Just How Good a Pitcher is Pedro Martinez?

Pedro Martinez, based upon his stats to date in his career, has the best percentage pitching stats in Major League baseball history.

Seven years ago when everybody in my fantasy football leagues decided to start playing fantasy baseball to hold us over until football started again, the first player I drafted in both the leagues I play in was Pedro Martinez. (I've kept him every year, but due to his injury this year, that will prevent him from playing until July, I have finally had to let him go this season.) The reason I took Pedro, with the 3rd pick in one league and 7th in the other, was because I felt he was the best player in the Majors. As we start the 2007 baseball season I decided to run the numbers on Pedro, and see just how good a pitcher he really is. How he stacks up against all the pitchers in MLB history, including his peers. What did I find?

Each time Pedro steps, or has stepped, onto the field to pitch he has, or is, giving his team a better statistical chance of winning the game than any pitcher in Major League history!

I will not say he's the best pitcher in Major League history yet, because his career is not over. Pedro had the worst year of his career last season, going just 9-8, with a 4.48 ERA. That was the only time in his career he has pitched to above the League average ERA. Even so, he has never had a losing season in his career ( 0-1 in 1992 does not count). Another year or two like last season though, might negate what I'm going to say next, but at this stage, he's the best pitcher ever.

Here are the numbers:

Pedro's career ERA is 2.81, he has K'd 10.2 batters in his career, while his BB rate is just 2.38. That a tremendous career K to BB ratio of 4.3. He is currently 15th on the all time strikeout list with 2,998 K's.

Pedro has won 3 Cy Young Awards, and is one of the few pitchers to have won it in both leagues, in 1997 for the old Montreal Expos, and consecutively for the Red Sox in 1999-2000. His post season record stands at 6-2, with a 3.40 ERA, while his teams have gone 5-3 in their series. Pedro won the World Series in 2004 with the Red Sox, and he went 1-0, without surrending a run.

Pedro's lifetime record to date, is 206-92. Good for a winning percentage of .691. That puts Pedro in second place all-time behind Spud Chandler (.717) for the highest lifetime winning percentage on the retired list, and 3rd all time on the active list behind Chandler and Johan Santana (.716).

The teams Pedro has pitched for have gone a combined 1,206-995. A winning percentage of .548. Leaving out 1992, when Pedro went just 0-1, his lifetime record is 206-91 (.694). So Pedro's winning percentage above the teams he pitched for is currently .146. Not only is that the highest number of all-time, it beats the two Hall of Famers who are behind him, Sandy Koufax and Pete Alexander (both tied at .121) by a huge margin of .025. (Actually two other sure-fire Hall of Fame pitchers who are still active, are also ahead of Koufax and Alexander, but behind Pedro. More on them in my next articles.)

Over the course of his career, Pedro has pitched to just 63% of the League ERA. That too is the best percentage of all time for starters, ahead of Ed Walsh at 66%. Not only is Pedro the best in this important category, he's almost five percent ahead of the second place pitcher. That's a big margin.

To date, every time Pedro has stepped onto the field to pitch, he's averaged just 63% of the League ERA throughout his career. By keeping the opposition from scoring anywhere close to the league average in runs, Pedro has continuously given his teams the best possible chance of winning his starts, which has translated into the highest winning percentage above teams pitched for, .146, of all-time.

To date, Pedro Martinez is the greatest percentage pitcher of All-Time.