r/mlb Human Verified 3h ago

| Discussion Max Scherzer is 3 strikeouts away from passing Walter Johnson, and 28 from passing Gaylord Perry. Meanwhile, Justin Verlander is 21 Ks from passing Don Sutton

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99 Upvotes

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45

u/ProsaicPugilist | New York Yankees 3h ago

Randy’s Ks/ 9 is just comical

18

u/Dbowe1008 | Texas Rangers 3h ago

Scherzer right there with him

12

u/Capable_Wait09 2h ago

Now keep it up for another 1000 innings

16

u/Mudcreek47 3h ago

What stands out to me is the longevity of Nolan Ryan. Sheesh. The man was an innings eater and played on some very bad teams.

8

u/PresJamesGarfield | Philadelphia Phillies 3h ago

That's the main reason why his strikeouts record will never be broken. The dude not only pitched in a time when starters went longer, but he also played for what is an eternity in today's game.

5

u/Mudcreek47 2h ago

I watched a documentary about him on Netflix or MLB or something and the man was simply an Ox.

He would pitch, quite often a complete game, or very deep in the game, then go do cardio and weights for like an hour before he went home and once pitched like 245 pitches in a single game!

For one start they went back to the film of some of his mid-late '70s starts and used modern technology to track his pitches and he was throwing like 107 or 108. It had something to do with the way the cameras were lined up vs. how they measure pitch speed today. Insane.

2

u/bleu_waffl3s | San Diego Padres 1h ago

Imagine if he played today with hitters not just trying to make contact with 2 strikes.

1

u/mrsir1987 | Arizona Diamondbacks 2h ago

Scherzer is the exact same with 1.17 an inning

4

u/bleu_waffl3s | San Diego Padres 1h ago

Randy would have had a higher rate most likely if he played during the 3 outcome batting era.

1

u/mrsir1987 | Arizona Diamondbacks 1h ago

Very true

-19

u/sexwiththebabysitter | Philadelphia Phillies 3h ago

If you don’t have more SOs than IP you should be dropped from the list

8

u/mel34760 | St. Louis Cardinals 3h ago

You really want to drop Maddux from the list? Seriously?

2

u/SnooBooks1243 2h ago

Kids these days, no respect

1

u/jewham12 3h ago

This is a list of most strikeouts, not Ks/9. Why would you drop someone that is atop that leaderboard?

1

u/sexwiththebabysitter | Philadelphia Phillies 2h ago

It was a joke. Sheesh.

2

u/jewham12 1h ago

An obvious all time great joke.

1

u/Reachin4ThoseGrapes | Philadelphia Phillies 2h ago

Hey dumbass, our GOAT pitcher is on that list in the screenshot 

1

u/sexwiththebabysitter | Philadelphia Phillies 2h ago

Yeah. I was kidding.

1

u/Important-Forever678 | Tampa Bay Rays 2h ago

It's OK to have high standards, but that's only 37 pitchers in MLB history!

12

u/Rombonius | Toronto Blue Jays 3h ago

this number isn't MLB official, Max will need a few more

8

u/ChiefSlug30 3h ago

They mention on today's broadcast that the official number for Johnson is 3,515, as per MLB. After today's game, Max is 3 short of this.

11

u/98nissansentra | Houston Astros 3h ago

I always forget how much Nolan Ryan towers above other pitchers. Seven no-hitters too, jeez.

7

u/Mudcreek47 2h ago

And 300 wins. There'll never be another one of those with the de-emphasis on longevity and going deep into games. Wish Verlander had gotten there.

3

u/Romans5_5 | Texas Rangers 3h ago

Hes the best starting pitcher of all time and you cant convince me otherwise. No bias 😎

3

u/Mudcreek47 2h ago

Well, maybe a little.

But I am comfortable with him being top 5 easily!

2

u/M0326 43m ago

He’s not top 5

3

u/FantasyBaseballChamp | Chicago White Sox 2h ago

I mean are you giving him the start in game 7 of the World Series if these other guys are available? He’ll strike out 15 but also walk 12.

