Felix Hernandez Already the Best Pitcher in Seattle Mariners’ History
By Tim Boyle
Felix Hernandez is more than one of the best active pitchers in Major League Baseball. After 10 seasons with the Seattle Mariners, it’s time King Felix is declared the best pitcher in the franchise’s history.
Since their inaugural season in 1977, the Mariners have had only a small number of pitchers with long-term success. In fact, the team didn’t even have a winning record until 1991. Although there’s no proof, perhaps the dark undertone of the grunge music scene had a lot to do with suffering baseball fans in the Emerald City experienced.
One of the most successful pitchers the Mariners had in the 1980s was Mark Langston. In parts of six seasons with Seattle, Langston was 74-67 with a 4.01 ERA. The 1987 season was his best as he won 19 games to go along with 14 complete games. Again, Langston was possibly the best pitcher from the decade. His 19.4 WAR with the Mariners still ranks fourth among all pitchers in franchise history in spite of his rather average overall numbers.
The 1990s were a lot more successful for Seattle’s baseball team and everything in general from the rise of Starbucks to the growing popularity of Bill Gates. This was also the decade when Randy Johnson was taking the mound for the M’s.
The biggest competition for Hernandez for the title of best pitcher in Mariners’ history is Johnson. His 1995 Cy Young Award was the only one in team history until Hernandez won the same award in 2010.
Johnson spent 10 seasons with the Mariners, including 23 starts in 1998 before he was traded to the Houston Astros. He went 130-74 with a 3.42 ERA during his days in Seattle. His start was slower than Hernandez’s and included three seasons with walk totals exceeding 100. Johnson’s growing pains were a lot longer than any troubles Hernandez had.
At this point in his career, Hernandez already has more starts than Johnson did as a Mariner. He’s only 5 wins behind Johnson, but with a much lower ERA at 3.07. The low ERA also just happens to be tied with teammate Hisashi Iwakuma for the best in franchise history. The biggest difference is Iwakuma has only three seasons with the Mariners.
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In addition to having the best ERA in franchise history, Hernandez’s 2.14 ERA in 2014 ranks as the best by any starting Mariners pitcher over a single season. If not for Corey Kluber, he would have a pair of Cy Young Awards instead of just one.
Once Hernandez passes Johnson in wins, he will only need to catch Jamie Moyer. Moyer currently holds the record for most wins by a Mariners’ pitcher with 145 of them. A 20-win season for Hernandez in 2015 would have him tied for the franchise record. An average season, and he should get there by mid-2016.
An important number to watch from Hernandez in 2015 is his strikeouts. He’s 211 away from tying Johnson for the most by any M’s pitcher. There is a very high likelihood of this occurring, considering Hernandez has reached that amount in every season since 2009. This will take away one more record for Hernandez to claim as his own, and officially make him the true King of the Mariners.