Pedro Martinez Pitched the Greatest Season Ever. Then He Did It Again. | Baseball Bits

shout out to seat geek for sponsoring this video seat geek is the best place to buy tickets online use my promo code foolish for $20 off your first purchase [Music] in 1995 23 year-old Pedro Martinez had his first great season in the big leagues with the Montreal Expos in 1996 he made his first all-star game in 1997 he struck out 305 batters and won his first site Young Award in 1998 he moved to Boston and continued his dominance finishing as the runner-up to Roger Clemens for the league's best pitcher during that time he developed a particular set of skills namely three outrageously good pitches a four seam fastball movement that went to the upper 90s a ridiculous curveball and the real piece de resistance a changeup he tossed with a circle grip which is in my non-expert opinion the greatest change of anyone has ever thrown he also had a cutter and two seam fastball that he would mix in from time to time and while 1995 through 1998 really laid the foundations for a historic run we're not going to talk anymore about those years see beginning in 1999 and stretching through the end of 2000 hey drew Martinez embarked on a two season stretch of monumental proportions at the peak of the steroid era in the high-scoring al least pitching in a hitter friendly ballpark he completely shut down opposition despite playing in one of the highest scoring run environments ever in the past elite pitchers had put up seemingly impossible numbers for a season or two the high-water mark being Bob Gibson's 1968 campaign where he finished with the one point 1/2 er a a modern record Pedro didn't quite approach that level of run prevention but given the era he was pitching in he made his case for the greatest pitching season of all time twice in a row let's talk about his first campaign [Music] Pedro's 1999 season kicked off pretty fast he exited April with a 2.21 er a after five starts and delivered a particularly iconic pager performance on May 7th against the Angels his final line eight innings pitched six hits zero walks zero runs 15 strikeouts now this is a unique performance worth highlighting there have only been 51 games in MLB history where a pitcher has struck out at least 15 batters without walking one and four of those instances belong to Pedro Martinez then came the all-star game where any Pedro fish Edano to rattle off some of his signature moments Martinez's performance in the 1999 all-star game and his home stadium of Fenway Park would rake quite high the leadoff man Hall of Famer Barry Larkin after getting him to a 2-2 count the always difficult Larkin fouls off fastball after fastball keep in mind Larkins career-high four strikeouts in the season was just 69 so he did a nice job of putting balls in play and then came that changeup you think that sweet wait till I drag a pitching ninja logo on top of it after serving up 96 97 and 98 to Larkin it's the 85 mile-per-hour changeup that he's not ready for it who's up next oh it's our good friend Larry Walker hitting a reasonable 382 in the first half but you know course get some 201 with the off-speed stuff fastball for strike two and you're done sit down here's Sammy Sosa fresh off his epic 1998 homerun race with Martin choir and oh there's the change-up again to make it two strikes and a perfect fastball Pedro has just struck out three superstars with ease 2nd inning now and the Afro mentioned McGwire comes to the plate and he does the exact same thing to him changeup to make it two strikes and he can't catch up to the fastball it's a good thing Sosa and McGwire were in the National League when they were chasing that homerun record Matt Williams sends a week groundout to the second baseman thanks - Pedro's curveball a no-no Robbie Alomar doesn't matter though Pedro strikes out Jeff Bagwell and Pudge Rodriguez guns down Williams trying to steal second base just like that Pedro's legendary all-star game outing is complete in years past pedra had gained a little bit of a reputation for breaking down at the end of seasons he'd seemingly missed a couple starts here and there and that happened to some extent as he had his low blow up start of the season against the Marlins on July 18th and Miss 2 weeks after that what didn't happen though was a September slowdown Pedro's last to September's hadn't been terrible but they had been a little unpaved or like having posted a three four-one ARA and ninety seven and a four one five and ninety eight so how did he do in September of 1999 oh that's a lot lower Pedro pitched five gems that September with inning totals that look like this earned run totals that look like this and strikeout tolls that looked like this so no wonder his results ended up looking like this the most memorable of these starts came in enemy territory when he struck out seventeen Yankees while only allowing one hit a solo home run to chili Davis Pedro ended 1999 with 23 wins a 207 ER a and 313 strikeouts across 213 and third innings but there's more going on below the surface si you can assess a pitcher's performance through their results such as their er a but there's also peripherals that try to tell us how well they are pitching regardless of outcome how about fit short for fielding independent pitching this stat looks of the three true outcomes walks homers and strikeouts to predict a player's er a using only instances where fielding isn't involved Pedro struck out thirteen point two batters per nine innings