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Washington Nationals: Max Scherzer and the 300-strikeout club

By Bobby Mueller

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 25:Washington Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer (31) threw ten strikeouts during the game between the Washington Nationals and the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park on Tuesday, September 25, 2018. Scherzer finished the season with 300 strikeouts. (Photo by Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 25:Washington Nationals starting pitcher Max Scherzer (31) threw ten strikeouts during the game between the Washington Nationals and the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park on Tuesday, September 25, 2018. Scherzer finished the season with 300 strikeouts. (Photo by Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post via Getty Images) /
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Washington Nationals
PHILADELPHIA, PA – AUGUST 28: Max Scherzer #31 of the Washington Nationals delivers a pitch during a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on August 28, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Nationals won 5-4. (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images) /

With his 300th strikeout in his recent start, Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer became just the 17th pitcher in MLB history to join the 300-strikeout club.

When Max Scherzer struck out Austin Dean on Tuesday to notch his 300th strikeout this season for the Washington Nationals, he joined a select group of pitchers to accomplish the feat. In the long history of major league baseball, just 16 pitchers before Scherzer struck out 300 batters in a season. These 16 pitchers did this a combined 35 times. Scherzer makes it 17 pitchers and 36 times.

What Scherzer just accomplished is quite rare. In fact, a pitcher striking out 300 batters in a season is more rare than 50-HR seasons or seasons in which a player had 150 RBI. Here’s a list of single-season feats that have happened a little more or a little less often than a 300-strikeout season.

  • 28 times—145 runs scored in a season
  • 36 times—300 strikeouts in a season
  • 36 times—230 hits in a season
  • 41 times—75 stolen bases in a season
  • 44 times—150 RBI in a season
  • 45 times—50 homers in a season

The first 300-strikeout season was in 1903, when left-handed pitcher Rube Waddell struck out 302 batters in 324 innings. He followed that up with 349 strikeouts in 383 innings in 1904. That would be the major league record for strikeouts in a season until Sandy Koufax topped it in 1965.

Waddell was the original eccentric lefty. He was described as possessing “the intellectual and emotional maturity of a child—although a very precocious and engaging one at that.” He would sometimes fail to show up at the ballpark, even on days he was scheduled to pitch. He had a fascination with fire trucks and was easily distracted by opposing fans who held up puppies.

Recent writers have suggested that Waddell may have had a developmental disability or autism or possibly attention deficit disorder. In those days, he wouldn’t have been diagnosed with any of those, so he was just considered a bit of an odd duck. He was incredibly talented with a baseball in his hand, though, as can be seen by his back-to-back 300-strikeout campaigns. Despite pitching just 13 seasons, Waddell was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Old Timers Committee in 1946. Waddell was the first to strike out 300 batters in a season, but he had contemporary company.

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