Hot Stove Special: Randy Johnson

Four players, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, and Craig Biggio, were elected to the Hall of Fame this year, and I have to say I agree that all four men are well deserving of the Hall of Fame. While I don’t feel strongly that any of the remaining candidates should have gotten in, I would strongly consider Jeff Bagwell and Mike Piazza had I been a voter. These will be split into four blogs.

Randy Johnson (97.3%): 303-166, 3.29 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 4875 strikeouts.

Randy Johnson, who recieved the eighth highest percentage of Hall of Fame votes of all time (97.3%), will now become the tallest member of the Hall of Fame. Johnson may have gotten off to a slow start, but once he learned to control his blazing fastball, everything else fell into place for a Hall of Fame career. During the 1990’s and 2000’s, he was the game’s premier left hander, and finished his 22 year career as one of the best left handed pitchers of all time.

Born in 1963, the Big Unit grew up in Livermore, California, about 30 miles southwest of Oakland. A two sport star in high school, he was drafted in the fourth round by the Braves in 1982. Instead, Johnson attended the University of Southern California, where he played both baseball and basketball. The Expos drafted him in the second round in 1985, and this time, he signed. By 1988, he reached Montreal at the age of 25, and went 3-0 with a 2.42 ERA in a four start debut. He began the year with the Expos in 1989, but his erratic control caused him to walk 26 batters in 29.2 innings, running up a 6.67 ERA in seven games (six starts). Montreal then flipped him to Seattle in one of the most lopsided deadline trades of all time, though Langston did go 12-9 with a 2.39 ERA in his only 24 starts north of the border. Johnson closed out the season decently, going 7-9 with a 4.40 ERA in 22 starts to finish 7-13 with a 4.82 ERA. The dawn of a new decade brought about the rise of Randy Johnson. In 1990, the 26 year old went 14-11 with a 3.65 ERA over 33 starts, though he did lead the majors with 120 walks. He no-hit the Tigers, showing a flash of things to come. 1991 was more of the same, as he finished 13-10 with a 3.98 ERA and 228 strikeouts. The 228 K’s were second in the AL only to Roger Clemens, who struck out 241. He continued to struggle with command, as he again led the majors with 152 free passes and set a new Mariners record (ironically breaking Mark Langston’s 1986 record of 123). The strikeouts continued to mount in 1992, as he again finished second in the AL with 241, behind David Cone’s 261. At the same time, he went 12-14 with a 3.77 ERA and 144 walks, leading the majors for the third straight season. In 1993, he finally began to harness his fastball, as he walked only 99 batters in 255.1 innings (still a lot), finishing sixth in the majors. The improvement in command showed, as he dominated the American League to a tune of a 19-8 record, a 3.24 ERA, and a 1.11 WHIP. He even recieved six first place votes for the AL Cy Young Award, but ultimately finished second behind Jack McDowell (22-10, 3.37 ERA). During the All Star Game that year, Johnson famously threw a fastball over the head of Jon Kruk, causing him to stand in the back of the batters box for the rest of the at bat. Johnson returned just as strong in 1994, going 13-6 with a 3.19 ERA and a major league leading 204 strikeouts before a strike ended the season in August. He finished third in the Cy Young balloting. After the strike lifted in 1995, he came back stronger than ever, proving to be nearly unbeatable as he went 18-2 with a 2.48 ERA, a 1.05 WHIP, and 294 strikeouts in 214.1 innings. The 294 strikeouts led the majors and broke Mark Langston’s Seattle record of 262 in 1987, and Johnson nearly unanimously won the AL Cy Young Award. His 12.35 strikeouts per nine innings not only set a Seattle record, but they also broke Nolan Ryan’s eight year old major league record of 11.48 by nearly a full strikeout. After winning the clinching game to send Seattle to the playoffs, he dramatically won Game 3 and Game 5 of the ALDS to send the Mariners to the ALCS. However, despite posting a solid 2.35 ERA, the Mariners lost both of his starts. He finished his first postseason 2-1 with a 2.49 ERA. He missed most of the 1996 season due to injury, going 5-0 with a 3.67 ERA in 14 games (8 starts). If it was even possible to have a bigger season than 1995, Johnson managed it in 1997, going 20-4 with a 2.28 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP and striking out 291 batters in 213 innings. This time, he finished second to Roger Clemens (21-7, 2.05 ERA) in the AL Cy Young balloting, while his teammate, Ken Griffey Jr., won the AL MVP Award. From 1995-1997, he