which actually set a major league record for qualified pitchers at the time he walked just one point six batters per nine which is a trait that really separated him from the strikeout artists of his time he was just so pinpoint which gave him an absurd eight point four six strikeout per walk ratio but then there's the homers the sweet sweet homers the American League averaged one point one six homers per nine innings that season but Pedro decided that allowing homers is for suckers so he allowed 0.38 that's a grand total of nine home runs in 835 batters faced that's astounding for the height of the steroid era so in total his fielding independent pitching came out to 1.39 Wow that means if you look at the true outcomes his expected er a was significantly lower than his actual er a fit is it some amazing tell all stat but he definitely underperformed that particular peripheral in fact that's the best fit any pitcher has had since Babe Ruth started clobbering homers it's really not particularly close but he wasn't done yet [Music] [Applause] Boston finished the 1999 season with 94 wins and grabbed the AL Wild Card spot in the division series they faced off against the stack Cleveland Indians team that was the first to score over 1000 runs since the Red Sox did it themselves in 1950 naturally Pedro took the mound for Game one but was pulled in the 5th inning with the Red Sox leading 200 after injuring his back with Boston's ace out of the mix Cleveland rallied back with a Jim Thome two-run homer to tie the game in the 6th inning and a Travis Fryman walk-off single ended it in the ninth the series continued without any more appearances from the ailing Pedro Martinez and it all came to a head in the winner-take-all game 5 at Jacobs Field facing the best offensive baseball veteran Bret Saberhagen was pulled in the 2nd inning after allowing five runs youngster Derek Lowe came in and he didn't pitch too well either allowing three runs after Lowe allowed a two-run home run to Jim Thome an angelic figure appeared in the bullpen the injured Pedro Martinez was warming up see this wasn't a blowout Boston's offense was somehow keeping pace and the score stood tied at 8 to 8 entering the bottom of the fourth despite the early onslaught of runs the teams were on even footing no one knew how long Pedro would be able to go or who the Red Sox could possibly call on next but once he entered the game in the fourth the devastating Cleveland bats came to a screeching halt he got sandy Alomar and Kenny Lofton to ground out with the latter injuring himself on a headfirst slide then Omar Vizquel lined out to first base Pedro Martinez had a 1-2-3 inning to start his appearance in the fifth Pedro was given the Herculean task of facing the heart of Cleveland's order hall-of-famer Robbie Alomar grounded out which was Pedro exacting his revenge for Alomar flubbing that grounder in the else I'm sure then one of the best right-handed hitters of all time and future Red Sox teammate Manny Ramirez walked giving Pedro his first base runner well at least it can't get any worse than that oh wait just kidding there's Hall of Famer Jim Thome who had already hit a whopping four homers in the five-game series somehow he gets Jim Thome out on the most awkward of strikeouts as Thome believed he fouled off this pitch that's just a lucky break that Pedro Martinez might need what are the odds that Cleveland has yet another Hall of Famer lurking behind the great Jim Thome oh that's right that Harold Baines - I think I understand how they scored a thousand runs now but Pedro was just too good that night and a perfectly placed fastball on the 1 2 pitch retires Baines looking in the top of the seventh with two runners on Boston left fielder Troy O'Leary broke the game open with a three-run Jack to give Boston an 11 to 8 lead but such a lead was fragile and it would require more pitching your heroics to maintain it against a Cleveland lineup that looked like this Wow speaking of future Pedro Martinez teammates how about Dave Roberts up again for the injured Kenny Lofton baseball really is a small world so in your first six lineup spots you have a borderline hall-of-famer who got massively snubbed a potential hall-of-famer currently on the ballot a Hall of Famer someone with a Hall of Fame career who only won't get in due to failed drug tests a Hall of Famer and Harold Baines was also somehow in the Hall of Fame just absolutely stacked yet Pedro continued to mow them down where the Red Sox leading 12 to 8 going into the ninth inning they were just three outs away surely Martinez must be too sore to continue upon his induction into the Red Sox Hall of Fame Pedro looked back at this gutsy performance with some serious perspective he stated that the decision to pitch that day put everything on the line even his future health and career but it's the ninth inning kicked off he remained on the mound to close out the Cleveland Indians the first batter Enrique Wilson grounded out to Nomar Garciaparra next up was Dave Roberts who lined out also to Garciaparra that made Omar Vizquel the last man standing and with this o tube pitch Pedro ended Cleveland's terrific season prematurely his final stat line six innings pitched three walks eight strikeouts zero runs zero hits that's right Pedro no hit one of the best offenses in baseball history for six innings when his team needed it most a legendary performance in the playoffs the Red Sox would end up falling to the Yankees and five games in the American League