It was March 2018. I went to a sports card shop. Once I entered the shop, I saw some hobby packs of the 2018 Topps Heritage available. Back then, lots of collectors were chasing this product because a Shohei Ohtani short print card was added into this set. And I was trying to get an Ohtani short print.
Nonetheless, after opening some hobby packs, I didn’t see a Shohei Ohtani short print card. Well, it’s actually quite hard to find an Ohtani short print card. So, for me, under a tight budget, I couldn’t spend a lot on this series. Nevertheless, I found an interesting card. The card looked a bit different. It’s a black border Corey Kluber card. At the beginning, I didn’t realize how rare it is. Then, I asked some friends and they told me that black border cards are only 50 copies.
A few days ago, I was classifying some baseball cards and saw this Corey Kluber black border card. While seeing this card, I began to think about Corey Kluber’s career. Kluber announced his retirement in February. He spent 13 years in the majors. During those 13 seasons, how great was he?
Corey Kluber made his MLB debut in 2011 and last June, he played his last game in the majors. In those 13 seasons, Kluber owned a 3.44 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP over 1641.2 innings. Looking at the pitchers who threw at least 1000 innings from 2011 to 2023, we see some names of the future Hall of Famers. Clayton Kershaw’s ERA was only 2.33 over the last 13 seasons and Justin Verlander had a 2.97 ERA from 2011 to 2023. Jacob deGrom made it into the big leagues in 2014 and his ERA was 2.53 from 2014 to 2023. And Kluber’s 3.44 ERA ranked 13th among those pitchers who tossed at least 1000 innings over the last 13 seasons.
In addition, from 2011 to 2023, Kershaw had a 0.95 WHIP and Max Scherzer posted a 1.04 WHIP. Jacob deGrom had a 0.99 WHIP from 2014 to 2023. Kluber posted a 1.13 WHIP over the last 13 seasons and a 1.13 WHIP was in the top 10 among the pitchers who tossed at least 1000 innings from 2011 to 2023.
Now, let’s look at those pitchers who threw 1000+ innings from 2013 to 2018. Well, not so many pitchers tossed at least 1000 innings in those 6 seasons. However, we see some familiar names such as Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer. Moreover, Corey Kluber is one of those pitchers who made it. Kluber tossed 1238.2 innings from 2013 to 2018 and had a 2.96 ERA. In particular, from 2014 to 2018, Kluber threw 200+ innings each season and there were 3 times that he finished a season with an ERA below 3.
Finally, Kluber posted a 1.05 WHIP from 2013 to 2018 and a 1.05 WHIP ranked 4th among those pitchers who threw 1000+ innings.
When we look back at Corey Kluber’s 13 seasons in the majors, winning the AL Cy Young award twice truly drew a lot of spotlights. From 2013 to 2018, he did throw at least 200 innings each season. Looking at his numbers during those seasons, Kluber certainly was one of the best pitchers in the majors. Nonetheless, since 2019, he only reached 100+ innings once and it was in 2022. Kluber was placed on the IL several times from 2019 to 2023. Injuries not only limited his performance but also his career.
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