went 43-6 with a 2.54 ERA. However, two losses in the ALDS had him looking forward to 1998. There, he started the season off in mediocre fashion, and he was sent to the Astros in a trade that sent Carlos Guillen and and Freddy Garcia to the Seattle. While he may have pitched poorly in the first half, second half Randy Johnson was more dominant than perhaps any pitcher in history. After the trade, he went 10-1 with a 1.28 ERA and tossed complete game shutouts in four of his eleven starts. However, he went 0-2 with a 1.93 ERA in the ALDS as the Astros lost to the Padres. Before the 1999 season, he signed a four year deal with the Diamondbacks, and he proved to be worth every penny of the $52.4 million on his contract. In 1999, he went 17-9 with a 2.48 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP, adding 200 to the Diamondbacks’s franchise record of 164 strikeouts: Johnson struck out 364. It was also the highest strikeout total since Nolan Ryan struck out 367 batters in 1974, enabling Johnson to win his second Cy Young Award. In doing so, he became the third pitcher in history to win the award in both the AL and the NL. Unfortunately, he lost his only playoff start. 2000 may have been the year of the hitter, but you would never know that from how he pitched. In 35 starts, he went 19-7 with a 2.64 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP, striking out 347 batters and winning his third Cy Young Award. 2001, the year that would forever etch Johnson’s name into history, started off on a weird note. During spring training, Johnson famously hit a bird with a fastball, killing it instantly. He went on to go 21-6 with a 2.49 ERA, a 1.01 WHIP, and 372 strikeouts, the latter of which was the third highest of the modern era, behind only Nolan Ryan (383 in 1973) and Sandy Koufax (382 in 1965). Though his 1995 record of 12.35 strikeouts per nine innings had since been broken three times (once by himself), he reclaimed the record in 2001 with 13.41, a record that still stands to this day. He won his fourth Cy Young Award, but the real story happened after the season. Johnson led Arizona to NLDS and NLCS victories, and in the historic World Series against the Yankees, he went 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA and a 0.69 WHIP to earn co-World Series MVP with Curt Schilling. Combining the regular season, the playoffs, and his two innings in the All Star Game, he was 26-7 with a 2.33 ERA, a 0.98 WHIP, and 422 strikeouts in 293 innings. In one game against the Reds, he struck out 20 batters in nine innings. Talk about a heck of a season. He came back as dominant as ever in 2002, despite turning 39 in September. In 35 starts, he went 24-5 with a 2.32 ERA, a 1.03 WHIP, and 334 strikeouts in 260 innings. Again, he won the Cy Young Award, giving him five for his career and four in a row. No other pitcher has won four straight Cy Young Awards. Despite all the success in Arizona, 2003 was a disappointment. In 18 starts, he went just 6-8 with a 4.26 ERA and 125 strikeouts in 114 innings. Many thought the now 40 year old star was near his end. Boy were they wrong. He bounced back in 2004, going 16-14 with a 2.60 ERA and a career best 0.90 WHIP, striking out 290 batters in 245.2 innings and finishing second to Roger Clemens (18-4, 2.98 ERA) in the Cy Young voting. On May 18th of the season, he became the oldest pitcher in major league history to throw a perfect game, doing so at 40 years old. After the season, he was traded to the Yankees, where he would go 17-8 with a 3.79 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP in 2005. 2006 turned out to be a bit of a rough year, as he finished 17-11 but posted a 5.00 ERA and saw his WHIP jump to (a still good) 1.24. He was traded back to the Diamondbacks for the 2007 season, but injuries limited him to ten starts, where he was 4-3 with a 3.81 ERA. For his last big season in 2008, he went 11-10 with a 3.91 ERA over 30 starts. Three months after his 45th birthday, he signed on with his hometown Giants for one last season. Over 22 games (17 starts), he went 8-6 with a 4.88 ERA. On June 4th at Nationals Park, he earned his 300th victory.

Johnson finished his 22 year career 303-166 with a 3.29 ERA, a 1.17 WHIP, and 4875 strikeouts. He is the all-time leader in strikeouts by a left handed pitcher, and he is second overall to only Nolan Ryan’s 5714. He remains the only pitcher to strike out 2000 batters for two different teams, and he is the all time leader in strikeouts for both the Mariners (2162) and Diamondbacks (2077). Randy Johnson is the all time leader in strikeouts per nine innings at 10.61. The only other pitcher above 10 is fellow Hall of Famer from the Class of 2015, Pedro Martinez (10.04).

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Zack Silverman