Newhouser Dominates Single-Season Strikeout Lists

In the previous post, I looked at the Tigers career strikeout leaders according to the K+ and Adjusted K statistics.  Today, I'll do the same thing for single seasons.   Thanks again to Raphy at High Heat Stats for developing the strikeout normalization formulas.

The K+ metric tells us how a pitcher's strikeout total compared to league average.  For example, Justin Verlander had a 147 K+ in 2009 which means his strikeout rate was 47% better than league average.  His Adjusted K total that year was 187 which is an estimate of his strikeout total assuming that the league average strikeouts per inning was .531 (the all-time MLB rate).  The Adjusted K number doesn't tell us a lot about Verlander in 2009, but it's useful in comparing pitchers across years.

As shown in Table 1 below, the Tigers single-season K+ leader is Hall of Fame left hander Hal Newhouser at 199 in 1946.  That means his strikeout rate was about twice as high as the league average that year.   Newhouser's 1943 and 1945 seasons rank second and third and his 1944 season was also in the top 15.  Other pitchers appearing multiple times are Tommy Bridges (six times between 1931-1943) and  Bob Newsom (1941 and 1939). 

Table 1: Tigers Single-Season K+ Leaders

Pitcher	Year	IP	Actual K	Expected K	K+
Hal Newhouser	1946	293	275	138	199
Hal Newhouser	1943	196	144	78	183
Hal Newhouser	1945	313	212	120	177
Bobo Newsom	1941	250	175	100	175
Bobo Newsom	1939	246	164	98	168
Tommy Bridges	1931	173	105	63	165
Tommy Bridges	1935	274	163	99	164
Tommy Bridges	1939	198	129	79	164
Tommy Bridges	1943	192	124	77	161
Syl Johnson	1923	176	93	58	161
Tommy Bridges	1936	295	175	109	161
Ted Gray	1951	197	131	82	160
Hal Newhouser	1944	312	187	119	158
Tommy Bridges	1940	198	133	85	156
Mickey Lolich	1969	281	271	174	156

Data source: Baseball-Reference.com


Table 2 shows that Newhouser also leads with 309 Adjusted K in 1946 and 294 Adjusted K in 1945.  Mickey Lolich's 271 Adjusted K in 1971 ranks third.  Looking at the entire top 15, Newhouser appears four times and Bridges, Lolich and Newsom two times apiece.

Table 2: Tigers Single-Season Adjusted Strikeout Leaders

Pitcher	Year	IP	Actual K	Expected K	Adjusted K
Hal Newhouser	1946	293	275	138	309
Hal Newhouser	1945	313	212	120	294
Mickey Lolich	1971	376	308	226	271
Hal Newhouser	1944	312	187	119	261
Tommy Bridges	1936	295	175	109	252
Tommy Bridges	1935	274	163	99	239
Bobo Newsom	1941	250	175	100	233
Mickey Lolich	1969	281	271	174	232
Bill Donovan	1903	307	187	132	231
Jack Morris	1983	294	232	159	228
Denny McLain	1968	336	280	223	224
Hal Newhouser	1947	285	176	119	223
Bobo Newsom	1939	246	164	98	219
Mickey Lolich	1972	327	250	200	217
George Mullin	1903	321	170	138	210

Data source: Baseball-Reference.com