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Randy Johnson facts

Posted by Andy on January 6, 2010

Just a few quick hits on Randy Johnson's career:

Here are the guys who faced him the most:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS SH SF IBB HBP GDP
Rickey Henderson 85 59 7 3 0 0 0 26 30 .119 .388 .169 .558 0 0 0 0 0
Ivan Rodriguez 81 78 19 4 0 1 5 3 17 .244 .272 .333 .605 0 0 0 0 4
Phil Nevin 78 69 18 4 0 3 13 9 22 .261 .346 .449 .795 0 0 0 0 3
Ruben Sierra 77 70 18 2 0 2 7 7 14 .257 .325 .371 .696 0 0 0 0 1
Devon White 75 66 19 6 0 3 5 8 22 .288 .373 .515 .888 0 0 1 1 0
Adrian Beltre 71 64 14 2 0 3 6 5 19 .219 .268 .391 .658 0 2 0 0 0
Juan Gonzalez 71 64 17 3 0 5 12 6 16 .266 .338 .547 .885 0 0 1 1 0
Mike Stanley 71 57 10 0 0 3 7 13 17 .175 .324 .333 .657 0 1 0 0 3
Paul Lo Duca 70 63 20 4 0 2 14 5 6 .317 .377 .476 .853 1 0 1 1 1
Kirby Puckett 66 60 17 3 0 1 9 6 14 .283 .348 .383 .732 0 0 0 0 2
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/6/2010.

Ouch, that's a painful line for Rickey Henderson. The 26 walks is nice, but everything else is ugly.

Here are the guys struck out most often by Johnson:

PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS SH SF IBB HBP GDP
Rickey Henderson 85 59 7 3 0 0 0 26 30 .119 .388 .169 .558 0 0 0 0 0
Dean Palmer 48 42 8 0 0 2 7 6 25 .190 .292 .333 .625 0 0 0 0 0
Sammy Sosa 62 58 13 0 1 4 9 4 25 .224 .274 .466 .740 0 0 0 0 2
Jim Leyritz 59 45 5 0 0 1 3 10 24 .111 .322 .178 .500 0 0 0 4 2
Tim Salmon 60 57 9 0 0 2 4 2 23 .158 .200 .263 .463 0 0 0 1 3
Chili Davis 65 58 16 4 0 3 9 7 22 .276 .354 .500 .854 0 0 0 0 0
Marquis Grissom 58 57 10 1 0 4 10 1 22 .175 .190 .404 .593 0 0 0 0 0
Phil Nevin 78 69 18 4 0 3 13 9 22 .261 .346 .449 .795 0 0 0 0 3
Devon White 75 66 19 6 0 3 5 8 22 .288 .373 .515 .888 0 0 1 1 0
Jeff Cirillo 65 58 15 5 0 1 7 3 20 .259 .292 .397 .689 0 3 0 1 1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/6/2010.

Now let's relive some of Johnson's best career starts, ranked by Game Score:

Rk Date Tm Opp Rslt App,Dec IP H R ER BB SO HR Pit Str GSc IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS PO BK WP ERA
1 2004-05-18 ARI ATL W 2-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 0 0 0 0 13 0 117 87 100 27 27 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
2 2002-04-21 ARI COL W 7-1 CG 9 ,W 9.0 2 1 0 1 17 0 118 82 97 31 30 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.00
3 2001-05-08 ARI CIN W 4-3 GS-9 9.0 3 1 1 0 20 0 124 92 97 29 29 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 1.00
4 1992-09-16 SEA CAL L 1-2 GS-9 9.0 1 1 0 1 15 0 115 79 97 31 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0.00
5 2003-09-14 ARI COL W 5-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 1 0 0 1 12 0 120 88 96 28 27 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0.00
6 2002-09-14 ARI MIL W 5-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 3 0 0 2 17 0 126 86 96 32 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.00
7 1993-05-16 SEA OAK W 7-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 1 0 0 3 14 0 123 79 96 30 27 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
8 1995-07-15 SEA TOR W 3-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 3 0 0 2 16 0 140 94 95 31 29 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
9 1991-08-14 SEA OAK W 4-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 1 0 0 3 12 0 138 87 94 30 27 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.00
10 1998-07-16 SEA MIN W 3-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 1 0 0 3 11 0 136 88 93 31 28 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0.00
11 1997-08-08 SEA CHW W 5-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 5 0 0 3 19 0 148 91 93 35 32 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.00
12 2002-08-05 ARI NYM W 2-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 2 0 0 2 11 0 113 71 92 31 29 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0.00
13 1997-06-08 SEA DET W 2-0 GS-8 ,W 8.0 1 0 0 3 15 0 125 82 92 27 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
14 1995-06-05 SEA BAL W 2-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 3 0 0 1 12 0 141 92 92 30 29 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
15 1994-06-20 SEA CAL W 5-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 3 0 0 1 11 0 110 77 91 29 28 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
16 1994-05-30 SEA MIN W 12-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 2 0 0 2 10 0 122 81 91 33 31 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.00
17 1993-09-21 SEA TEX W 8-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 3 0 0 1 11 0 143 97 91 32 31 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0.00
18 2004-04-16 ARI SDP W 5-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 2 0 0 1 8 0 116 80 90 31 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
19 2000-04-09 ARI PIT W 1-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 5 0 0 0 13 0 112 81 90 31 30 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0.00
20 1998-07-11 SEA ANA W 2-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 5 0 0 2 15 0 137 93 90 34 32 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0.00
21 2008-09-28 ARI COL W 2-1 CG 9 ,W 9.0 2 1 0 1 9 0 103 73 89 30 27 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0.00
22 2005-07-26 NYY MIN W 4-0 GS-8 ,W 8.0 2 0 0 0 11 0 97 71 89 26 25 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
23 2002-08-25 ARI CHC W 7-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 6 0 0 2 16 0 129 89 89 35 33 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
24 1998-08-28 HOU PIT W 2-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 7 0 0 0 16 0 130 100 89 34 34 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0.00
25 1997-06-02 SEA TOR W 3-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 2 0 0 3 9 0 133 83 89 31 28 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0.00
Rk Date Tm Opp Rslt App,Dec IP H R ER BB SO HR Pit Str GSc IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS PO BK WP ERA
26 1994-08-11 SEA OAK W 8-1 CG 9 ,W 9.0 4 1 1 1 15 0 131 88 89 32 30 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1.00
27 1990-06-02 SEA DET W 2-0 SHO9 ,W 9.0 0 0 0 6 8 0 138 88 89 33 27 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/6/2010.

Why did I show the first 27? Number 1 on the list is Johnson's perfect game with an almost unbeatable score of 100. His other no-hitter is all the way down at #27 on the list with a game score of "only" 89. That's right--this guy threw a no-hitter but also threw 26 other games that were even better. Just think about that. Is there any pitcher with an official no-hitter ranking lower on his own game score leader board? I doubt it. The list also features Johnson's 20-strikeout game as well as one of his two 19-strikeout games. (I was at his other 19-K game, the one that featuring a booming home run by Mark McGwire that nearly touched the roof of the Kingdome.)

And let's not forget some of his post-season accomplishments, including:

  • Two post-season shutouts in 2001
  • He got the win in relief in Game 5 of the 1995 division series against the Yankees, when Ken Griffey Jr. scored the winning run in the 11th inning
  • He pitched a complete game victory earlier in 1995 in the last game of the regular-season, a one-game playoff to give the Mariners their first playoff appearance.

Randy Johnson was truly one of the greats. It was my honor to see his career from start to finish.

Related posts:

    Congratulations Randy Johnson
    Randy Poffo
    Kelly Johnson, Robinson Cano, and most HR by a 2B
    Matt Stairs Passes Cliff Johnson
    Checking in on Robinson Cano and Kelly Johnson

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 9:15 am and is filed under Box Scores, Pitcher vs. Batter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

21 Responses to “Randy Johnson facts”

  1. * Happy trails, Randy Johnson « Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 10:43 am

    [...] had this interesting post this morning about some of Johnson’s accomplishments. You can see his whole record [...]

