Top 5 Displaced Homegrown Red Sox Players in History
SP, Roger Clemens | 78.8 WAR in Boston
Last but not least, we have “The Rocket,” Roger Clemens. Prior to finding himself again in Toronto, Clemens had spent 13 years with the Boston Red Sox. In that time, he established himself as the best pitcher in baseball after winning THREE AL Cy Young awards, an MVP award, winning more than 63% of his games and striking out 2590 batters.
More from Boston Red Sox
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- Stock Up, Stock Down: Braves, Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox
- Boston Red Sox: The 4 players who are on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Stock Up, Stock Down: Two teams rising, two falling post-trade deadline
Had he called it a career before signing with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1996, Clemens would be a surefire Hall of Famer. It’s a rare feat to win the Cy Young 3x. It’s even rarer to win an MVP award as a pitcher. His 2590 strikeouts in Boston? Well, that would place him just under another Hall of Fame pitcher, Tom Glavine, who has 2607.
Instead, Clemens went on to pitch another 11 years, racking up four more Cy Young awards and two World Series titles along the way. He’d also be implicated in baseball’s PED scandal when his trainer accused him of taking HGH. Friend and teammate Andy Pettitte would corroborate this story under oath, but Clemens continues to deny it to this day.
At the end of the day, Clemens went on to play 24 MLB seasons and is 9th all-time in wins with 354. His 4672 strikeouts are third-most in the history of baseball behind Hall of Fame pitchers Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson.
Today, though the Fenway Faithful have welcomed “The Rocket” back, claiming them as one of their own again, he remains the only pitcher of his stature not to be enshrined in Cooperstown. With his vote percentage increasing with each season, there’s hope that one day he’d make it to the Hall of Fame… and he should.