Making sense of Nolan Ryan's stats and a belated hello

[D. Bergin]

Count me in the NOT over-rated crowd for Ryan.......and I don't own a single Nolan Ryan card that I'm aware of.

Walks schmalks, LOL!! Despite what your Little League coach kept telling you...........a walk is not the same thing as a hit.

Ryan, despite playing for 27 years, is the All-time leader in Hits per 9 innings allowed (not an accumulating stat).......and it's really not even close. This is a list with specialized relief studs on it, like Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman.

He might have walked a lot, but he kept the ball out of play and didn't give up very many HR's.

37 Games of a Complete Game 2-hitter or less is just mind-blowing. We're going to start putting starters in the HOF who don't even have that many CG's in total.

No, he wasn't as efficient as Seaver, or Carlton or Spahn but he created an excitement level and sparked imaginations and expectations unlike many others.

[D. Bergin]

Came across a really dumb-founding thing about Nolan when looking at his splits throughout his career.

He was actually more effective in innings 7-9 then he was at any other stretch of the game.

The generally accepted wisdom, is that the more often a lineup can see a pitcher throughout the course of a game, the more success they have off that pitcher.

One of the biggest reasons we see very few complete games nowadays.

Ryan, in another example of him subverting expectations, usually got stronger as the game went on. The 1st inning was easily the worst of his career. 7 through 9, the strongest.

The saying you see with some pitchers "You have to get to them early, if you want to get to them at all", was a bit of a literalism, when it came to Ryan.

This may also be applicable to other pitchers I'm not aware of.......but it really stuck out like a sore thumb to me, when looking a Ryan's stats.

Again, not saying Ryan was consistent in any way........just exciting in a jaw dropping way. Koufax, in his much shorter career, was mind-blowingly consistent from inning 1 to inning 9. Another incredible power pitcher, but with a somewhat different approach.

[Exhibitman]

Ryan needs to be put into context to understand his appeal. From 1972-1979 he was the most exciting pitcher in baseball. Led the league in K's 6 times in those 7 years, five of them over 300Ks. That left an indelible mark on the baseball consciousnesses of all the kids of the 1970s. He went back to it in 1987 with another 5 years of league-leading Ks as he went far beyond everyone else in Ks and no-hitters. That takes it to the kids of the late 1980s. Basically, two generations of collectors see Ryan as one of the most exciting, greatest performers in history. Those kids are the main collecting cohort today. No amount of statistical analysis will erase those impressions. The greatest pitching performance I ever saw was Jack Morris against the Braves in the WS. The most exciting performance I ever saw was Nolan Ryan dominating the Angels with the Rangers one game.

[Tyruscobb]

Nolan Ryan is an all-time great pitcher. Where he ranks in the pecking order is a great debate. Other posters have outlined his favorable statistics, so I’ll just point to some adverse ones.

He is the all-time walks leader. Ryan has the third most loses - almost 300. He only has the 249th lowest era. Ryan is only 20th in pitching WAR. Ryan never won a Cy Young award. Ryan only had two 20-win seasons. He never lead the league in wins. Ryan was only an eight-time all star.