Randy Johnson: Where Does The Big Unit Rank in Baseball History?

Randy Johnson is one of the best pitchers in Major League baseball history. But just how good is he really? Going into the 2007 season, I would rank him as the 2nd best active pitcher, behind Pedro Martinez.

Here is his record to date:

Lifetime record of 280-147. Good for a winning percentage of .656, which ranks 21st all time on the active list, and 16th all time on the retired list. His win total of 280 ranks 30th all time.

His K rate is 10.8, while his BB rate is 3.3. Works out to an excellent K to BB ratio of 3.3.

Career ERA of 3.22, which is just 73% of the League ERA over his career. A number that has been bested by only eight retired pitchers. And puts Johnson in a tie with two immortals, Christy Matthewson and Cy Young, along with baseball's all time best winning percentage pitcher, Spud Chandler.

Randy Johnson has won 5 Cy Young Awards, including 4 in a row for the Arizona Diamondbacks from 1999-2002. He also one won in 1995 for the Seattle Mariners, so he's one of the few pitchers to have won Cy Young Awards in both leagues.

The Big Unit has been an All-Star 10 times. He has pitched two no-hitters in his career, including a perfect game. On 6-2-1990 for the Seattle Mariners vs the Detroit Tigers, and on 5-18-2004 he pitched a perfect game for the Arizona Daimondbacks vs the Atlanta Braves.

Johnson has 4,544 strikeouts in his career, which currently ranks him 3rd all time, behind Nolan Ryan, and just behind Roger Clemens (4,604).

His post season record is 7-9, with a 3.50 ERA in 17 starts. While his teams have gone 4-7 in the series he's pitched in. But in Johnson's only World Series in 2001, he pitched brilliantly against the New York Yankees, going 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA, including a complete game shutout, and he was the World Series co-MVP (Curt Schilling).

Leaving out Johnson's 3-4 record in 55 innings over two years with the old Montreal Expos at the very beginning of his career, and his 5-0 record in only 61 innings with the Mariners in 1996, his record stands at 272-143 (.655). While the teams he has pitched for have gone a combined 1474-1371 (.518). So Randy Johnson has pitched .137 above his teams.

That is a remarkable number that is currently only bested by Pedro Martinez (.146).

While Randy Johnson did not have a particularly good season last year for the Yankees, his ERA was 114% of the League ERA, which was the 1st time since he was a rookie in 1989 that he was above the league average, he still ranks as one of the greatest pitchers in Major League baseball history.

In my opinion, he is currently the second best percentage pitcher of all time behind Pedro Martinez.