Strikeout / 9 IP -- All Time Best

[Tim]

#1 - 10.949 - Randy Johnson

#2 - 10.436 - Kerry Wood

#3 - 10.246 - Pedro Martinez

#4 - 9.548 - Nolan Ryan

#5 - 9.278 - Sandy Koufax

 

BTW - Mark Prior would rate #2 on this list with 10.551 K/9IP

[Balsa]

Can you also show number of innings pitched?

 

But my that is interesting...

[Laura]

FYI: Johan Santana - 9.47 K/9 (856 IPs)

[stitchface]

the cubs should hang on to wood and prior.

[FergieJ31]

#1 - 10.949 - Randy Johnson

#2 - 10.436 - Kerry Wood

#3 - 10.246 - Pedro Martinez

#4 - 9.548 - Nolan Ryan

#5 - 9.278 - Sandy Koufax

 

BTW - Mark Prior would rate #2 on this list with 10.551 K/9IP

 

Just for grins I decided to take out the 20K game and recalc his number:

 

#2 - 10.358 - Kerry Wood

 

Still #2.

 

My point is, Kerry's detractors say he's never won 15 (yada yada), and only made a name for himself with that 20K game. They're wrong -- he made a name for himself because he can strike out guys like there's no tomorrow.

 

I'm a huge Kerry fan, always have been, and very very glad he's still a Cub.

[Coach C]

#1 - 10.949 - Randy Johnson

#2 - 10.436 - Kerry Wood

#3 - 10.246 - Pedro Martinez

#4 - 9.548 - Nolan Ryan

#5 - 9.278 - Sandy Koufax

 

BTW - Mark Prior would rate #2 on this list with 10.551 K/9IP

 

Just for grins I decided to take out the 20K game and recalc his number:

 

#2 - 10.358 - Kerry Wood

 

Still #2.

 

My point is, Kerry's detractors say he's never won 15 (yada yada), and only made a name for himself with that 20K game. They're wrong -- he made a name for himself because he can strike out guys like there's no tomorrow.

 

I'm a huge Kerry fan, always have been, and very very glad he's still a Cub.

 

I'm also a Kerry fan, and I'm glad that he's a Cub. However, it's really frusterating to see him getting injured over and over and over though.

[Omar]

I wonder if hell really is Mark Prior & Kerry Wood on back-to-back days facing a Cubs offense..

 

God knows how many Ks they'd get.

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

I'm also a Kerry fan, and I'm glad that he's a Cub. However, it's really frusterating to see him getting injured over and over and over though.

 

Heh, yea. I'm also a huge Kerry fan (hence the name), but the wait for him to become KERRY WOOD has been a long and painful one.

 

I don't know if he'll ever be what he could have been, but theres always that hope. While I think his mechanics early on plus his heavy workload most of his career hurt him, I think the real turning point was when he went and pretty much scrapped his curveball and fell in love with his slider. There are points when I'm watching him when I can sit and call his sequence, and it'd be slider, slider, fastball, slider.

 

He's like the girl in school who absolutely teases you with her body and just everything else, but never lets you touch.

 

Pretty irritating.

[ManCrushOnNomar]

What's the minimum IPs for the list?

[Cubzfan64]

I wonder if hell really is Mark Prior & Kerry Wood on back-to-back days facing a Cubs offense..

 

God knows how many Ks they'd get.

 

Add Carlos Zambrano on day 3 and you get an even lower level of hell!!!

[Mizzou]

Question: Why is it that we say strikeouts don't matter when we're talking about a hitter, yet we always praise pitchers who strike out a ton of hitters?

[stitchface]

Question: Why is it that we say strikeouts don't matter when we're talking about a hitter, yet we always praise pitchers who strike out a ton of hitters?

 

because measuring strike outs for a pitcher is a good way to predict a pitchers success since it eliminates the luck involved in BABIP. Strikeouts matter for a hitter, but there are better ways to measure a hitters success than strikeouts. in other words, if a hitter has a .400 OBP and .600 SLP, you don't care if he strikes out a ton. If a hitter has a .300 OBP and .350 SLP, you might be concerned.

[Laura]

What's the minimum IPs for the list?

 

It's the career list from baseballreference.com.

 

Minimum of 1000 IP, 3000 PA and 100 decisions for career and active leaderboards for rate statistics.

[Warpticon]

Question: Why is it that we say strikeouts don't matter when we're talking about a hitter, yet we always praise pitchers who strike out a ton of hitters?

 

Because of the perspective. Strikeouts are valuable from either perspective because of the elimination of other possibilities. It is usually better to not strike out than to strike out at the plate, and better to strike a batter out than not to as a pitcher.

 

The problem lies in perspective and interpretation. Often, when people are talking about strikeouts as a detriment to a hitter, they do so as an aside to whatever offensive production exists. For example, when comparing two players with very similar production, they'll say that the one that struck out less was more productive. This is folly. If both players have 106 RBI, or bat .312, or hit 40 home runs, then the hypothetical possibility that those strikeouts could have been other production is moot, because that's not what actually happened. The extra balls in play are part of what led to the production the player striking out less achieved. When you disparage a player additionally for his strikeouts moreso than his actual production, you're essentially double penalizing him, which isn't fair, and is detrimental to meaningful and accurate player evaluation. Take, for example, the ever-controversial Adam Dunn. To further illustrate, I'll take an often debated player, Adam Dunn.