  2. jksesq1 Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 10:49 am

    Nice note on a wonderful pitcher. The media today is focused on "is he the best LHP ever?" with Koufax and Spahn also in the conversation. Although Lefty Grove was (way) before my time, he would almost certainly have won six straight Cy Young Awards from 1928-1933 (and perhaps a seventh, in 1935) had there been such an award at the time. He led the AL in wins and ERA 9 times each, and strikeouts 7 times, all while pitching in a park which mostly appears to have favored hitters. I would rank Grove's career first, Johnson's second, and Spahn's third, although Koufax's four-year peak was spectacular.

  3. Atlas Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 10:54 am

    Randy's career just about spans the portion of my life from when I first became interested in baseball to now. He's always been my favorite pitcher and the stat I've long marveled at is his K/9IP. Not only does he have the top career mark, 10.6K/9IP, but 7 of the top 10 individual season marks too!

    Fun fact about that last game in '95? The losing pitcher was Mark Langston, one of the players that was sent to Montreal in the trade that brought Randy to Seattle.

  4. drewdez Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 11:52 am

    Excellent post, Andy.

    I was reminded of another of Randy's greatest outings, on July 19, 2001. There was an issue with the lights at Qualcomm that caused the Diamondbacks-Padres game to be suspended after 2 innings the night before. When the game was resumed, Johnson came on in relief to start the bottom of the third.

    Arizona won 3-0 behind this line from Johnson:

    7IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 16K.

    I'll also never forget when he hit a bird with a pitch in a spring training game on March 24, 2001. I was sitting on the grass in the outfield at Tucson Electric Park that day, and I doubt if I'll ever witness a stranger baseball moment.

  5. JohnnyTwisto Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 12:03 pm

    And he saved his worst for the Yankees!

    I wouldn't be surprised if Cy Young has a no-hitter that ranks lower on his personal list. I think he threw 2 or 3 of them. It's possible one of them had very few strikeouts, and he certainly threw lots of CG and SHO that weren't no-hitters. Same could hold true for other pitchers of that time, when strikeouts were less common and CGs were more common.

  6. robinsong Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 12:56 pm

    I noticed that Randy had 7 games with more than 3 strikes per batter faced (in just the 27 games you listed). Is this a record?

  7. Andy Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 1:03 pm

    Well that's an interesting question.

    According to the PI, only 2 pitchers threw a CG this year with at least 3 times as many strikes thrown as batters faced. Jon Lester on 6/18 and Jake Peavy on 5/17.

    And here are all the such games since 1954.

