Bret Saberhagen

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 1 in · 160 lb

BornApril 11, 1964 · Chicago Heights, IL, USA

MLB debutApril 4, 1984

Final gameAugust 7, 2001

Seasons16 (1984–2001)

Kansas City Royals 1984–1991; New York Mets 1992–1994; Colorado Rockies 1995; New York Mets 1995; Boston Red Sox 1997–1999; Boston Red Sox 2001

Percentile snapshot

1998 season — qualified pitchers

13.7

31.6

68.4

74.7

SHO

181

81.1

83.2

96.8

100

7.4

58.9

175.0

ERA

3.96

63.2

WHIP

1.200

81.1

K/9

5.14

14.7

FIP

4.31

49.5

FIP-

92.1

62.1

ERA+

118.3

72.6

sWAR

3.0

54.7

of 96 qualified 1998 pitchers (min 162 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

124.7

93.6

sWAR

48.9

98.8

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	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1984	39	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.5
1985	32	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5.7
1986	30	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.7
1987	33	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5.8
1988	35	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3.1
1989	39	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	7.8
1990	20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.3
1991	28	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4.3
1992	17	32	28	0	3	0	0	1	9	.107	.138	.107	.245	-46.6	-29.3	.122	0.9
1993	19	58	45	2	5	1	0	5	10	.111	.200	.133	.333	-6.0	-7.5	.173	2.5
1994	24	70	58	7	10	2	1	4	14	.172	.226	.207	.433	11.9	15.1	.206	4.7
1995	25	56	49	3	5	1	0	2	12	.102	.137	.122	.260	-44.5	-31.3	.126	1.6
1997	6	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-124.4	-100.0	.000	-0.3
1998	31	5	5	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	-121.5	-100.0	.000	3.0
1999	22	5	4	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000	.200	.000	.200	-27.8	-42.6	.147	3.5
2001	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.1

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1984	38	18	10	11	1	2	1	138	61	36	73	13	157.7	3.48	1.104	4.17	3.62	90.3	115.0	2.5
1985	32	32	20	6	0	10	1	211	75	38	158	19	235.3	2.87	1.058	6.04	2.95	71.4	143.9	5.7
1986	30	25	7	12	0	4	2	165	72	29	112	15	156.0	4.15	1.244	6.46	3.20	76.0	101.4	1.7
1987	33	33	18	10	0	15	4	246	96	53	163	27	257.0	3.36	1.163	5.71	3.66	80.9	134.6	5.8
1988	35	35	14	16	0	9	0	271	110	59	171	18	260.7	3.80	1.266	5.90	3.13	78.9	104.6	3.1
1989	36	35	23	6	0	12	4	209	63	43	193	13	262.3	2.16	.961	6.62	2.54	65.8	178.5	7.8
1990	20	20	5	9	0	5	0	146	49	28	87	9	135.0	3.27	1.289	5.80	3.03	78.5	118.1	2.3
1991	28	28	13	8	0	7	2	165	67	45	136	12	196.3	3.07	1.070	6.23	3.14	76.5	133.9	4.3
1992	17	15	3	5	0	1	1	84	38	27	81	6	97.7	3.50	1.137	7.46	2.87	82.0	99.9	0.9
1993	19	19	7	7	0	4	1	131	51	17	93	11	139.3	3.29	1.062	6.01	3.10	77.7	121.1	2.5
1994	24	24	14	4	0	4	0	169	54	13	143	13	177.3	2.74	1.026	7.26	2.69	64.7	152.0	4.7
1995	25	25	7	6	0	3	0	165	71	33	100	21	153.0	4.18	1.294	5.88	4.39	101.1	103.5	1.6
1997	6	6	0	1	0	0	0	30	19	10	14	5	26.0	6.58	1.538	4.85	5.95	128.5	70.4	-0.3
1998	31	31	15	8	0	0	0	181	77	29	100	22	175.0	3.96	1.200	5.14	4.31	92.1	118.3	3.0
1999	22	22	10	6	0	0	0	122	39	11	81	11	119.0	2.95	1.118	6.13	3.37	68.9	166.0	3.5
2001	3	3	1	2	0	0	0	19	10	0	10	3	15.0	6.00	1.267	6.00	4.56	101.6	74.9	-0.1

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

403

227

190

RBI

.1211

OBP

.1773

SLG

.1421

OPS

.3194

Pitching

G (P)

399

371

181st-most career GS

167

202nd-most career W

117

364th-most career L

SHO

354th-most career SHO

2,563

237th-most career IP

SO (P)

1,715

154th-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

471

ERA

3.343

339th-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.1406

60th-lowest career WHIP

K/9

6.02

373rd-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	RBI	BB	TB
1994-07-05	NYM @ SF Gameday	2	1	2	1	1	1	3
1993-06-25	STL @ NYM Gameday	3	1	2	0	0	0	2
1993-04-13	NYM @ COL Gameday	2	1	1	1	0	1	2
1994-06-03	NYM @ CIN Gameday	3	1	1	1	0	0	2
1995-05-09	ATL @ NYM Gameday	2	1	1	1	0	0	2

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
1989-09-30	KC @ ATH Gameday	8.0	4	1	1	2	13
1985-09-14	KC @ ATH Gameday	9.0	3	1	1	2	12
1990-06-07	LAA @ KC Gameday	9.0	6	2	2	2	12
1989-07-09	CWS @ KC Gameday	6.1	7	3	3	3	12
1994-07-15	SD @ NYM Gameday	10.0	5	0	0	0	11

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

2× Cy Young Award1× World Series MVP1× Gold Glove3× 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.