Padres Editorial: San Diego Padres’ Mount Rushmore

Jake Peavy. Getty Images.

Jake Peavy

This was a tough choice for me, and Peavy could really be replaced by Randy Jones but in my book Peavy gets the slight edge due to win percentage (Peavy won .575 % of his games and Jones won .448 %).  Peavy did a lot for the Padres in his 8 year stint (2002-2009) with the team, including winning a Cy Young Award in 2007. That season was incredible for Peavy as he became the 12^th ever pitcher to unanimously win the NL Cy Young. He led the league in wins (19), ERA (2.54) and strikeouts (240), which means he won the pitching version the Triple Crown.

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That season alone could make his case for the Padres Mount Rushmore but it wasn’t just that year. For eight years he helped the Padres win and at the end of his Padres career he finished with 92 wins, 1348 strikeouts and a 3.29 ERA. Besides winning a Cy Young award, Peavy also represented the Padres twice in Major League Baseball’s All Star game and became the face of the franchise in the mid-2000s.

He also holds the Padres team record for strikeouts and comes in second (tied with Randy Jones) to Eric Show for number of wins as a Padre. I was also surprised that Peavy is also tied for third in Padres career WAR with a 26 career WAR. All of this goes to prove that Jake Peavy belongs on the Padres Mount Rushmore.

Next: Trevor Hoffman