San Diego Padres: Top Strikeout Pitchers In Team History

With MLB strikeout rates at an all-time high, let’s take a look back at the top five biggest strikeout pitchers in San Diego Padres history.

It’s only May, however, Major League Baseball fans are witnessing historic strikeout rates across the board. The last 10 seasons have seen an increase in strikeouts with this season on pace to become the highest ever. According to a recent post by Neil Greenberg of the Washington Post, MLB hitters are striking out in nearly 23% of at-bats.  The San Diego Padres are well on their way to breaking the record for most team strikeouts in a season, though they probably won’t be the only team to do so in 2018.

Greenberg defines a number of reasons for this, such as the increased use of specialized relievers, the launch angle revolution, and umpires doing a much better job of calling strikes.

The emergence of Joey Lucchesi and his mesmerizing delivery followed by his now-famous “churve” pitch have captivated San Diego fans. He’s recorded 46 strikeouts through his first 42 innings of his career.

Tyson Ross and his dominating slider have produced an even higher strikeout rate, sitting down 46 in 41 innings. However, the excitement and buzz surrounding Joey Lucchesi lead us to take a look at some of the best strikeout pitchers in San Diego Padres’ history.

So many statistics that are commonly used to define a pitcher’s success rate are dependent on variables outside of the pitcher’s control. A bad defense can spike up their earned run average while a poor offense severely limits their opportunities to rack up wins. Strikeouts are dependent only on a pitcher’s ability to hit their marks, mix their pitches, and outsmart the opposing hitter.

With that being said, let’s take a little history trip through the top strikeout pitchers in San Diego franchise history.

Coming in at number five on the list, Andy Ashby.

Despite only producing a strikeout rate between 13-19% with the San Diego Padres, Andy Ashby comes in at number five with 892 career strikeouts.

Ashby wasn’t drafted out of college but signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as a free agent in 1986. He started 32 games for the Phillies, going 6-15 with a 6.14 ERA. Over the course of his short career in Philadelphia, Ashby averaged just five strikeouts/nine innings while walking nearly four/9 IP and giving up 1.4 HR/9 IP.

Things didn’t improve for Asby after being drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 1993 expansion draft. In nine starts, Ashby posted an 8.40 ERA and a 33/32 K/BB ratio in 54 innings.

His longest tenure with any team was with the San Diego Padres. Ashby pitched with the Friars from 1993-1999, returning in 2004 to finish his career and retire with the team. The Padres sent LHP Bruce Hurst and RHP Greg Harris to the Rockies in exchange for catcher Brad Ausmus and Ashby.

He never possessed over-powering stuff, relying on a mid-upper 80’s fastball, a slider, changeup, and the occasional curveball.

https://twitter.com/Padres/status/954204671354191873

However, Ashby had a very successful ride with the Padres, recording 70 wins (also good for fifth most in franchise history) and making the 1998 and 1998 all-star teams. He started one career game in the World Series, coming in 1998 with the Padres. Unfortunately, Ashby lasted just 2.2 innings and gave up 10 hits and seven runs (four earned) against the New York Yankees.

After eight seasons in the organization, Ashby left with a 3.59 ERA and 829 strikeouts in 1, 212 innings. His best stretch was from 1997-1999. He won 40 games, pitched more than 200 innings in each of those seasons, and struck out 144, 151, and 132 hitters, respectively.

Coming in at number four in career strikeouts, Eric Show.

Not only does Eric Show and his 951 strikeouts rank fourth-most in San Diego history, his 100 career wins is the most in franchise history.

Overshadowing his status as the Padres’ all-time winningest pitcher is Show’s unique personal life and struggles with substance abuse that lead to his death at the young age of 37. Tom Friend penned an amazing piece on Show a few years ago which I urge you to check out if you aren’t familiar with Show’s life story.

As for his baseball life, Show was drafted by the Padres in the 18th round of the 1978 draft and made his MLB debut in 1981 as a reliever. Over 10 seasons with San Diego, Show pitched to a 3.59 ERA and 1.28 WHIP over 1, 603 innings.