    Rk Player #Matching W L W-L% ERA GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO WHIP
    1 Randy Johnson 7 Ind. Games 6 1 .857 0.58 7 7 5 0 62.0 25 4 1 5 94 0.48
    2 Roger Clemens 4 Ind. Games 3 1 .750 0.77 4 4 2 0 35.0 19 3 1 3 55 0.63
    3 Curt Schilling 2 Ind. Games 2 0 1.000 0.00 2 2 2 0 18.0 8 0 0 3 19 0.61
    4 Jason Schmidt 1 Ind. Games 1 0 1.000 0.00 1 1 1 0 9.0 1 0 0 1 13 0.22
    5 Jose Rijo 1 Ind. Games 1 0 1.000 3.60 1 1 0 0 5.0 5 2 2 0 7 1.00
    6 Jake Peavy 1 Ind. Games 1 0 1.000 1.00 1 1 0 0 9.0 4 1 1 0 8 0.44
    7 Phil Ortega 1 Ind. Games 0 1 .000 1.80 1 1 0 0 5.0 3 1 1 0 9 0.60
    8 Mike Mussina 1 Ind. Games 1 0 1.000 0.00 1 1 1 0 9.0 1 0 0 0 13 0.11
    9 Eric Milton 1 Ind. Games 1 0 1.000 0.00 1 1 1 0 9.0 3 0 0 0 11 0.33
    10 Kevin Millwood 1 Ind. Games 1 0 1.000 0.00 1 1 1 0 9.0 1 0 0 0 13 0.11
    11 Billy Loes 1 Ind. Games 1 0 1.000 1.80 1 1 0 0 5.0 1 1 1 0 6 0.20
    12 Jon Lester 1 Ind. Games 0 1 .000 3.60 1 1 0 0 5.0 8 2 2 0 4 1.60
    13 Tim Leary 1 Ind. Games 1 0 1.000 0.00 1 1 1 0 9.0 3 0 0 2 11 0.56
    14 Sandy Koufax 1 Ind. Games 1 0 1.000 1.00 1 1 0 0 9.0 5 1 0 2 10 0.78
    15 Rich Hill 1 Ind. Games 0 1 .000 7.20 1 1 0 0 5.0 4 4 3 2 10 1.20
    16 Erik Hanson 1 Ind. Games 1 0 1.000 0.00 1 1 1 0 9.0 4 0 0 0 10 0.44
    17 Dwight Gooden 1 Ind. Games 1 0 1.000 0.00 1 1 1 0 6.0 2 0 0 0 7 0.33
    18 Jeff Francis 1 Ind. Games 1 0 1.000 0.00 1 1 1 0 9.0 2 0 0 0 8 0.22
    19 Sid Fernandez 1 Ind. Games 0 1 .000 3.38 1 1 0 0 8.0 6 3 1 0 16 0.75
    20 Cal Eldred 1 Ind. Games 1 0 1.000 1.00 1 1 0 0 9.0 4 1 0 1 12 0.56
    21 Steve Dunning 1 Ind. Games 1 0 1.000 2.00 1 1 0 0 9.0 4 2 0 1 11 0.56
    22 Doug Drabek 1 Ind. Games 1 0 1.000 4.00 1 1 0 0 9.0 8 4 2 0 11 0.89
    23 David Cone 1 Ind. Games 1 0 1.000 0.00 1 1 1 0 9.0 3 0 0 1 19 0.44
    24 Kevin Brown 1 Ind. Games 1 0 1.000 0.00 1 1 1 0 9.0 1 0 0 2 11 0.33
    Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
    Generated 1/6/2010.

    So, hell yes, Randy Johnson holds that record (post-1954 at least)

  8. Andy Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 1:10 pm

    Offline Johnny Twisto reminded me that pitch data is far from complete, so there may be more such games even post-1954 not shown in the list above.

  9. JGS Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 1:57 pm

    "Is there any pitcher with an official no-hitter ranking lower on his own game score leader board? I doubt it."

    My first thought was AJ Burnett, whose no-hitter had a game score of 85--he has had some games better than that, but not nearly enough

    Tt would have to be a lots of walks, lots of strikeouts guy, which immediately led to Nolan Ryan. If he doesn't have more than Johnson, then no one does. Ryan's "worst" no-hitter had a game score of 92, placing it 24th on his list.

  10. Ian W. Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 3:38 pm

    When I saw the title to this post I assumed it'd be something similar to "Chuck Norris facts."

  11. Andy Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 3:40 pm

    Laugh...like "Randy Johnson once shot down the Goodyear blimp using just a baseball!"

  12. Djibouti Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 4:32 pm

    One of the more impressive Randy Johnson tidbits (not quite on the level of the exploding bird) is that he won 3 games in the '01 series including the relief appearance in game 7 the night after pitching game 6. Sure a pitcher winning 3 games in one WS is a bit of a fluky stat, but it's something we may never see again.

  13. tomepp Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 5:11 pm

    jksesq1: Don't forget about Steve Carlton in your list of all-time great lefties. While his career ERA+ and WL% numbers may be just a tad behind the pitchers you mentioned, his 4 Cy Young awards (2nd most by a lefty behind the Big Unit), 4136 Ks (also 2nd most by a lefty behind RJ), 329 Wins (2nd most by a lefty behind Spahn), 709 Games Started (most by a lefty), and 24 seasons played (most by a LHSP, perhaps?) have to count for something. Personally, I would rank Carlton ahead of Spahn for 3rd all-time LHSP career.

