Don Sutton

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 1 in · 185 lb

BornApril 2, 1945 · Clio, AL, USA

MLB debutApril 14, 1966

Final gameAugust 9, 1988

Seasons23 (1966–1988)

Los Angeles Dodgers 1966–1980; Houston Astros 1981–1982; Milwaukee Brewers 1982–1984; California Angels 1985; Oakland Athletics 1985; California Angels 1986–1987; Los Angeles Dodgers 1988

Percentile snapshot

1987 season — qualified pitchers

57.1

59.7

28.6

44.2

1.3

SHO

199

54.5

100

35.1

97.4

14.3

3.9

191.7

31.2

ERA

4.70

16.9

WHIP

1.252

75.3

K/9

4.65

18.2

FIP

5.17

2.6

FIP-

118.9

6.5

ERA+

92.6

15.6

sWAR

1.2

15.6

of 78 qualified 1987 pitchers (min 162 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

108.7

sWAR

69.1

99.6

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	RBI	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1966	38	86	82	4	15	2	0	2	1	27	0	.183	.202	.207	.410	14.6	19.7	.190	3.2
1967	43	84	75	4	10	2	0	4	2	24	0	.133	.156	.160	.316	-12.8	-5.2	.151	-0.2
1968	36	72	62	3	11	0	0	3	2	22	0	.177	.197	.177	.374	6.8	17.6	.180	2.6
1969	41	108	98	6	15	0	0	3	0	28	0	.153	.162	.153	.315	-18.4	-8.0	.149	2.4
1970	40	100	84	6	13	2	1	6	10	22	1	.155	.253	.202	.455	32.8	27.1	.230	2.2
1971	39	95	88	4	19	2	0	7	3	18	0	.216	.242	.239	.480	36.0	41.1	.228	5.3
1972	33	105	91	4	13	0	0	1	2	24	0	.143	.170	.143	.313	-20.3	-8.5	.153	6.8
1973	33	97	84	6	10	1	0	5	5	17	0	.119	.167	.131	.298	-19.1	-13.9	.150	5.6
1974	40	111	98	7	18	2	0	7	3	22	0	.184	.216	.204	.420	17.0	21.5	.205	3.5
1975	35	96	80	4	11	1	0	3	4	20	0	.138	.179	.150	.329	-12.4	-5.2	.165	4.2
1976	35	99	84	2	7	1	0	3	6	19	0	.083	.144	.095	.240	-36.4	-29.5	.128	3.4
1977	33	91	73	3	11	2	0	8	8	21	0	.151	.235	.178	.413	15.6	14.2	.208	4.2
1978	34	90	72	1	6	0	0	3	4	22	0	.083	.132	.083	.215	-49.3	-38.1	.114	2.0
1979	33	86	77	2	11	0	0	3	1	17	0	.143	.154	.143	.297	-30.2	-17.4	.140	1.6
1980	32	73	64	3	5	0	0	1	1	19	0	.078	.092	.078	.170	-69.4	-51.3	.083	5.1
1981	23	62	51	1	7	0	0	3	5	12	0	.137	.228	.137	.365	10.3	8.4	.195	3.0
1982	34	74	68	3	11	0	0	1	2	25	0	.162	.186	.162	.347	-4.1	1.7	.168	3.7
1983	31	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.5
1984	33	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.4
1985	34	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.5
1986	34	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3.0
1987	35	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.2
1988	16	30	23	1	2	0	0	1	1	6	0	.087	.125	.087	.212	-46.7	-36.5	.109	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
1966	37	35	12	12	0	6	2	192	75	52	209	19	225.7	2.99	1.081	8.34	2.65	80.0	110.6	3.2
1967	37	34	11	15	1	11	3	223	102	57	169	18	232.7	3.95	1.203	6.54	3.02	97.4	78.7	-0.2
1968	35	27	11	15	1	7	2	179	60	59	162	6	207.7	2.60	1.146	7.02	2.24	80.7	106.9	2.6
1969	41	41	17	18	0	11	4	269	113	91	217	25	293.3	3.47	1.227	6.66	3.25	96.8	96.8	2.4
1970	38	38	15	13	0	10	4	251	118	78	201	38	260.3	4.08	1.264	6.95	4.22	109.2	94.6	2.2
1971	38	37	17	12	1	12	4	231	75	55	194	10	265.3	2.54	1.078	6.58	2.25	68.8	128.4	5.3
1972	33	33	19	9	0	18	9	186	63	63	207	13	272.7	2.08	.913	6.83	2.37	70.6	161.1	6.8
1973	33	33	18	10	0	14	3	196	69	56	200	18	256.3	2.42	.983	7.02	2.62	75.2	143.7	5.6
1974	40	40	19	9	0	10	5	241	99	80	179	23	276.0	3.23	1.163	5.84	3.31	96.0	106.7	3.5
1975	35	35	16	13	0	11	4	202	81	62	175	17	254.3	2.87	1.038	6.19	2.88	83.6	120.0	4.2
1976	35	34	21	10	0	15	4	231	91	82	161	22	267.7	3.06	1.169	5.41	3.47	102.3	110.8	3.4
1977	33	33	14	8	0	9	3	207	85	69	150	23	240.3	3.18	1.148	5.62	3.63	94.6	120.4	4.2
1978	34	34	15	11	0	12	2	228	94	54	154	29	238.3	3.55	1.183	5.82	3.65	103.4	99.5	2.0
1979	33	32	12	15	1	6	1	201	96	61	146	21	226.0	3.82	1.159	5.81	3.43	93.4	96.1	1.6
1980	32	31	13	5	1	4	2	163	52	47	128	20	212.3	2.20	.989	5.43	3.46	97.7	160.4	5.1
1981	23	23	11	9	0	6	3	132	46	29	104	6	158.7	2.61	1.015	5.90	2.42	72.3	128.2	3.0
1982	34	34	17	9	0	6	1	224	85	64	175	18	249.7	3.06	1.154	6.31	3.05	86.8	113.8	3.7
1983	31	31	8	13	0	4	0	209	100	54	134	21	220.3	4.08	1.194	5.47	3.65	95.5	93.6	1.5
1984	33	33	14	12	0	1	0	224	89	51	143	24	212.7	3.77	1.293	6.05	3.63	93.9	102.7	2.4
1985	34	34	15	10	0	1	1	221	97	59	107	25	226.0	3.86	1.239	4.26	4.02	101.6	102.2	2.5
1986	34	34	15	11	0	3	1	192	86	49	116	31	207.0	3.74	1.164	5.04	4.37	106.0	110.4	3.0
1987	35	34	11	11	0	1	0	199	100	41	99	38	191.7	4.70	1.252	4.65	5.17	118.9	92.6	1.2
1988	16	16	3	6	0	0	0	91	38	30	44	7	87.3	3.92	1.385	4.53	3.81	114.8	84.7	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

