Best left-handed pitchers of all-time: The best lefties in MLB history
Among the best pitchers of all-time, you find a number of elite lefties. Today, we’ll explore the best left-handed pitchers in major league history.
As part of a series we will cover here at Call to the Pen on MLB history, today we will look at the best left-handed pitchers of all time.
We will cover all of MLB history, not just the first 100 years or the last 50 years, and this is not a consensus of all Call to the Pen authors and editors, but the opinion of the author of that list. This is a great list to debate and discuss!
Before we move to the top 20, let’s look at one current player who has a chance to break into this top 20 list!
Chris Sale, 97 wins, 2.97 ERA, 1,419 1/3 IP, 1,681 strikeouts, 39.5 bWAR
With an active pitcher in the top 20 already, it takes a solid track record of production to get notice here. How about this for “production”…of the top 200 left-handed starters of all-time in bWAR, Sale has the highest strikeout rate, at 29.5% for his career, nearly a full percentage point over #2. He’s also 3rd in ERA+ among all of the best pitchers from the left side.
Sale already ranks just outside of the top 50 lefties in career bWAR, though he is pitching in just his age-29 season and has many innings to go to get career numbers close. Sale is signed through 2018, with a 2019 option that is nearly certain to be picked up, putting him on the open market going into his age-31 season.
By that point, he very well could be at 120 wins and over 2,000 strikeouts. Only 25 lefties have ever cleared 2,000 strikeouts, which would mean having multiple solid seasons ahead of him after already clearing the number could put Sale in elite company in a hurry among his fellow southpaws.
While one thing I’ve used here to separate pitchers is recognition from peers, Sale’s 6 All-Star games speak loudly, and even though he has not won a Cy Young, he has now finished in the top 5 in voting the last 5 years straight. He’s also finished in the top 20 in MVP voting the last three seasons.
For now, however, let’s take a look at the guys who do make the list…
Next: 20. Late Round Gem