    Steve Carlton was "THE pitcher" for me growing up, being left-handed myself and living to the greater Philadelphia area in 1970's. The very first MLB game I attended was Carlton vs. Seaver at the Vet in the spring of 1972 – Lefty's first year with the Phils. (I was a big Mets fan, and Tom Terrific was my second favorite pitcher.) The Mets won that game with a pair of runs off Lefty in the late innings (8th or 9th, I think). The first game I saw at Shea was a Carlton-Seaver rematch in early September that year. Seaver and the Mets won again with a late-inning run. If memory serves, the score was 1-0 or 2-1 – a real pitcher’s duel. That game was also the first time I saw in person another favorite of mine pitching – Tug McGraw – who saved the game for Seaver. I think Carlton pitched CGs in both games, but I may be in error on that. (I should head to the game logs and look those games up…)

    Incidentally, Carlton, not Grove, is currently "the Lefty" when using the b-r search engine.

  14. Atlas Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 6:05 pm

    Randy should have had 6 Cy Young awards; he was robbed in '04.

    And I like the idea of "Chuck Norris" style baseball "facts".

    Randy Johnson was so good at striking out batters he often struck out the man on deck, pinch runners and the opposing team's radio announcer.

  15. kingturtle Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 8:26 pm

    yet another reason to love rickey henderson. obviously he figured out he didn't have a prayer to get a hit (much less make contact) - so he worked the count over and over, and would up with an extremely respectable .388 OBP, a full .270 over his .119 BA.

  16. Ian W. Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 9:28 pm

    Randy Johnson never tipped his pitches. He just threw and the ball knew where it was supposed to go.

  17. DoubleDiamond Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 10:19 pm

    I remember Johnson always doing very well against the Phillies (or the Phillies doing very poorly against Johnson), but I don't see any games against them in that list of 27 games. Maybe it's because the Phillies knew to sit their lefthanded hitters who tended to struggle against lefthanded pitchers whenever the Big Unit pitched against them.

    Of course, the best memory of Johnson pitching against someone in a Phillies uniform has to be John Kruk in the 1993 All Star Game!

  18. SJBlonger Says:
    January 6th, 2010 at 10:48 pm

    Young and Ryan are good guesses to Andy's poser, but JGS has the right idea. What you need to look for is pitchers with really bad no-hitters. Steve Barber's 8.2 innings of the disastrous 2-1 lost no-hitter renders a game score of 71, which is the 52nd best start on his list. I can't get to my list of really bad no-hitters at the moment, but if you remember a good one, go for it.

  19. howie Says:
    January 7th, 2010 at 10:08 am

    one of his greatest stats is that he came 11 K's short of breaking Ryan's single season strikeout record (383), but did so pitching 76 1/3 less innings in 2001.

  20. badenjr Says:
    January 7th, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    I'm not sure what the definition of an "official" no-hitter is, but pitchers who threw no-hitters in rain-shortened games will have their no-hitter show up lower on their personal list. Mike McCormick recorded a game score of 68 with a 5 inning no-hitter in 1959, and that was only tied for 73rd on his list.

  21. SJBlonger Says:
    January 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm

    In the pantheon of sloppy no-hitters we have:

    14 baserunners, Barber/Miller (1967-04-30), 52nd on Barber's list by gamescore
    11 baserunners, Jim Maloney (10 inn., 12 K), 5th on Maloney's list
    11 baserunners, Odom/Barrios, Odom only 5 innings, so I didn't bother checking
    10 baserunners, A.J. Burnett, 4th on his list
    9 baserunners, Dock Ellis, 1st on his list

    So if you'll forgive Steve Barber for not getting the last out (and remember, there was an error on the last batter he faced in the 9th), then he might win this challenge among modern players.

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