Championship Series there was hardly Pedro's fault he outdueled Roger Clemens in Game three to the tune of seven scoreless innings and 12 strikeouts giving Boston their only win of the series in total Pedro pitched 17 scoreless innings in the playoffs that year against some of the toughest competition imaginable his team just let him down as you can imagine he was awarded the sign young that year and finished second in MVP voting two-putt Rodriguez and what was an extremely close race in fact Pedro ended up receiving more first-place votes than the Hall of Fame catcher and thus ends our video on Pedro's legendary 1999 season please don't hesitate to check out my sponsors Co oh sorry my producer is telling you something he did it again in 2000 well we should probably talk about that with an amazing 1999 behind him pedra began his 2000 season in typical Pedro fashion he won his first five starts in April pitching seven innings on all of them and finishing with the 1.27 er a it's great of a month that is May is where things started to get really interesting on May 6th Martinez dueled the Devil Rays in Fenway like his duel with the Yankees in 99 Pedro pitched nine innings and struck out 17 batters so here's a quick fun fact for you besides Pedro Martinez the only pitchers in MLB history with multiple games of at least 17 strikeouts are Nolan Ryan Randy Johnson Roger Clemens Max Scherzer Sandy Koufax and Bob Feller and with Pedro throwing these two games within six months of another it's safe to say he was at his absolute peak but here's something lousy he actually lost the game he allowed a run as the Red Sox were shutout by Steve Trachsel and this is a theme that would continue throughout his season on the 12th of May Pedro took the hump against another division rival in the Orioles throwing a complete game shutout and striking out 15 you best believe he got the win for that one at the end of the month Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens were set up for the duel of the season on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball and the two did not disappoint Pedro and the Red Sox had handily defeated Clemens in Game three of the ALCS the previous year but the rocket brought his a-game this time around thankfully so did Pedro Martinez [Music] the game was tied going into the ninth inning when trot Nixon broke the game open with a two-run homer off Clemens the Yankees were able to load the bases against Pedro in the bottom half of the final inning but he pitched out of it it was another legendary performance against Boston's eternal rivals and it dropped his IRA to a seemingly impossible 1.05 as the Red Sox A's pitcher much of Pedro success was going to be measured by his performance against the Yankees and he always delivered between 1999 and 2000 Martinez started seven games against the Bronx Bombers accumulating a 4 and 2 record 74 strikeouts in 53 innings and a 1 point 7 0 er a keep in mind the Yankees want both world series in this time frame naturally he tossed more masterpieces as the season went along on July 23rd he tossed a 15 strikeout complete game shutout as the Red Sox defeated the White Sox 1 to nothing on August 29th he exactly his revenge on the Devil Rays by striking out 13 in a complete game one hit shutout to give him his 15th win of the season the season wrapped up and Pedro's 2000 might have just beaten out his legendary 1999 for starters his era of 1.74 is an incredible feat but will soon learn just how special that number really was and in an environment of high-octane offenses but one of the most memorable stats from this season is his whip or walks Plus hits over innings pitched it's a stat that basically tells you how many base runners this pitcher allows per inning his was 0.73 7 the lowest in MLB history let me repeat myself at the height of the steroid era Pedro Martinez allowed walks and hits at a lower rate than any other pitcher and the entire history of baseball hat and it's a record that still stands today and the sad thing is that the new millennium edition of Pedro Martinez didn't pitch in the playoffs that season as Boston only 186 games some of his teammates shortcomings can be surmised from Pedro's win-loss record of 18 and 6 and no six losses Pedro a verge eight innings per start and had a 2 for 4 ER a these were his losses even in Jacob degrom 20:18 season which was legendary for this sort of thing yet a 271 er a that's higher than Pedro's so it's time we talked about that er a because it's amazing but for the more casual fans who aren't familiar with newer metrics please pay close attention to this part Pedro Martinez had a 174 er a and 2000 that's ridiculous but it has been beaten in fact it has been best at eighty four times since the creation of the American League in 1901 most of it has been done by guys who pitched before Babe Ruth kicked run-scoring into high gear like Dutch Leonard who owns the record with a point nine six er a in 1914 but then there's Sandy Koufax who had a 174 in 1964 and a 173 and 1966 Bob Gibson's one point one to set the mark for modern baseball history and even Jacob degrom finished with a one point seven zero just last year those guys didn't pitch in the type of run environments that Pedro Martinez did in 2000 Pierre and simple Dutch Leonard in 1914 well the average American League er eh that season was 273 and in the 1968 year of the pitcher the National League's was 2.99 and even the 2018 National League had an average er a of 4.0 3 but the American League