Nolan Ryan Strikes Out

[DOUGHBOYS]

A friend asked me yesterday, who I thought was the best strike out pitcher of all time was. Actually, he didn't ask like that, he put it this way, "So Nolan Ryan, best all-time strike out pitcher, right?"
When a question is put like that, it is like the questioner is inviting me to agree with him within the question itself.
It makes me want to go opposite field on him.
And, I did.
I said, "Nope."
His jaw dropped. "Aw c'mon! Ryan holds every strike out record there is! He has the season record for strike outs. He has more strike outs in Major League history than any other pitcher! Who could be a better strike out pitcher than somebody with his numbers?"
Before I answered, he smiled. "And don't give me some long forgotten player that pitched against Walla Tonka in the 1800's neither!!!"
I had to laugh.

I said, "You used stats to build your case for Ryan, now let me use mine to make a case for two pitchers I felt were better strike out pitchers than Ryan."
"Don't go Walter Johnson or Cy Young on me!"
"Nope", I said. "I am going Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez on you."
"No way!" Ryan has both of them beat all over the place!"

My friend had picked a bad time to ask me his leading Nolan Ryan question. I got bored on Thanksgiving Vacation Black Friday and amused myself with a record book. I started looking at pitchers and their feats. I saw that besides one season each from Sandy Koufax, Rube Waddell, and Bob Feller; Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson shared the top 13 seasonal outputs for strike out pitchers.
Incredible, really.
Looking closer, Ryan had to have more starts than Johnson to accomplish his numbers. I started putting strike outs to games started, rather than strike outs as a total. I looked at every season in which a pitcher finished with at least 200 strike outs.
They all paled compared to Johnson and Pedro. Even Ryan.
While Ryan piled up strike outs more consistently than any pitcher in history, hardly missing a game, and throwing complete games in a four man rotation, it was Johnson and Pedro who had stats that were unmatchable.
Randy Johnson is the only pitcher, besides Pedro Martinez, to have AVERAGED 10 strike outs per start during a season.
And, He did it THREE TIMES!
And came close four more times.
Pedro did it once and came oh, so close twice.
Ryan came close during his seasonal record season. That's it.

My friend left, knowing that Nolan Ryan, in his mind, was the best strike out pitcher of all time. Some fans are going to believe in total numbers over percentages or other stats.
It's all good.
I think about Johnson in a fantasy way, and how nice it would be to have a starter on a fantasy staff that we could count on for 10 strike outs in every start.
As a two start pitcher, he could garner almost half the strike outs a team would need for a week....consistently.
It won't happen with the pitchers today. Too much care is taken with pitch counts.
Max Scherzer who led in k/9 and even Stephen Strasburg with electric stuff never came close this season.
Yu Darvish came the closest, but it wasn't THAT close.

Its changed the fantasy game a bit. In the last era with Johnson pitching, we knew that if he faltered the first few innings, it would be ok, that he would get his k's.
Now, if faltering in the first few innings, our modern pitcher is probably toast for that start.
The faltering at the beginning means the pitch count will limit the innings, which in turn, limits strike outs.
More strike outs require more pitches. A vicious circle.
And it makes me respect even more what Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez accomplished.

[Raskol]

I marvel at Pedro and Randy all the time. The fact that they were so successful at making batters miss the ball during the height of the PED era makes it even more amazing.

[Captain Hook]

I will have to find it and will post it here when I do (cleaning out the closet behind me is a winter project high on my list but of course takes back seat to writing and drafts both of which are needed right away.

BUT .... there is a case, made as a SABR study that Randy Johnson (aka The Unit & Ratman) was not only the/ifnotoneofthe greatest strikeout pitchers in baseball history but also (apologies to Sandy & Koufax [long story/private joke] and my personal favorite - Warren Spahn) that he was also the greatest/ifnotoneofthegreatest LHP of all time.

okay back to the draft

[Edwards Kings]

Randy and Pedro...the last pitchers worth picking in the first round.