LAD 10 Randy Johnson 35 1988 2007 24-43 567 603 549 17 69 13 0 1 14 0 254 2 37 1 10 0 0 .126 .150 .155 .305 *1/7 MON-TOT-SEA-ARI-NYY 11 Dontrelle Willis 34 2003 2007 21-25 179 397 345 38 78 9 4 8 21 0 64 1 29 1 5 0 1 .226 .272 .345 .617 *1 FLA 12 Carlos Zambrano 33 2001 2007 20-26 206 438 403 42 89 14 2 12 5 0 149 0 28 2 8 1 0 .221 .229 .355 .584 *1 CHC 13 Kerry Wood 32 1998 2007 21-30 207 402 344 23 59 6 0 7 11 0 112 0 46 1 1 0 0 .172 .197 .250 .447 *1 CHC 14 Jason Marquis 30 2000 2007 21-28 267 404 375 42 78 22 2 3 8 0 89 1 19 1 6 1 0 .208 .226 .301 .527 *1 ATL-STL-CHC 15 Chan Ho Park 30 1994 2007 21-34 326 475 406 26 74 15 1 2 17 0 145 0 50 2 4 0 0 .182 .214 .239 .453 *1 LAD-TEX-TOT-SDP-NYM 16 Curt Schilling 29 1988 2007 21-40 569 901 773 39 117 13 1 0 25 0 270 0 102 1 8 1 1 .151 .178 .171 .349 *1 BAL-HOU-PHI-TOT-ARI-BOS 17 Brett Tomko 29 1997 2007 24-34 351 534 443 23 71 9 0 0 19 0 174 0 71 1 5 0 1 .160 .194 .181 .375 *1 CIN-SEA-SDP-STL-SFG-LAD-TOT 18 Brad Penny 27 2000 2007 22-29 230 487 449 22 69 15 2 2 3 0 147 3 32 0 3 0 0 .154 .165 .209 .374 *1 FLA-TOT-LAD 19 Jason Jennings 26 2001 2007 22-28 184 377 328 18 68 14 0 2 19 0 80 1 28 1 1 0 0 .207 .252 .268 .520 *1 COL-HOU 20 Roy Oswalt 26 2001 2007 23-29 222 527 435 19 67 7 0 1 19 0 123 4 68 1 4 0 0 .154 .196 .177 .373 *1 HOU
If chicks really do dig the long ball, Glavine and Maddux are out of luck, with just 6 homers between them. For their sakes, hopefully chicks also dig the RBIs.
September 16th, 2007 at 8:47 am
What about Ken Brett? http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/brettke01.shtml
September 16th, 2007 at 9:54 am
Not enough PA's to qualify.
September 16th, 2007 at 9:57 am
This guy could hit, too. http://www.baseball-reference.com/f/forscbo01.shtml
September 16th, 2007 at 10:15 am
Top 10 slugging pitchers since the 70's (ranked by SLG%, min 400 PA):
1. Ken Brett .398
2. Carlos Zambrano .355
3. Mike Hampton .354
4. Dontrelle Willis .345
5. Don Robinson .330
6. Rick Rhoden .323
7. Bob Forsch .321
8. Livan Hernandez .313
9. Ken Wise .307
10. Jason Marquis .301