785

1,559

1,354

195

RBI

365

.1440

OBP

.1834

SLG

.1566

OPS

.3400

Pitching

G (P)

774

65th-most career G (P)

756

3rd-most career GS

324

14th-most career W

256

7th-most career L

178

176th-most career CG

SHO

10th-most career SHO

5,282

7th-most career IP

SO (P)

3,574

7th-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

1,343

25th-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.261

292nd-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.1425

64th-lowest career WHIP

K/9

6.09

351st-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	TB
1967-04-28	SF @ LAD Gameday	3	1	2	2	0	4
1966-05-11	LAD @ PHI Gameday	4	0	3	0	1	3
1974-07-29	LAD @ ATL Gameday	5	1	3	0	1	3
1977-06-29	LAD @ ATL Gameday	3	0	2	1	3	3
1971-06-27	SD @ LAD Gameday	4	0	2	1	2	3

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1970-07-17	NYM @ LAD Gameday	10.0	5	0	0	3	12	0
1968-09-04	LAD @ PHI Gameday	9.0	3	0	0	4	12	0
1971-09-01	LAD @ HOU Gameday	9.0	4	2	2	1	12	0
1973-07-11	STL @ LAD Gameday	9.0	7	1	1	3	12	0
1977-07-09	SD @ LAD Gameday	9.0	5	1	1	2	12	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

Hall of Fame, 1998 (BBWAA)

1× All-Star Game MVP4× 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.