David Palmer

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 1 in · 195 lb

BornOctober 19, 1957 · Glens Falls, NY, USA

MLB debutSeptember 9, 1978

Final gameJune 30, 1989

Seasons10 (1978–1989)

Montreal Expos 1978–1980; Montreal Expos 1982; Montreal Expos 1984–1985; Atlanta Braves 1986–1987; Philadelphia Phillies 1988; Detroit Tigers 1989

Percentile snapshot

1986 season — qualified pitchers

62.2

82.9

62.2

9.8

SHO

181

102

7.3

170

74.4

67.1

209.7

52.4

ERA

3.65

WHIP

1.350

34.1

K/9

7.30

81.7

FIP

3.71

63.4

FIP-

94.0

54.9

ERA+

108.1

62.2

sWAR

3.0

64.6

of 83 qualified 1986 pitchers (min 161 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

98.8

32.6

sWAR

10.4

87.3

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	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1978	5	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-128.1	-100.0	.000	0.2
1979	36	36	31	1	1	0	0	0	1	15	.032	.063	.032	.095	-90.2	-73.0	.052	2.4
1980	25	49	45	3	9	2	0	3	2	15	.200	.234	.244	.478	29.7	34.7	.227	2.4
1982	13	27	24	2	1	0	0	0	0	7	.042	.042	.042	.083	-100.4	-76.7	.039	0.9
1984	20	39	33	2	5	1	1	3	0	12	.152	.152	.273	.424	8.4	19.9	.190	0.6
1985	24	41	36	1	4	1	0	0	0	10	.111	.111	.139	.250	-43.7	-28.5	.114	0.7
1986	35	77	66	3	12	3	1	6	1	17	.182	.194	.273	.467	12.3	24.1	.212	3.0
1987	28	57	48	4	6	1	1	5	1	15	.125	.143	.208	.351	-25.0	-10.5	.158	0.5
1988	22	48	39	6	10	4	2	6	0	4	.256	.256	.513	.769	112.4	113.6	.341	0.3
1989	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.6

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1978	5	1	0	1	0	0	0	9	3	2	7	1	9.7	2.79	1.138	6.52	3.14	89.1	126.1	0.2
1979	36	11	10	2	2	2	1	110	36	30	72	10	122.7	2.64	1.141	5.28	3.36	91.3	139.4	2.4
1980	24	19	8	6	0	3	1	124	43	30	73	11	129.7	2.98	1.188	5.07	3.46	96.6	120.1	2.4
1982	13	13	6	4	0	1	0	60	26	36	46	3	73.7	3.18	1.303	5.62	3.58	97.9	115.0	0.9
1984	20	19	7	3	0	1	1	101	45	44	66	5	105.3	3.84	1.377	5.64	3.41	99.0	89.6	0.6
1985	24	23	7	10	0	0	0	128	56	67	106	5	135.7	3.71	1.437	7.03	3.08	89.9	92.3	0.7
1986	35	35	11	10	0	2	0	181	85	102	170	17	209.7	3.65	1.350	7.30	3.71	94.0	108.1	3.0
1987	28	28	8	11	0	0	0	169	83	64	111	17	152.3	4.90	1.530	6.56	4.26	98.8	87.9	0.5
1988	22	22	7	9	0	1	1	129	64	48	85	8	129.0	4.47	1.372	5.93	3.31	93.4	79.4	0.3
1989	5	5	0	3	0	0	0	25	15	11	12	1	17.3	7.79	2.077	6.23	4.12	107.3	49.3	-0.6

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

213

375

323

RBI

.1486

OBP

.1616

SLG

.2322

OPS

.3938

Pitching

G (P)

212

176

SHO

1,085

SO (P)

748

BB allowed

434

ERA

3.782

WHIP

1.3548

K/9

6.20

336th-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	HR	RBI	TB
1988-06-05	STL @ PHI Gameday	3	2	2	1	1	1	6
1987-04-30	ATL @ CIN Gameday	3	1	2	0	1	3	5
1986-08-20	ATL @ CHC Gameday	4	1	3	1	0	3	4
1984-04-07	WSH @ ATL Gameday	1	1	1	0	1	2	4
1986-06-11	ATL @ SF Gameday	2	1	1	0	1	1	4

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1980-10-01	STL @ WSH Gameday	9.0	6	0	0	0	10	0
1986-04-11	ATL @ HOU Gameday	7.0	4	2	2	1	10	1
1980-06-07	STL @ WSH Gameday	9.0	4	1	1	1	9	1
1986-05-02	ATL @ PHI Gameday	9.0	5	1	1	7	9	0
1986-07-03	WSH @ ATL Gameday	8.2	7	1	1	7	9	0

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.