Frank Viola

HandednessBats Left · Throws Left

Listed at6 ft 4 in · 200 lb

BornApril 19, 1960 · Hempstead, NY, USA

MLB debutJune 6, 1982

Final gameMay 28, 1996

Seasons15 (1982–1996)

Minnesota Twins 1982–1989; New York Mets 1989–1991; Boston Red Sox 1992–1994; Cincinnati Reds 1995; Toronto Blue Jays 1996

Percentile snapshot

1993 season — qualified pitchers

19.8

22.1

76.7

26.7

SHO

38.4

180

81.4

96.5

38.4

16.3

89.5

183.7

20.9

ERA

3.14

87.2

WHIP

1.372

34.9

K/9

4.46

18.6

FIP

4.13

39.5

FIP-

90.7

66.3

ERA+

145.3

96.5

sWAR

4.7

80.2

of 87 qualified 1993 pitchers (min 162 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

111.5

75.4

sWAR

41.7

98.1

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
1982	22	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.2
1983	35	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-1.0
1984	35	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5.4
1985	36	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3.2
1986	37	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.8
1987	36	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	7.1
1988	35	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	6.7
1989	36	29	23	2	3	0	1	1	7	.130	.167	.130	.297	-17.6	-11.4	.147	3.1
1990	35	92	85	4	13	0	4	0	20	.153	.153	.153	.306	-28.3	-14.8	.141	5.6
1991	35	83	71	2	9	2	1	2	13	.127	.151	.155	.306	-23.6	-13.1	.145	1.3
1992	35	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4.3
1993	29	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4.7
1994	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.4
1995	3	6	6	0	1	1	0	0	1	.167	.167	.333	.500	18.3	28.8	.214	-0.2
1996	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.5

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1982	22	22	4	10	3	1	152	73	38	84	22	126.0	5.21	1.508	6.00	4.53	107.6	80.8	-0.2
1983	35	34	7	15	4	0	242	128	92	127	34	210.0	5.49	1.590	5.44	5.15	122.1	76.9	-1.0
1984	35	35	18	12	10	4	225	92	73	149	28	257.7	3.21	1.157	5.20	3.90	93.7	129.5	5.4
1985	36	36	18	14	9	0	262	114	68	135	26	250.7	4.09	1.316	4.85	3.85	88.4	106.4	3.2
1986	37	37	16	13	7	1	257	123	83	191	37	245.7	4.51	1.384	7.00	4.25	99.3	94.9	1.8
1987	36	36	17	10	7	1	230	81	66	197	29	251.7	2.90	1.176	7.05	3.66	79.9	158.3	7.1
1988	35	35	24	7	7	2	236	75	54	193	20	255.3	2.64	1.136	6.80	3.00	74.0	153.2	6.7
1989	36	36	13	17	9	2	246	106	74	211	22	261.0	3.66	1.226	7.28	3.16	82.1	105.4	3.1
1990	35	35	20	12	7	3	227	74	60	182	15	249.7	2.67	1.150	6.56	2.88	76.5	141.0	5.6
1991	35	35	13	15	3	0	259	102	54	132	25	231.3	3.97	1.353	5.14	3.77	103.2	92.0	1.3
1992	35	35	13	12	6	1	214	91	89	121	13	238.0	3.44	1.273	4.58	3.69	89.1	120.4	4.3
1993	29	29	11	8	2	1	180	64	72	91	12	183.7	3.14	1.372	4.46	4.13	90.7	145.3	4.7
1994	6	6	1	1	0	0	34	16	17	9	2	31.0	4.65	1.645	2.61	5.10	102.7	106.9	0.4
1995	3	3	0	1	0	0	20	10	3	4	3	14.3	6.28	1.605	2.51	5.86	141.4	66.0	-0.2
1996	6	6	1	3	0	0	43	26	21	18	6	30.3	7.71	2.110	5.34	6.91	139.0	64.4	-0.5

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

421

210

185

RBI

.1405

OBP

.1543

SLG

.1568

OPS

.3111

Pitching

G (P)

421

420

114th-most career GS

176

175th-most career W

150

167th-most career L

SHO

354th-most career SHO

2,836

167th-most career IP

SO (P)

1,844

121st-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

864

187th-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.728

WHIP

1.3013

K/9

5.85

409th-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
1991-07-06	NYM @ PHI Gameday	4	0	2	1	0	3
1990-05-18	NYM @ SD Gameday	3	0	2	0	2	2
1989-09-07	STL @ NYM Gameday	2	2	2	0	1	2
1990-08-22	NYM @ SD Gameday	4	0	2	0	0	2
1990-08-26	NYM @ LAD Gameday	2	0	2	0	0	2

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1989-07-18	CLE @ MIN Gameday	9.0	6	4	4	1	11	2
1990-05-02	CIN @ NYM Gameday	9.0	6	0	0	1	11	0
1984-09-07	TEX @ MIN Gameday	8.2	11	3	3	0	11	0
1989-05-14	TOR @ MIN Gameday	8.0	3	1	1	1	11	0
1989-08-22	SF @ NYM Gameday	8.0	6	4	4	1	11	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× World Series MVP1× Cy Young Award3× 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.