A Year for the Record Books: Changes in Career & Single Season Records

The past season has been something very special for quite a few players and there has been more movement than in any recent season in the Indians statistical leader boards. Of course, most of these changes are involved with Corey Kluber‘s incredible year, but there are a few stats of notes from the great bullpen and a couple from the longer tenured Indians hitters. These are only significant changes in traditional counting and rate stats and will not include statements like, “he is the first player to ever hit 40 doubles, 20 home runs, steal 20 bases, bat .320 and have a dad who used to be a Major League outfielder.” as these are largely useless.

Offense

There are only two changes in offensive lists and neither are particularly impressive. First, with Carlos Santana walked 113 times this year, the most since Jim Thome walked 122 times in 2002. That season from Thome currently ranks third most in Indians history and Thome has each of the top five spots. The 113 from Santana are good enough to rank sixth behind those, making him the the greatest walk artist in a single season for the Indians, outside of Jim Thome. In addition, Santana is now 23rd in career walks in Indians history and if he continues next year at the same pace, he could move as high as 15th. If he finishes out his current contract, walking an average of 100 times a year, he would rank fourth in team history.

Jumping from great eyes at the plate to great speed on the bases, two current players now rank among the Indians most proficient base stealers. This year, Jason Kipnis and Michael Brantley stole a combined 25 bases and were caught just four times, leading to Kipnis grabbing the second spot in career stolen base percentage and Brantley the ninth. There is a 50 attempt minimum when considering the stolen base percent leaders. Five of the top ten on the list are recent players (adding Grady Sizemore, Roberto Alomar and Kenny Lofton), and this is likely due to a change in philosophy when stealing bases more than actual talent. As recent managers have taken more limited risks, it has put base runners in a better chance to steal bases successfully.

Pitching

There were quite a few pitching notes to mention, so we will start with the least important. While no longer an Indian, Justin Masterson was around long enough this year to hit 11 batters, moving him into second all time in Indians history with 65 in his career. Only George Uhle hit more as an Indian with 95, but he pitched almost 1,250 more innings.

Secondly, a group of relievers were given entrance to the record books just by being used often. Bryan Shaw is now the single season record holder in games pitched with 80 with Cody Allen and Marc Rzepczynski not sitting far behind. The top nine are included to the right and unsurprisingly is filled with modern pitchers, including Allen from 2013 and Rafael Perez from 2008.

Another quick relief note, by saving 24 of 28 games this year, Allen has now saved 79% of his opportunities in his career, good enough for 9th in Indians history among closers with at least 25 opportunities.

Finally, among relievers, there was quite a bit more movement on the career holds leader boards. While hold stats only go back to 1999, it provides another way to qualify back end relievers. This year, Bryan Shaw was able to move into the top ten, finishing the season at 9th with 36, while Cody Allen jumped to 13th (21), Rzepczynski to 14th (20) and Scott Atchison to 20th. Shaw’s 24 on the season was also good enough for the seventh most in a single season.

Strike Outs

In addition to the well known marks of Corey Kluber finishing sixth in Indians history with 269 strike outs in a single season and the team setting the all time single season record of 1,450, there were a few lesser known changes involving the letter ‘K’. While no Indians pitcher is near the number of innings necessary to be significant in total career strike outs, they are showing that they could be there eventually.

To start, just considering this season, Kluber posted the third best K/9 in Indians history with 10.29 strike outs per nine innings. Only Sam McDowell in 1965 and 1966 was better in a single season. For his career, he surpassed the 300 IP threshold necessary to be considered for the top 10 career K/9 and with that, he now sits in 7th place. Among starters, he is third all time behind just Herb Score and McDowell.

Kluber wasn’t the only pitcher to pass that 300 inning mark this year as Zach McAllister and Carlos Carrasco are also significant enough to be considered. They now rank 16th (7.35) and 23rd (7.06) respectively in Indians history. Also worth keeping an eye on, among pitchers with at least 100 innings pitched, Cody Allen is first all time in K/9 with a 10.92, followed by Vinnie Pestano (10.83) and Danny Salazar (10.28) for second and third. Bryan Shaw and Trevor Bauer are also in the top 20 with a 8.16 and 8.15 respectively. Three more pitchers are also within the top 50, including Zach McAllister, Carlos Carrasco and T.J. House. With all these pitchers (except Pestano) under control for years to come, the Indians should expect quite a few more strike outs in the upcoming seasons.

Similarly, decreasing the innings limit for a single season to 65 shows how impressive this staff has been. Allen’s 11.3 K/9 was the greatest in Indians history, followed by Kluber’s already mentioned at number eight. Danny Salazar (9.8) and Carlos Carrasco (9.4) were also in the top 25 despite not throwing enough innings to qualify. Luckily for the Indians, unlike ERA, a high K/9 rate is easy to repeat from one season to the next and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the team break it’s own strike out record next season, or to see a few more starters near the strike out totals that Kluber did this year.