MLB / Players

Bob Welch

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 3 in · 190 lb

BornNovember 3, 1956 · Detroit, MI, USA

MLB debutJune 20, 1978

Final gameAugust 11, 1994

Seasons17 (1978–1994)

Los Angeles Dodgers 1978–1987; Oakland Athletics 1988–1994

Percentile snapshot

1993 season — qualified pitchers

11.6

8.1

39.5

SHO

208

19.8

80.2

1.2

16.3

166.7

10.5

ERA

5.29

3.5

WHIP

1.584

2.3

K/9

3.40

2.3

FIP

5.33

1.2

FIP-

128.9

ERA+

78.1

3.5

sWAR

-0.5

2.3

of 87 qualified 1993 pitchers (min 162 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

106.6

63.2

sWAR

39.5

97.8

ERA+ measured against qualified careers (1,000+ IP), 1,334 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1978	23	35	29	3	5	1	0	0	1	0	7	0	.172	.172	.207	.379	-6.6	6.7	.175	3.2
1979	25	23	19	1	3	0	0	0	3	0	6	0	.158	.200	.158	.358	-5.5	0.3	.177	0.5
1980	34	76	70	1	17	3	0	0	3	1	13	0	.243	.254	.286	.539	47.1	52.4	.250	3.1
1981	23	53	45	3	10	0	1	0	2	1	16	0	.222	.239	.267	.506	40.6	46.8	.238	1.4
1982	38	97	85	5	12	1	0	0	3	3	32	0	.141	.167	.153	.320	-17.1	-8.2	.154	2.6
1983	31	78	73	2	7	1	0	1	2	1	22	1	.096	.120	.151	.271	-38.1	-24.6	.128	4.1
1984	32	61	51	0	4	0	0	0	3	2	15	0	.078	.113	.078	.192	-56.1	-44.4	.099	0.9
1985	25	60	50	4	9	1	0	0	4	3	13	0	.180	.226	.200	.426	19.8	22.8	.208	4.2
1986	35	86	76	2	8	0	0	1	4	4	23	0	.105	.160	.145	.305	-16.7	-12.1	.152	2.8
1987	38	98	83	5	13	0	0	0	5	7	24	0	.157	.222	.157	.379	4.8	4.7	.190	4.7
1988	36	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.9
1989	33	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3.8
1990	35	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4.6
1991	36	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.4
1992	20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.9
1993	30	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.5
1994	26	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-109.3	-100.0	.000	-1.1

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1978	23	13	7	4	3	4	3	92	25	26	66	6	111.3	2.02	1.060	5.34	2.87	81.1	174.8	3.2
1979	25	12	5	6	5	1	0	82	36	32	64	7	81.3	3.98	1.402	7.08	3.53	96.1	92.2	0.5
1980	32	32	14	9	0	3	2	190	78	79	141	15	213.7	3.29	1.259	5.94	3.49	98.7	107.6	3.1
1981	23	23	9	5	0	2	1	141	54	41	88	11	141.3	3.44	1.288	5.60	3.37	100.5	97.5	1.4
1982	36	36	16	11	0	9	3	199	88	81	176	19	235.7	3.36	1.188	6.72	3.40	97.1	104.1	2.6
1983	31	31	15	12	0	4	3	164	60	72	156	13	204.0	2.65	1.157	6.88	3.08	85.9	135.3	4.1
1984	31	29	13	13	0	3	1	191	75	58	126	11	178.7	3.78	1.394	6.35	3.19	90.7	93.0	0.9
1985	23	23	14	4	0	8	3	141	43	35	96	16	167.3	2.31	1.052	5.16	3.45	99.2	150.3	4.2
1986	33	33	7	13	0	7	3	227	86	55	183	14	235.7	3.28	1.197	6.99	2.75	78.8	106.4	2.8
1987	35	35	15	9	0	6	4	204	90	86	196	21	251.7	3.22	1.152	7.01	3.47	87.7	122.8	4.7
1988	36	36	17	9	0	4	2	237	99	81	158	22	244.7	3.64	1.300	5.81	3.82	100.2	104.6	2.9
1989	33	33	17	8	0	1	0	191	70	78	137	13	209.7	3.00	1.283	5.88	3.55	95.7	123.5	3.8
1990	35	35	27	6	0	2	2	214	78	77	127	26	238.0	2.95	1.223	4.80	4.19	112.3	126.6	4.6
1991	35	35	12	13	0	7	1	220	112	91	101	25	220.0	4.58	1.414	4.13	4.86	125.3	84.7	0.4
1992	20	20	11	7	0	0	0	114	45	43	47	13	123.7	3.27	1.270	3.42	4.49	118.9	115.3	1.9
1993	30	28	9	11	0	0	0	208	98	56	63	25	166.7	5.29	1.584	3.40	5.33	128.9	78.1	-0.5
1994	25	8	3	6	0	0	0	79	54	43	44	10	68.7	7.08	1.777	5.77	5.73	127.0	63.8	-1.1

sWAR is the season TOTAL for a player who both hit and pitched: the record book carries one figure per season, not a split, so the same number appears on both lines rather than being counted twice.

Career totals

Batting

520

668

582

RBI

171

.1512

OBP

.1856

SLG

.1770

OPS

.3626

Pitching

G (P)

506

428th-most career G (P)

462

81st-most career GS

211

98th-most career W

146

181st-most career L

SHO

135th-most career SHO

3,092

125th-most career IP

SO (P)

1,969

99th-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

1,034

103rd-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.467

422nd-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.2704

431st-lowest career WHIP

K/9

5.73

435th-highest career K/9

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	TB
1986-05-06	LAD @ CHC Gameday	3	1	2	0	0	1	3	0	5
1983-06-17	CIN @ LAD Gameday	3	1	2	0	0	1	1	0	5
1980-07-13	LAD @ SD Gameday	2	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	4
1985-08-14	ATL @ LAD Gameday	3	2	2	1	0	0	0	1	3
1981-05-29	CIN @ LAD Gameday	3	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	3

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1986-04-14	LAD @ SD Gameday	9.2	7	3	2	5	12	1
1981-06-07	LAD @ CHC Gameday	9.0	6	0	0	0	11	0
1982-07-24	PHI @ LAD Gameday	8.0	8	2	1	2	11	0
1986-08-27	PHI @ LAD Gameday	9.0	9	2	1	3	10	0
1983-08-06	ATL @ LAD Gameday	8.0	6	2	2	0	10	1

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

1× Cy Young Award2× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.