In today’s hard-throwing/free-swinging version of the national pastime, strikeouts continue to increase annually (and from BBRT’s point of view, alarmingly). In fact, the MLB total strikeout record has been broken in each of the past ten MLB seasons. In this post, Baseball Roundtable will take a look at the “Wizards of the Whiff” – the best of MLB’s strikeout artists – those who averaged at least one strikeout per inning over the course of an entire season. What you may find surprising is that a pretty good number of these mound aces, pitched before the recent spike in strikeouts. (Note: I’ll be using the same qualifications as MLB uses for the earned run average title – at least one inning pitched for each game the team has played.)
HERB SCORE-d The First 9+ Season in 1955
The Indians’ Herb Score, in 1955, became the first major league pitcher to average at least nine-strikeouts per nine innings (9.70). His performance earned him 16 wins (10 losses); a 2.85 earned run average, the league leadership in strikeouts, the AL Rookie of the Year Award and a place in MLB history.
It was April 15, 1955 and a 22-year-old southpaw named Herb Score was making his major league mound debut for the Cleveland Indians (versus the Tigers in Detroit). Score was signed by the Indians on June 7, 1962 – which also happened to be his 19th birthday. The 6’2”, 185-pounder proved to be a remarkable talent, and he made his way to the major leagues by Opening Day 1955. (It 1954, Score went 22-5, 2.62 with 330 strikeouts in 251 innings for the Triple A Indianapolis Indians of the American Association, earning recognition as the Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year.)
In his first MLB start, Score went the distance in a 7-3 Indians’ win and foreshadowed things to come by fanning nine batters in nine frames. He went on to pitch in 32 games (33) starts; go 16-10 and strike out 245 batters in 227 1/3 innings – setting a new rookie-season strikeout record (broken by the Mets’ Dwight Gooden, with 276 in 1984, but still the AL rookie record). Score also became the first qualifying pitcher to average nine or more strikeouts per nine innings (9.70). The following season, he recorded MLB’s second season of 9+ strikeouts per nine innings at 9.49. Those were the only two 9+ seasons in MLB history until 1960, when the Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax made this a club of two. (More on Koufax later).
Unfortunately, Score’s career was cut short by arm trouble, which some felt was related to injuries suffered in 1957, when a line drive off the bat of the Yankees’ Gil McDougald struck Score in the face. (He pitched in only 17 games in 1957-58.) Speculation was that Score altered his motion after that injury. Score himself said the arm issues were unrelated – but that’s another story. After going 36-19, 2.68 in his first two seasons (and leading the AL in whiffs each campaign), Score ended an eight-season MLB career at 55-46, 3.36 with 837 strikeouts in 858 1/3 innings pitched.
SOMETHING’S HAPPENING HERE
As you might expect, as overall strikeouts have soared, so have the number of pitchers who are whiffing a batter per inning or more. There were no such season before 1955 – and only two in the 1950’s. Of the total of 244 such campaigns, 109 (44.7 percent) occurred between 2010-2017.
IT’S A NEW AGE
Through 2017, 104 MLB pitchers have put together a total of 244 campaigns of nine or more strikeouts per nine innings. Fifty of those 104 pitches (48 percent) are currently active.
In 2017, we saw a record 20 pitchers achieve nine or more strikeouts per nine innings: Chris Sale (12.93); Robbie Ray (12.11); Max Scherzer (12.02); Corey Kluber (11.70); Chris Archer (11.15); Luis Severino (10.71); Jacob deGrom (10.78); Stephen Strasberg (10.47); Clayton Kershaw (10.39); Jimmy Nelson (10.21); Carlos Carrasco (10.17); Yu Darvish (10.08); Trevor Bauer (10.00); Jose Quintana (9.87); Aaron Nola (9.86); Masahiro Tanaka (9.79); Justin Verlander (9.57); Zack Greinke (9.56); Carlos Martinez (9.53); Drew Pomeranz (9.02).
OOPS! I DID IT AGAIN.
No one racked up more seasons averaging at least one strikeout per inning than all-time MLB strikeout king (5,714 career whiffs) Nolan Ryan. The Hall of Fame righty met that standard in 14 of his 27 MLB campaigns. Second on the list (and first among southpaws) is Randy Johnson with 12 such seasons. Those two are responsible for 10.7 percent of MLB’s 9+ strikeouts per nine innings campaigns.
