As you can see in Figure 1 below, there has been a great deal of variation in strikeout rates throughout baseball history. Rates range from 2.7 in 1924 to an all-time high of 7.1 in 2011. Some credit has to go to modern pitchers, who have more pitches and more information about opposing batters than ever before. However, much of the variation is likely due to the way batters approach the game. In earlier decades, batters were more interested on making contact, whereas today there is more focus on swinging for the fences.
Data Source: Baseball-Reference.com
Regardless of the reasons for the wildly different strikeout rates, it is a challenge to compare pitchers from different eras. For example, when Tommy Bridges struck out 138 batters in 245 innings in 1937, his 5.1 K9 was fifth best in the American League. That was an impressive rate in a league where pitchers averaged only 3.7 strikeouts per game. Conversely, Rick Porcello punched out batters at the same rate in 2011, but it was a disappointing total in a league with a 7.1 average.
Fortunately, Raphy at High Heat Stats has come up with a way to make it easier to compare strikeout rates of pitchers from different eras. He normalized strikeout totals for all seasons of pitchers with 1,000 or more innings pitched using a measure similar to ERA+. The difference is that it's for strikeouts rather than ERA. I will call it K+. I will now apply his work to Tigers pitchers selecting only the seasons they pitched for Detroit.
I'll explain how K+ is calculated using Verlander's 2009 season as an example. First copute the expected number of strikeouts for an average pitcher working the same number of innings as Verlander (240). To do that, multiply league strikeouts per inning (.763) by 240 yielding 183 expected strikeouts. Then divide Verlander's' actual strikeout total (269) by his expected total (183) to get 1.47. Finally, multiply 1.47 by 100 to arrive at a K+ of 147. In other words, Verlander's strikeout rate was 47% better than league average.
To get a career total, first sum expected strikeouts across all of Verlander's seasons (985). Then divide his career actual strikeouts (1215) by 985 and arrive at a career K+ of 123. Figure 2 below shows that the Tigers current ace ranks ninth on the Tigers all-time list. The leader is Bridges at 154 followed by Prince Hal Newhouser (146) and reliever John Hiller (145).
Figure 2: Tigers All-Time K+ Leaders
IP
|
Actual
K
|
Expected
K
|
K+
|
|
Tommy
Bridges
|
2,826
|
1,674
|
1,090
|
154
|
Hal
Newhouser
|
2,944
|
1,770
|
1,205
|
147
|
John
Hiller
|
1,242
|
1,036
|
714
|
145
|
Ted
Gray
|
1,111
|
676
|
476
|
142
|
Virgil
Trucks
|
1,801
|
1,046
|
766
|
137
|
Jim
Bunning
|
1,867
|
1,406
|
1,051
|
134
|
Mickey
Lolich
|
3,362
|
2,679
|
2,076
|
129
|
Joe
Coleman
|
1,408
|
1,000
|
808
|
124
|
Justin
Verlander
|
1,315
|
1,215
|
985
|
123
|
Billy
Hoeft
|
1,325
|
783
|
656
|
119
|
Schoolboy
Rowe
|
1,445
|
662
|
557
|
119
|
Earl
Whitehill
|
2,171
|
838
|
722
|
116
|
Bill
Donovan
|
2,137
|
1,079
|
946
|
114
|
Dizzy Trout
|
2,592
|
1,199
|
1,053
|
114
|
Jack
Morris
|
3,043
|
1,980
|
1,750
|
113
|
Data source: Baseball-Reference.com
Raphy explains that we can go one step further and calculate Adjusted Strikeouts which give a pitcher credit for his innings workload. What he does is estimate the strikeout total a pitcher would have assuming that the league average strikeouts per inning was .531 (the all-time MLB rate) every year. The Adjusted K total is found by multiplying a player’s career IP by his K+ and then by .531. In Verlander's case, that comes to 861 Adjusted K.
The all-time Tigers Adjusted K leaders are shown in Figure 3. Bridges (2.304) narrowly beat out Mickey Lolich (2,302) and Newhouser (2,293) making him the Tigers all-time strikeout king in both rate and counting statistics.
Figure 3: Tigers All-Time Adjusted Strikeout Leaders
Pitcher
|
IP
|
Actual
K
|
Expected
K
|
Adjusted
K
|
Tommy
Bridges
|
2,826
|
1,674
|
1,090
|
2,304
|
Mickey
Lolich
|
3,362
|
2,679
|
2,076
|
2,302
|
Hal
Newhouser
|
2,944
|
1,770
|
1,205
|
2,294
|
Jack
Morris
|
3,043
|
1,980
|
1,750
|
1,827
|
Hooks
Dauss
|
3,391
|
1,201
|
1,239
|
1,745
|
George
Mullin
|
3,394
|
1,380
|
1,468
|
1,693
|
Dizzy
Trout
|
2,592
|
1,199
|
1,053
|
1,566
|
Earl
Whitehill
|
2,171
|
838
|
722
|
1,337
|
Jim
Bunning
|
1,867
|
1,406
|
1,051
|
1,326
|
Virgil
Trucks
|
1,801
|
1,046
|
766
|
1,305
|
Bill
Donovan
|
2,137
|
1,079
|
946
|
1,294
|
Frank
Lary
|
2,009
|
1,031
|
1,096
|
1,003
|
John
Hiller
|
1,242
|
1,036
|
714
|
956
|
Denny McLain
|
1,593
|
1,150
|
1,042
|
933
|
Joe
Coleman
|
1,408
|
1,000
|
808
|
925
|
Data source: Baseball-Reference.com
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