Is the 300-game Winner Actually Dead? Five Pitchers with a Chance at 300
By Jim Turvey
Honorable Mentions
Bartolo Colon (234 wins, age 44): Colon is the active leader in wins, and with the legend of BFBC growing day-by-day, I guess it’s impossible to truly rule out a run at 300. Although the thought of Colon still winning ten games a year at age 50 is more of a stretch than the belly portion of his Mets’ uniform.
Noah Syndergaard (24 wins, age 24): The other side of the spectrum, Syndergaard would be a trendy pick for many, as he is undoubtedly the best young pitcher in baseball. The extreme velocity he relies on and the injuries the rest of the Mets’ pitching staff hasn’t been able to avoid is just too worrisome here, though.
Max Scherzer, David Price, Cole Hamels, Felix Hernandez: This is your friendly reminder that it is exceptionally hard to win 300 games and many of the best pitchers in baseball are unable to achieve this milestone. Only 24 pitchers have joined the elusive club in the nearly 150 years of baseball history to date. The three listed above (along with about a dozen other names I could have rattled off) are great pitchers, but they will almost certainly end up outside the gates of 300.
Justin Verlander (174 wins, age 34): The last cut before our top five, Verlander’s 2015 (just five wins) may well end up haunting him in his chase for 300. That said, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Verlander age well and put up a good chase for 300.
Sad note: While researching this piece, two names kept coming up as young pitchers who had lots of wins in their first couple of seasons: Jose Fernandez and Yordano Ventura. The baseball community – and the world as a whole – was robbed of two amazing talents and incredible young men in the past few seasons.