A great starting pitcher is one of the hardest things to find in baseball. So when one has an amazing season, fans become extremely optimistic about their potential future.
Sometimes though things didn’t work out and the player never lives back up to those expectations. For this list, we are going to go over the 15 Biggest Starting Pitcher One-Year Wonders In MLB History.
Bill James
We’re throwing it back all the way to 1914 for the start of this list. It was an amazing season for James as he started 37 games throwing 332.1 innings with an ERA of just 1.90.
In just his second season it looked like the Boston Braves found someone to be a key player in their rotation. Unfortunately, it was his only year with a sub-3 ERA and he would be out of the league by 1920.
Oliver Perez
Throughout his career, Perez would prove to be a decent bullpen guy but had one season as a great starter. 2004 would be the only year where as a starter his ERA was below 3 with a 2.98. In 30 starts that’s not something you can ignore as this was just his third year.
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Things never really picked up though as his ERA would keep growing and he’d eventually be moved to a reliever position.
Wally Bunker
In 1964 while playing his second season, Bunker started 29 games while having an ERA of 2.69. It was enough for him to receive MVP votes and place second in Rookie of the Year.
It was by far his best season as he was never in any consideration for another award after that.
Rick Ankiel
As a center fielder and pitcher Ankiel showed potential to be a serious two-way player early in his career. In his second season, he threw 175 innings while sporting a 3.50 ERA. This put him second in Rookie of the Year voting.
Unfortunately, just four years later he would completely abandon pitching and become solely a center fielder.
Dave Fleming
Having a 3.39 ERA in your second season is certainly enough to give a franchise hope. Seattle certainly thought they might have found another piece to add to their starting rotation. After that incredible season though his ERA would never get below 4 again.
Just four years later he would be completely out of the league.
Justin Thompson
Thompson was an All-Star in his second season after putting together 32 starts a 3.02 ERA and an ERA+ of 152. The following years would not treat him kindly as his ERA was consistently rising until 1999 when he would play his final game until 2005 which was not very memorable, to say the least.
Ricky Romero
Romero was enjoying an extremely well-played 2011 season where he made his first All-Star appearance and finished tenth in Cy Young voting. He was on a fast-paced trajectory to a great career.
2011 though would be his only above-average season again because by 2014 he was out of the league.
Mark Prior
There’s something about players in their second year doing amazing because Prior is another culprit of just that. His 2003 season saw 30 games started with a 2.43 ERA, an All-Star appearance and third in Cy Young votes.
Thats it though because he would never see the same kind of success again and was no longer playing by 2007.
R.A. Dickey
His career started in 2001 but it wouldn’t be until 2012 when Dickey won his first award. He was named to the All-Star team and even took home the Cy Young. Leading the league in starts, innings pitched and strikeouts is a good way to do that.
After that other than a Gold Glove in 2013 he’d never even make another All-Star appearance.
Wayne Simpson
Simpson started his career red-hot with the Reds starting 26 total games, throwing out a 3.02 ERA and even led MLB in H/9. All of this gave him his first All-Star nod and was in contention for ROY.
In seasons where he played significant time his ERA never got back down below 4 and was shortly out of the league.
Dick Ellsworth
1963 saw Ellsworth toss a 2.11 EAR throughout his 37 starts for the Chicago Cubs. He also hit a career-low WHIP at just 1.025. Funny enough he would make his only All-Star game the following season when his stats were considerably worse.
Out of his 22.3 career WAR 10.2 of it came from 1963 alone.
Ubaldo Jimenez
It’s very rare to see amazing starting pitching for a team like the Rockies but they got at least one season out of Jimenez. His sole All-Star game came in 2010 as he had a 2.88 ERA in his 33 starts. More than a third of his total career WAR came just from this season.
His ERA never got very close to that 3 threshold ever again.
Wayne Garland
With a career 3.89 ERA not many would have expected Garland to have a year throwing 232.1 innings with a 2.67 ERA. It was his only season getting any type of votes for Cy Young and just six years later he was done playing MLB all together.
Bob Ojeda
Ojeda had a comfortable 15-year career but there’s one season that stands out more than the rest. His 1986 year with the Mets saw 30 starts while sitting at a 2.57 ERA. He led the National League in win percentage for the only time in his career. After finishing fourth in Cy Young voting he’d never be in consideration again.
Mark Fidrych
Fidrych might be the craziest one-year wonder on this entire list. In his rookie year, he led MLB in ERA, complete games and ERA+. His performance would win him RoY, an All-Star appearance and second in Cy Young votes.
Just five years later he was already out of the league and never saw a season with near the same success.
