Stats and Ranks
Some Interesting Stats and Facts
- One of 3 Phillies (Carlton, Bedrosian) to win the Cy Young Award.
- Gave up 2 ER or less in 27 of his 36 starts, and 1 ER or less in 20 of 36.
- Top-5 in the NL in ERA (2nd), Wins (1st), W/L% (1st), WHIP (5th), BB/9 (3rd), Starts (3rd), HR/9 (1st) and ERA+ (2nd).
- Since 1920, only Carlton (‘72, ‘80), Bunning (‘67) and John Denny (‘83) pitched over 240 innings with an ERA under 2.40.
- 2nd highest winning percentage (.760) of any pitcher in Phillies history with 25+ decisions.
- Allowed only 9 HR in those 242.2 IP (or 1 every 4 starts). Led the NL in HR/9 (0.33) and is one of only 3 Phillies pitchers since 1950 to have a HR/9 rate that low with 200+ IP.
- Only Phillies pitcher since 1950 with less than 0.33 HR/9 and 2.0 BB/9 rates.
- This season, his first full one with the Phillies, followed a 6-13, 4.87 ERA season with the Indians and Phillies.
Why He’s Here
When watching baseball, two of the most frustrating things for fans to see is a pitcher giving up a walk, or grooving a fastball for a home run. In that case, John Denny might have had the least frustrating season in Phillies history. Denny wasn’t a fireballer who was going to blow anyone away. In fact, his K/9 rate (5.2) ranks him 96th all-time for Phillies pitchers with 180+ innings, right behind Pat Combs and Omar Daal. Instead, he relied on control and keeping the ball in the park. Only a handful of pitchers ever did both so well, for so many innings.
From 1946-2008, only 7 pitchers had a season in which they pitched over 242 IP, with a HR/9 rate below 0.34/9 and a BB/9 below 2.0/9. You might recognize some of the names: Bob Gibson (1968), Gaylord Perry (1968), Don Sutton (1971), Ron Reed (1975), Vida Blue (1976), John Denny (1983) and Kevin Brown (1998). Denny unbelievably reliable, giving up more than 4 runs only 3 times all season, and pitching at least 6 innings in 26 of 36 starts.
Like many of the top season entries, Denny’s season helped the Phillies to the playoffs, and the World Series. In the playoffs, he equaled his regular season ERA of 2.37 over 3 starts, but only won 1 game.
Previous ‘Top-20 Seasons’ Entries
#17 – Tug McGraw, 1980
#18 - Greg Luzinksi, 1977
#19 - Gavvy Cravath, 1913
#20 - Lenny Dykstra, 1993
Five pitchers that just missed (and criteria for rankings)
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