Fernando Valenzuela

HandednessBats Left · Throws Left

Listed at5 ft 11 in · 180 lb

BornNovember 1, 1960 · Navojoa, Sonora, México

MLB debutSeptember 15, 1980

Final gameJuly 14, 1997

Seasons17 (1980–1997)

Los Angeles Dodgers 1980–1990; California Angels 1991; Baltimore Orioles 1993; Philadelphia Phillies 1994; San Diego Padres 1995–1997; St. Louis Cardinals 1997

Percentile snapshot

1996 season — qualified pitchers

35.8

27.2

44.4

82.7

SHO

177

90.1

92.6

53.1

4.9

82.7

171.7

12.3

ERA

3.62

75.3

WHIP

1.421

35.8

K/9

4.98

12.3

FIP

4.45

45.7

FIP-

110.3

12.3

ERA+

111.4

60.5

sWAR

2.4

46.9

of 82 qualified 1996 pitchers (min 162 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

103.4

51.5

sWAR

36.5

97.5

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
1980	10	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-127.5	-100.0	.000	0.9
1981	25	71	64	3	16	0	1	0	7	1	9	0	.250	.262	.281	.543	52.7	57.8	.255	4.3
1982	38	110	95	6	16	0	0	1	9	3	16	0	.168	.190	.200	.390	3.5	11.4	.184	5.0
1983	36	105	91	5	17	3	0	1	9	1	23	1	.187	.194	.253	.446	13.8	24.1	.204	2.3
1984	35	89	79	5	15	3	0	3	7	1	11	0	.190	.200	.342	.542	43.9	51.9	.244	4.6
1985	35	103	97	7	21	2	0	1	7	0	9	1	.216	.214	.268	.482	27.8	36.9	.219	6.5
1986	39	116	109	5	24	4	0	0	7	0	11	0	.220	.218	.257	.475	27.2	35.3	.216	4.2
1987	38	100	92	4	13	1	0	1	8	0	11	0	.141	.141	.185	.326	-24.5	-12.8	.145	2.3
1988	23	52	44	2	8	2	0	0	1	1	5	0	.182	.200	.227	.427	18.2	25.4	.200	-0.1
1989	34	73	66	3	12	2	0	0	6	0	11	0	.182	.182	.212	.394	3.7	14.1	.181	1.9
1990	35	78	69	8	21	5	0	1	11	1	12	0	.304	.310	.420	.730	101.1	102.8	.328	0.6
1991	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.5
1993	32	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.8
1994	8	16	12	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	.250	.250	.333	.583	43.4	49.8	.258	1.2
1995	29	35	32	3	8	1	0	2	8	0	6	0	.250	.250	.469	.719	83.3	88.0	.310	0.3
1996	36	66	63	4	9	2	0	0	2	0	15	0	.143	.143	.175	.317	-23.4	-14.5	.142	2.4
1997	19	28	22	1	4	0	0	0	2	0	3	0	.182	.182	.182	.364	-12.3	-1.7	.165	-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
1980	10	0	2	0	1	0	0	8	0	5	16	0	17.7	0.00	.736	8.15	1.78	50.4	—	0.9
1981	25	25	13	7	0	11	8	140	53	61	180	11	192.3	2.48	1.045	8.42	2.51	74.8	135.2	4.3
1982	37	37	19	13	0	18	4	247	91	83	199	13	285.0	2.87	1.158	6.28	2.84	81.2	121.7	5.0
1983	35	35	15	10	0	9	4	245	107	99	189	16	257.0	3.75	1.339	6.62	3.20	89.4	95.6	2.3
1984	34	34	12	17	0	12	2	218	88	106	240	14	261.0	3.03	1.241	8.28	2.89	82.3	115.8	4.6
1985	35	35	17	10	0	14	5	211	74	101	208	14	272.3	2.45	1.146	6.87	2.88	82.9	142.2	6.5
1986	34	34	21	11	0	20	3	226	94	85	242	18	269.3	3.14	1.155	8.09	2.78	79.4	111.2	4.2
1987	34	34	14	14	0	12	1	254	111	124	190	25	251.0	3.98	1.506	6.81	4.18	105.7	99.3	2.3
1988	23	22	5	8	1	3	0	142	67	76	64	11	142.3	4.24	1.532	4.05	4.42	133.1	78.3	-0.1
1989	31	31	10	13	0	3	0	185	75	98	116	11	196.7	3.43	1.439	5.31	3.73	109.4	99.5	1.9
1990	33	33	13	13	0	5	2	223	104	77	115	19	204.0	4.59	1.471	5.07	4.03	109.5	80.1	0.6
1991	2	2	0	2	0	0	0	14	9	3	5	3	6.7	12.15	2.550	6.75	8.61	211.2	33.5	-0.5
1993	32	31	8	10	0	5	2	179	98	79	78	18	178.7	4.94	1.444	3.93	4.83	109.1	89.7	0.8
1994	8	7	1	2	0	0	0	42	15	7	19	8	45.0	3.00	1.089	3.80	5.00	116.9	142.6	1.2
1995	29	15	8	3	0	0	0	101	50	34	57	16	90.3	4.98	1.494	5.68	5.24	129.5	81.2	0.3
1996	33	31	13	8	0	0	0	177	69	67	95	17	171.7	3.62	1.421	4.98	4.45	110.3	111.4	2.4
1997	18	18	2	12	0	1	0	106	49	46	61	12	89.0	4.96	1.708	6.17	5.17	129.0	81.0	-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

474

1,043

936

187

RBI

145

.1998

OBP

.2053

SLG

.2618

OPS

.4671

Pitching

G (P)

453

424

108th-most career GS

173

184th-most career W

153

155th-most career L

113

351st-most career CG

SHO

104th-most career SHO

2,930

153rd-most career IP

SO (P)

2,074

82nd-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

1,151

65th-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.545

484th-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.3205

K/9

6.37

308th-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	HR	RBI	TB
1983-06-08	LAD @ ATL Gameday	4	1	2	1	3	5
1990-05-14	WSH @ LAD Gameday	2	1	2	1	1	5
1995-06-17	SD @ PIT Gameday	3	1	1	1	3	4
1982-08-25	LAD @ STL Gameday	3	1	1	1	2	4
1984-09-11	LAD @ SD Gameday	3	1	1	1	2	4

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1984-05-23	LAD @ PHI Gameday	9.0	3	0	0	6	15	0
1985-06-22	HOU @ LAD Gameday	9.0	6	3	3	3	14	0
1986-09-06	LAD @ PHI Gameday	9.0	6	2	2	2	14	1
1987-08-25	LAD @ NYM Gameday	9.0	4	1	1	8	13	0
1984-09-26	HOU @ LAD Gameday	9.0	6	3	3	3	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

2× Silver Slugger1× Cy Young Award1× Rookie of the Year1× Gold Glove6× 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.