His best season came in 1988 as Show set career highs in wins (16) and innings pitched (234) while posting career lows in walk rate (5.7%) and WHIP (1.08). His two walks per nine innings ranked eighth best in all of the major leagues.

Most baseball fans outside of San Diego probably aren’t too familiar with Show outside of this historic moment from Major League Baseball history.

That hit became the 4,192nd of Pete Rose’s career, breaking Ty Cobb’s all-time hit record in September 1985.

Show didn’t just produce on the mound, he was a fairly decent hitter, as well. In 1984, Show hit .246 with three doubles and three home runs in 76 at-bats. He finished his career as a .160 hitter.

Of all five pitchers on this list, Show produced the lowest percentage of strikeouts in his Padres’ career. Only 14% of hitters fell victim to a Show strikeout, 13% less than the number of hitters who were sat down by number three on this list.

Newly minted Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman comes in at number three.

What can we say that already hasn’t been said about one of the top players in San Diego Padres’ history? After 902 career games and 952 innings, Trevor Hoffman finished his Padres’ career with 1, 029 strikeouts, third most in team history.

Originally drafted as a shortstop by the Cincinnati Reds, Hoffman would become one of the most dominant closing pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball.

Hoffman notched 601 saves in his career which was an MLB record until Mariano Rivera broke that mark in 2011. His 25.8% strikeout rate ranks as the highest among all relief pitchers with at least 1,000 innings under their belt.

In January of 2018, Hoffman received his much-deserved call from the Hall of Fame, joining a class consisting of Jim Thome, Vladimir Guerrero, and Chipper Jones. He becomes the third player to wear a Padres’ hat in the Hall of Fame, along with Tony Gwynn and Dave Winfield.

Hoffman struck out nearly 10 hitters per nine innings while in San Diego, owning a 2.76 ERA across his 16 seasons. The seven-time all-star posted nine seasons of at least 40 saves, using a devastating changeup to put hitters away at the plate.

Major League Baseball may never see another closer as dominant as Trevor Hoffman.

One of the best starting pitchers to ever put on a Padres’ uniform, Jake Peavy terrorized NL West hitters for eight seasons in San Diego.

Possibly no starting pitcher in Padres’ history was as dominant as Jake Peavy. Drafted in the 15th round of the 1999 draft, Peavy would go on to win 92 games for the Padres while recording a 3.29 ERA and franchise-leading 1, 348 strikeouts.

From 2003-2008, Peavy won double-digit games each year and posted an ERA under 2.90 four times, including a 2.27 ERA in 2004.

Peavy’s career isn’t officially over. He’s still a free agent and many Padres’ fans wanted the team to re-sign him this past offseason when the team brought back Chris Young and Tyson Ross. It’s safe to say though, even if Peavy were to return to the diamond, he will never match his 2007 season.

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The 2007 Cy Young Award winner led the league in wins (19), ERA (2.54), strikeouts (240), and WHIP (1.06). His 34 starts and 223 innings were both career highs.

The Padres traded Peavy in 2009 to the Chicago White Sox, receiving Clayton Richard and a handful of other players in return. He would go on to win two World Series championships, one with the White Sox and one with the San Francisco Giants.

With a seemingly endless talent of pitching in the minor leagues, Peavy’s career strikeout record is sure to be broken sooner rather than later. While every pitcher on this list deserves credit for respectable major league careers, it really speaks volumes about the lack of pitching talent throughout the years in San Diego.

Just for comparison, Peavy would rank 10th in San Francisco Giants’ history and 8th in Los Angeles Dodgers’ history for career strikeouts.

The highest-ranked active player is currently Clayton Richard. As of May 11th, 2018, Richards 610 strikeouts as a Padres rank 12th all-time. He needs just 68 to pass Randy Jones and move into 8th before taking a stab at entering the top five within the next two-three seasons.

Next: Jordan Lyles Impresses In Rotation

Other than Clayton Richard, no current Padre is coming close to cracking this list within the next few years. When it’s all said and done will we see Joey Lucchesi, MacKenzie Gore, Michel Baez or any other of the team’s top prospects on this list? Only time will tell, until then, let’s go Padres!