Out of all of the pitchers who have toed the rubber for the Boston Red Sox, who are the top five pitchers ever?
When looking at the best starting pitchers in Boston Red Sox history, there are many things to take into consideration.
There are a lot of guys that have been sensational pitchers for the Red Sox and coming up with just the top five was extremely difficult.
Pitching has changed throughout the years, and the era that players pitched in is a huge difference maker. For example, Pedro Martinez‘s stats may be flawed due to the fact that he pitched in the steroid era and Cy Young‘s stats might be different because he pitched in the early 1900’s when guys threw more than 300 innings per year.
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The total amount of years spent with the Red Sox was also heavily taken into consideration, which left guys like Chris Sale off the list.
Because of this, you can’t just take a look at career statistics with the Red Sox and determine the best five pitchers that way. There are many factors that come into it and I really had to dive deep coming up with this list.
That being said, let’s take a look at the five best pitchers in Red Sox history. I know not all of you will agree with my decisions, but most lists should look something like this.
5. Jon Lester
It was tough leaving Luis Tiant and Lefty Grove off the list, but Lester gets the nod here largely due to his consistency and dominance in the playoffs.
Overall with the Red Sox, Lester was 110-63 with a 3.64 ERA and 1,386 strikeouts in 1,519 innings pitched. Lester was easily the Red Sox best pitcher for the Red Sox in the regular season from 2008-2014, other than a forgettable 2012 year (along with just about everyone else on the team that year).
Lester will forever be remembered for his dominance in the 2013 playoffs that led to his second World Series ring, but let’s not forget the impact he had on the 2007 World Series. Terry Francona gave the young left-hander the nod in Game One of the World Series against the Rockies, his first postseason start in his career.
However, as he would do for the rest of his career with the Red Sox, Lester delivered.
Lester pitched 5.2 innings, yielding just three hits and three walks while not allowing any runs. His performance set the tone on this series, and it led to a Red Sox sweep.
In the 2013 playoffs, the current Cub was remarkable. Lester went 4-1 with a 1.58 ERA, carrying the Red Sox pitching staff all postseason long. In the 2013 World Series, Lester gave up just one run in 15.1 innings of work.
The 3-time all-star with the Boston Red Sox is seventh in WAR for pitchers in team history, ninth in wins, and fourth in strikeouts. It’s a darn shame the Red Sox chose to sign Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval over Jon Lester in the 2014 offseason.
4. Babe Ruth
When people hear the name Babe Ruth, everybody immediately highlights his sensational hitting career with the New York Yankees and the “Curse of the Bambino.”
Don’t forget about what Ruth accomplished with the Red Sox as a pitcher.
In six years with the Red Sox, Ruth was sensational on the mound. He went 94-46 with a 2.28 ERA and had just a 1.159 WHIP. In 1916, Ruth had arguably the best single-season as a pitcher in baseball history. The 21-year-old at the time went 23-12 with a 1.75 in 323.2 innings of work and led the Red Sox to a World Series victory. Ruth didn’t allow a single home run that entire season.
Ruth was huge for the Red Sox 1915, 1916, and 1918 world champion teams. In three World Series games with the Sox, the legend yielded just three runs in 31 innings of work, winning all three games.
Ruth will unfortunately never be remembered for his time with the Boston Red Sox, but he certainly deserves to be on this list.
3. Cy Young
Cy Young’s statistics with the Red Sox are just ridiculous.
With Boston, the right-hander went 192-112 with a 2.00 ERA and a 0.970 WHIP in 2,728.1 innings pitched in eight years. Despite coming to Boston in 1901 when he was already 34 years old, Young led the major leagues in wins during his first three years.
Young also helped the Boston Red Sox win the World Series in 1903. The legend went 28-9 with a 2.08 ERA during the regular season and pitched four of the eight games in the World Series, going 2-1 with a 1.85 ERA.
It’s tough to compare Cy Young with more recent legends due to the fact that he pitched so much and the game was so different as a whole in the early 1900’s. Young pitched more than 287.2 innings each year he was with the Red Sox.