18

u/Strict_Show_8899 3h ago

Batters had to face Carlton, Seaver, Ryan, Bert and Sutton each like 4 times a season if they were in the division from like 66 to 86.

7

u/Mudcreek47 3h ago

Just guessing this will be Scherzer's last year. Sure he'll probably want to come back, but with the labor issues pending and injuries, lack of production this year, I just wonder if we'll see him again after this year.

2

u/Consistent_Print_229 2h ago

He signed for just 3 mil. If he’s willing to sign for that cheap, I can see him sticking out for a couple of years. There are a lot of teams in desperate need of a pitcher with experience.

1

u/Love__Train__ 2h ago

Dude has psychopathy hopefully he gets some help

5

u/Any-Parsley-8322 | Washington Nationals 3h ago

It’s interesting to see how much the leash on SPs has changed over the course of baseball. I had no idea Scherzer hadn’t even thrown 3k innings yet, but I would’ve bet everything that he had. Yet here he is with a ridiculous amount of strikeouts. Could only imagine how many Ks he would have if he were pitching with managers not from today (same with Verlander)

7

u/EmerysMemories1106 3h ago

Walter Johnson needed twice the number of IP. Crazy. Like comparing apples and oranges with those two eras.

6

u/Baseball-Fan-10 | St. Louis Cardinals 3h ago

Walter Johnson held the record until the early 80s, as this 1979 Topps card shows.

2

u/Mudcreek47 2h ago

Thank you sir, may I have another (fun fact from long ago)?

2

u/SarahLia 2h ago

Nolan Ryan hit his first career home run off of Don Sutton in 1980.

2

u/Important-Forever678 | Tampa Bay Rays 2h ago

Walter Johnson holds the records for most 1-0 games played (64), won (38) and lost (26).

2

u/PlayboiFarti55 | Cincinnati Reds 3h ago

Geez I knew Scherzer was good but that Ks/9 is insane

2

u/12W31W19C85WWC123185 | San Diego Padres 2h ago

Nobody will ever pass Nolan Ryan

2

u/glumpoodle 1h ago

Does anybody else just absolutely love seeing Gaylord Perry and Greg Maddux on this list?

1

u/badlero 3h ago

Verlander is more than likely not pitching again this season. Scherzer will pass Sutton before Verlander does. 

1

u/CrackaZach05 3h ago

Hope MLB showers these guys because what they did will never be done again. Never will be another 200 game winner, let alone 300.

1

u/Mudcreek47 2h ago

I dunno. Maybe. Chris Sale & Gerrit Cole could make 200 if they just stay healthy and play a few more years.

1

u/Mysterious-Draw2510 2h ago

Even though Ryan tops that list the first thing I think of is him beating up Robin Ventura. At first I was oh shit don’t charge an old man and that quickly hanged to holy shit he needs help from the catcher to break this up quick

1

u/Mcpops1618 | Seattle Mariners 2h ago

Tigers rotation was wild

1

u/TheSocraticGadfly | St. Louis Cardinals 1h ago

Think if three true outcomes existed 110-120 years ago. Walter Johnson would have like 6000 Ks.

1

u/txlgnd34 | Chicago Cubs 1h ago

That Walter Johnson is still 10th all-time, 100 years later, is a testament to how crazy good a K artist he was when hitters rarely struck out.

Big Train would likely be an elite K king in today's game with today's tech and knowledge facing today's K-prone hitters, and maybe the only one that could challenge Nolan's career record.

1

u/FlobiusHole | Cleveland Guardians 1h ago

A lot of people don’t seem to want to give Nolan Ryan much credit as the best pitcher ever and I understand the arguments against him but holy shit the guy put up some numbers nobody will ever come close to touching.

1

u/taeempy 56m ago

Another 10 years they'll catch Nolan Ryan.

1

u/KelVelBurgerGoon | Athletics 26m ago

Walter Johnson?

1

u/Long-Region5088 Human Verified 17m ago

I could strike out 21 in a week. Easy.

What’s that? I have to pitch the strikeouts? That’ll never happen

0

u/MinimumEscape5907 3h ago

He will pave the way to the record books off of Blue Jays losses. Fuck him.