Tyson Ross Likely to Join Elite Padres 200-K Club

When Tyson Ross takes the hill against Arizona on Friday night, he will have an opportunity to join a select group, one that includes only three other Padres pitchers.

Ross has struck out 191 batters this season, and a 9-strikeout game against the D-Backs will give him 200 on the year. 200 strikeouts is a milestone for starting pitchers, and very few Padres have actually accomplished the feat. In fact, you could count the number of seasons in which a Friars hurler has performed the feat on one hand.

Kevin Brown  257

Jake Peavy  240

Clay Kirby  231

Peavy  216

Peavy  215

That’s it. Those are the only members of the Padres 200-Strikeout club. Brown, Peavy, and Kirby. And many of us probably don’t remember when Kirby did it back in 1971.

Ross struck out eight Diamondbacks in his most recent start against them on September 1st, in which he pitched six innings. If he doesn’t get nine whiffs on Friday, he’ll very likely collect the milestone in his next start against the Phillies next Thursday. Since I’ll be attending the Phillies game, I’m secretly hoping that he does it on that night. Well, I guess it’s not a secret any more.

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And while Ross’ accomplishment will be rare among Padres, perhaps the most surprising thing is that Ian Kennedy, with 189 Ks, also stands an excellent choice of reaching 200, and joining Ross as the only Padres teammates to collect 200 Ks in the same season. As both Ross and Kennedy are likely to get another three starts each, we’ve very likely to see Padres history made this year, and we’re not talking about the lack of hitting either!

In a season in which we lost Tony Gwynn, set a record for the worst batting average by a major league team in the month of June, and honored Bug Selig, it will be nice to have something to celebrate.

Keep the Faith.