and 2000 that's an er a of nearly five four point nine two to be exact here are all the American league pitchers who pitched enough innings to qualify and kept an ER a below four in the year 2000 you have large attractive Bartolo Colon not Mike Soroka Mike Soraka Mike Mussina and finally Roger Clemens with a three point seven zero and then there's Pedro do you get it do you see it nearly a two-run difference between him and Clemens that's probably the most anyone has ever deserved a sy Young Award so it shouldn't be a surprise that he grabbed that honor there's actually a stat that normalizes a pitcher's er a based on the brunt scoring environment it's called er A+ it adjusts to each ballpark and the amount of offense to give pitchers across different eras a fair playing field 100 is always average and an ER a plus of 160 or higher will usually land you in sight young Pedro's er A+ and mm was 291 he was about three times better than the average pitcher at run prevention it's better than Dutch Leonard in 1914 it's better than Bob Gibson in 1968 it's the best er a plus in MLB history when you adjust for his insane run environment Pedro Martinez his 2000 season was the best at run prevention ever oh oh and before I see some of you typical tim-ki fanboys in my comment section that chump only tossed 105 innings in 1880 okay I don't care what his er A+ was the American Association didn't even exist yet much less the American League hater was the best pitcher who qualifies by today's standards gosh I hate tim-ki fanboys they're so relentless with their talking points with the 1999 season we talked about peripherals in that case fit fielding independent pitching 2000 was the season about results on the field so we focused on the actual outcome of Pedro's pitching in the form of ER a and ER a plus the truth is both these seasons were macula pitched I'm not quite sure if I can say which one was actually the best but they each make a case for being the best pitched season of all time but even more than that an examination of these two seasons opens the door for even greater discussion which is why I want to close with a piece on the goat conversation [Music] is the greatest of all time worth debating it's basically a hack bid at this point and it requires us to compare athletes across wildly different eras how does one compare Ruth to bonds it's not an easy endeavor I'm not going to tell anyone how to live their life or enjoy their sports but let me say this on behalf of Pedro Martinez sandwiched within a wonderful career he put down two seasons that each have a case for the finest season ever pitched an explosive pitcher with a small frame he struggled with durability for much of his career he only won 219 games and generated about 84 Wins Above Replacement he was only 33 when he pitched his last full injury-free season if counting stats are the measuring stick Pedro is a Hall of Famer but still far away from many pitchers but when you remember someone as being the greatest you'll likely emphasize what they were like at their very best and this is where Pedro shines because as evidenced by his 1999 and 2000 campaigns his very best was better than anyone elses very best I truly believed that much and if you expand it to the 7-year Peaks we studied in my clayton kershaw video he certainly stands out as well potential nominees for the greatest pitcher of all time come from all eras siyoung has stats that will never be caught Walter Johnson has as good a case as any perhaps you prefer one of the great arms of the 1960s like Koufax or Gibson maybe you loved the ultimate flame thrower Nolan Ryan or the ultimate control freak Greg Maddux I think there's easily 10 to 15 guys who have made serious cases for being the greatest of all time at one point or another one could easily argue the merits of Christie Mathewson satchel page Randy Johnson Roger Clemens Clayton Kershaw Brad Radke well ok probably not Brad Radke but he was an underrated pitcher greatness could be the best counting stats the most accomplishments and awards the most raw talent or the best peek there's many ways of looking at such a concept the point of the video is not to convince you that Pedro Martinez is the greatest all time I'm not so sure of that myself although I do think the goat is either him Walter Johnson or Greg Maddux now the point of the video is to simply talk about someone who reached the absolute peak of the art form I've received a few requests to do a video on Bob Gibson in 1968 you have to understand this is my Bob Gibson in 1968 it's just Pedro Martinez and it's two seasons not one so I'll leave you with this much on the greatest of all time conversation if you want to have an earnest discussion about who the best pitcher in baseball history is and you're not including Pedro Martinez then you're doing yourself a huge disservice because your conversation is incomplete cue the where are they now [Music] this episode of baseball bits was brought to you by SeatGeek seeking is an app that makes ticket buying ridiculously easy they rate each deal on a scale of one to ten and show you pictures from each vantage point so you'll know exactly what your view at Fenway Park will look like on game day you can order through your browser or if you're on mobile you can download the app right in my video's description so if you want to catch a ball game with these tight playoff races going on and support the channel 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Channel: Foolish Baseball