Pitchers today will almost never exceed 250 innings per year and it hasn’t been done since Justin Verlander’s MVP season in 2011. The hitters in the early 1900’s are not believed to be as good as the hitters in more recent years which suggests to the fact that pitchers pitched as much as they did.
However, Young had too much impact with the Red Sox to leave him off this list, and putting him at third is the right spot for him in my opinion. Young is second in Boston Red Sox history in Pitchers War with 66.2, second in ERA, tied for first in wins, first in WHIP, and third in innings pitched.
2. Roger Clemens
The best two Red Sox pitchers of all time are undisputedly Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens in my opinion. Both were absolutely dominant during their time in Boston and carried the Red Sox pitching staff for numerous years.
Clemens’ stats were better than what Pedro’s were in Boston and received more accolades, but he comes in at number two on this list. In Boston, “The Rocket” went 192-111 with a 3.06 ERA, striking out 2,590 batters in 2,776 innings pitched. Clemens won the AL Cy Young in 1986, 1987, and 1991 in Boston.
In 1986, Clemens went an absurd 24-4 with a 2.48 ERA and struck out 238 batters in 254 innings and also won the AL MVP that year at just 23 years old. Another highlight season came in 1990 when the right-hander went 21-6 with a 1.93 ERA and struck out 209 batters in 228.1 innings.
Over his 13 years in Boston, Clemens sits first all-time in team history in WAR at 81.0, tied for first in wins, second in innings pitched, first in strikeouts, and first in shutouts. Despite his steroid allegations, Clemens is considered one of the best pitchers in baseball history to many, and deservingly so.
Clemens, however, never had the same success in the playoffs as he had in the regular season with the Red Sox. In the nine postseason games Clemens pitched, the Red Sox went just 2-7, and he was never able to win a World Series with the Red Sox unlike everybody else on this list. Clemens still had a respectable 3.91 ERA in the playoffs but he wasn’t nearly as good in the playoffs as he was in the regular season.
Nonetheless, Clemens was a remarkable pitcher for the Red Sox and said he will be wearing the Boston Red Sox hat on his plaque if he ever gets inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1. Pedro Martinez
Whenever Pedro Martinez stepped on the mound with the Boston Red Sox, it was an absolute thing of beauty. Pedro’s changeup is one of the best pitches of all time and he would use it to baffle hitters.
Boston Red Sox
Pedro had everything going against him during his time in Boston. He pitched in the toughest era ever as a pitcher in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s that many people refer to as “The Steroids Era.”
Martinez knows that he pitched so great in such a tough era, but he claims that “he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”
"“I appreciate the fact that I had to face probably the toughest matchup out there, and guess what? I didn’t want it any other way. I wanted to beat the best. I wanted to be the best I could be every time I went out there.”"
However, Pedro’s impact in Boston will never be forgotten. From 1999-2003, Martinez had one of the best five-year stretches baseball has ever seen in The Steroid Era. In those years, the right-hander went 82-21 with a 2.10 ERA and struck out 1,250 batters in 900 innings. Overall in Boston, Pedro went 117-37 with a 2.52 ERA and struck out 1,683 batters in 1,383.2 innings.
Martinez ranks third in Boston Red Sox history in WAR at 53.9, tenth in ERA, sixth in wins, first in win-loss percentage, second in WHIP, third in strikeouts, and first in K/BB ratio.
Although 2004 was his worst year statistically with the Red Sox, the Hall-of-Famer will forever be remembered for helping the team finally win the World Series in 2004. Martinez struggled heavily against the Yankees in 2003 and 2004, but he was terrific against everyone else in the postseason. Pedro went 16-9 with a 3.90 ERA in the regular season and went 2-1 with a 4.00 ERA in the playoffs in ’04.
Pedro Martinez is a legend in the city of Boston, and should not only be recognized as one of the best pitchers in Red Sox history but also as one of the best pitchers ever in baseball history.