 

2005: 543 AB, 40 HR, 101 RBI, .927 OPS, 168 K

 

Good numbers, but the K's are very high, right? Well, one of the common detractions of him is just that--he strikes out too much. Well, it's true that he strikes out a lot, and that if he didn't, he could be more productive. But what it doesn't mean is that his actual 40 home runs and 100+ RBI are any less valuable. It simply means that he's missing the chance to possibly hit 45 homers and knock in 120. His production is still excellent. A player who makes better contact is not better or more valuable just because he makes better contact: he has to actually produce more than Dunn to be more valuable. Strikeouts are bad, but they do not negate real, tangible production.

[GaryWoods]

#1 - 10.949 - Randy Johnson

#2 - 10.436 - Kerry Wood

#3 - 10.246 - Pedro Martinez

#4 - 9.548 - Nolan Ryan

#5 - 9.278 - Sandy Koufax

 

BTW - Mark Prior would rate #2 on this list with 10.551 K/9IP

 

Just for grins I decided to take out the 20K game and recalc his number:

 

#2 - 10.358 - Kerry Wood

 

Still #2.

 

My point is, Kerry's detractors say he's never won 15 (yada yada), and only made a name for himself with that 20K game. They're wrong -- he made a name for himself because he can strike out guys like there's no tomorrow.

 

I'm a huge Kerry fan, always have been, and very very glad he's still a Cub.

 

But if you take out his entire first season, which should be considered an anomoly because much of his success was achieved using a pitch he no longer throws, he drops to #3 at 10.06.

 

Not that it really matters, he's still an outstanding strikeout artist. It just seemed somewhat relevent in the context of the discussion

[Bgbird68]

Just for fun I thought I would add up the IP's since 98 (Wood's first year)

 

Johnson 1859.2

Pedro 1600.7

 

And for fun I thought I would go to the next current pitcher listed:

 

Schilling 1663.3

 

And Wood's by the way? 1109.0

 

Eric Plunk is #12 on the K/IP list, so I'm not quite sure of the gravity of this stat.

[Roast]

Just for fun I thought I would add up the IP's since 98 (Wood's first year)

 

Johnson 1859.2

Pedro 1600.7

 

And for fun I thought I would go to the next current pitcher listed:

 

Schilling 1663.3

 

And Wood's by the way? 1109.0

 

Eric Plunk is #12 on the K/IP list, so I'm not quite sure of the gravity of this stat.

 

Ahhh, i thought this thread had been way to positive.

[FergieJ31]

#1 - 10.949 - Randy Johnson

#2 - 10.436 - Kerry Wood

#3 - 10.246 - Pedro Martinez

#4 - 9.548 - Nolan Ryan

#5 - 9.278 - Sandy Koufax

 

BTW - Mark Prior would rate #2 on this list with 10.551 K/9IP

 

Just for grins I decided to take out the 20K game and recalc his number:

 

#2 - 10.358 - Kerry Wood

 

Still #2.

 

My point is, Kerry's detractors say he's never won 15 (yada yada), and only made a name for himself with that 20K game. They're wrong -- he made a name for himself because he can strike out guys like there's no tomorrow.

 

I'm a huge Kerry fan, always have been, and very very glad he's still a Cub.

 

But if you take out his entire first season, which should be considered an anomoly because much of his success was achieved using a pitch he no longer throws, he drops to #3 at 10.06.

 

Not that it really matters, he's still an outstanding strikeout artist. It just seemed somewhat relevent in the context of the discussion

 

Good point - I agree it's relevant.

 

Speaking of the slurve, I have a question:

 

I didn't see all of Kerry's relief appearances last year, but some friends of mine who watched the games insist he brought the slurve out of mothballs a few times; mainly in tough spots. I found that hard to believe, simply on the grounds of the commotion it would have caused in the media if he had.

 

Can someone confirm with (reasonable) certainty that Kerry never threw the slurve in relief last year?

[Balsa]

Can someone explain about this 'slurve'?

[FergieJ31]

Can someone explain about this 'slurve'?

 

It's a cross slider/curve, and there's definitely room for interpretation. Any breaking ball that's thrown hard, like a slider, but with a downward break, like a curve, might technically be called a slurve. Kerry wasn't the first to throw it. But what made the slurve distinctively his 'signature' pitch in 1998 was

(a) just how hard he threw it: his slurve would come in the low 90's, as fast as many pitchers' fastballs, and

(b) the now-famous "mechanics" issue , because he threw it violently across his body.

 

If you watch a tape of the 20K game you'll see this was his out pitch. He pretty much stayed fastball/slurve the entire game, but most of his K's were rung up on the slurve. It was the big loopy breaking ball that made the Astros look foolish. Bagwell, in particular, had some hilarious "you've gotta be kidding" facial expressions after being called out on strikes after the slurve buckled his knees.

[Tim]

Eric Plunk is #12 on the K/IP list, so I'm not quite sure of the gravity of this stat.

Yeah, there's a lot of sucky pitchers in those top 5, too.