STRANGE BUT TRUE
Rickey Nolasco had more seasons averaging 9+ strikeouts per nine innings (1) than Bob Gibson and Bob Feller combined. Gibson’s high was 8.39 K/9 in 1970 and Feller’s top was 8.43 in 1946. Nolasco fanned 9.49 per nine innings for the Marlins in 2009.
Among active pitchers, the Nationals’ Max Scherzer and Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw lead the way with seven seasons each of nine or more strikeouts per nine innings.
ONE FOR THE AGES
Dwight Gooden is the only teenager to have a major league season in which he averaged nine or more whiffs per nine innings. In his rookie season, the 19-year-old Mets’ righty fanned a rookie-record and NL-leading 276 batters (218 innings pitched) for a K/9 ratio of 11.39.
Nolan Ryan recorded a season of one of more strikeouts per inning at the oldest age. He was 44-years-old when he fanned 203 batters in 173 innings (10.56 K/9) for the Rangers in 1991. Overall, there have been eight 9+ K/9 seasons by pitchers in their forties.
The most popular age bracket for recording a season of one or more whiff per nine frames is 25-29 – 126 of the 244 seasons (51.6 percent) have been recorded by pitchers in the age group. Other age range percentages: 20-24 (20.9%); 30-34 (18.9%); 35-39 (4.9%); 40+ (3.3%).
THE BEST OF THE BEST
Photo by SD Dirk 
To date, the highest strikeout per nine innings ratio recorded over a season came in 2001, when 37-year-old Randy Johnson (then with the Diamondbacks) notched 13.41 strikeouts per nine innings. The Big Unit went 21-6 that season, with a league-low 2.49 ERA and a league-topping 372 strikeouts in 249 2/3 innings – earning his third of four straight Cy Young Awards. As I put this post together, Max Scherzer stands at 13.56 strikeouts per nine innings for the 2018 season.
13 CAN BE A LUCKY NUMBER
Only two pitchers have recorded seasons in which they fanned 13+ per nine innings. Randy Johnson (Diamondbacks) in 2001 at 13.41 and Pedro Martinez (Red Sox) in 1999 at 13.29.
There have been ten seasons of 12+ (in addition to the 13+ seasons noted above) strikeouts per nine inningS. Five of those belong to Randy Johnson (1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000). The following hurlers each have one season of 12+ K/9: Kerry Wood (1998); Jose Fernandez (2016); Chris Sale (2017); Max Scherzer (2017); and Robbie Ray (2017).
AS EASY AS 1-2-3
The 2017 season marked the first time in MLB history that a team could boast three qualifying pitchers with K/9 ratios of nine or better:
- Cleveland Indians – Corey Kluber (11.71); Carlos Carrasco (10.17); and Trevor Bauer (10.00)
Note: Up until (and including) 1995, there had been only six seasons with at least three 9+ K/9 pitchers in all of MLB. Four in 1965 and three each in 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, and 1995.
Cleveland was also the first team to have at least two pitchers reached the 9+ K/9 mark – back in 1965, when Sam McDowell (10.71) and Sonny Siebert (9.11) did it.
HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED
As I post this, 2018 statS show 31 qualifying pitchers with K/9 rates of nine or better – with Max Scherzer on top at 13.56 and the Astros boasting four starters at that whiff-level (Gerrit Cole -12.78; Charlie Morton (11.34); Justin Verlander (10.72); and Lance McCullers, Jr. (9.35).
THE BIG TRAIN COULD MOW THEM DOWN
Photo by pingnews.com
Walter Johnson (Senators … 1907-1927) was clearly the power pitcher of his time; He led his league in strikeouts an MLB-record 12 times and in strikeouts per nine innings six times. Still, his highest-ever K/( rate was 7.6 and, in 1921, he led the AL at 4.9.
A final thought: As I post this (as of June 4), six of the top ten career leaders in strikeouts per nine innings are active; It goes like this, with *=Active:
*Chris Sale – 10.64
Randy Johnson – 10.61
*Stephen Strasburg – 10.55
* Max Scherzer – 10.33
Kerry Wood – 10.32
Pedro Martinez – 10,04
*Corey Kluber – 9.87
*Clayton Kershaw – 9.86
* Chris Archer – 9.66
Nolan Ryan – 9.55
Primary Resources: Baseball-Reference.com; ESPN.com; MLB.com
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David, you missed 2 active pitchers (no asterisk) in your third table – Kershaw & Sale.