Views: 1,086,800

Rating: 4.9337955 out of 5

Keywords: pedro martinez, pedro martinez 1999, pedro martinez 2000, pedro martinez vs yankees, pedro martinez game 5, pedro martinez game 5 alds, pedro martinez cy young, best pitcher in baseball, best pitcher in baseball history, MLB best season ever, Bob Gibson 1968, pedro martinez changeup, ERA+, WHIP, FIP, mlb, baseball, foolish baseball, baseball bits, Pedro Martinez Pitched the Greatest Season Ever Then He Did It Again | Baseball Bits

Id: 7d9WbUf1Pao

Length: 24min 0sec (1440 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 20 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/jamesdakrn]

My favorite stat of the era is the 2000 AL ERA rankings

1. Pedro, 1.74

2. Roger Clemens, 3.70

[u/zgibs125]

Shout out to /u/DistinguishedTrout for continuing the great content!

[u/SeeYaLaterDylan]

I'm glad that FoolishBaseball and Jomboy have filled the void for quality baseball content on YouTube.

[u/FermatsLastAccount]

Holy shit, that Indians lineup.

[u/CrowTR2]

The undertale music was a nice touch.

[u/icanttakeafingjoke]

Idk if im biased because im a baseball fan, but i feel like baseball has the best content creators out of the major us sports.

[u/desmondhasabarrow]

I think considering the era he played, prime Pedro is probably the greatest pitcher ever. Granted, there is something to be said for longevity - Nolan Ryan was a great pitcher of course, but the fact that he played for 27 seasons makes him an absolute legend. But if I'm picking one pitcher from one season, I'm picking Pedro.

[u/flykessel]

If you like foolish baseball btw, check out sad baseball. Some Jon bois vibes, similar to foolish baseball. Smaller channel but their two vids have been unreal.

[u/Noy_Telinu]

1999 vs 2000 is tough. He had playoffs and all star game in 1999 but 2000 was better.