MLB / Players

John Smoltz

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 3 in · 210 lb

BornMay 15, 1967 · Detroit, MI, USA

MLB debutJuly 23, 1988

Final gameSeptember 30, 2009

Seasons21 (1988–2009)

Atlanta Braves 1988–1999; Atlanta Braves 2001–2008; Boston Red Sox 2009; St. Louis Cardinals 2009

Percentile snapshot

2007 season — qualified pitchers

34.2

40.5

69.6

SHO

196

60.8

89.9

82.3

197

89.9

68.4

205.7

68.4

ERA

3.11

92.4

WHIP

1.182

86.1

K/9

8.62

86.1

FIP

3.14

98.7

FIP-

71.6

93.7

ERA+

141.3

89.9

sWAR

4.7

84.8

of 80 qualified 2007 pitchers (min 162 IP) · 1 stat not shown: every qualified player held the same value, so a percentile there carries no information

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

124.2

93.2

sWAR

68.2

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	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1988	12	21	17	1	2	1	0	0	0	1	8	0	0	.118	.167	.176	.343	-14.7	-3.7	.167	-0.8
1989	33	74	62	6	7	1	1	1	6	6	23	0	0	.113	.191	.210	.401	8.8	12.9	.197	3.9
1990	38	87	74	7	12	2	0	0	4	6	32	1	0	.162	.225	.189	.414	8.4	12.7	.204	2.9
1991	38	78	65	7	7	3	0	0	3	5	28	0	0	.108	.171	.154	.325	-17.3	-9.6	.163	2.4
1992	36	91	75	7	12	0	0	1	4	6	32	0	0	.160	.222	.200	.422	11.2	18.5	.208	5.2
1993	35	91	71	2	13	1	0	0	4	9	24	1	1	.183	.275	.197	.472	35.5	30.2	.237	3.8
1994	21	47	37	6	6	1	0	1	1	4	14	0	0	.162	.244	.270	.514	33.9	34.5	.241	1.6
1995	29	69	56	5	6	0	0	0	1	7	25	0	0	.107	.206	.107	.313	-13.4	-14.3	.169	4.1
1996	35	98	78	3	17	3	0	1	12	3	26	0	0	.218	.253	.295	.548	40.0	43.4	.249	6.7
1997	36	94	79	10	18	3	0	0	4	9	22	1	1	.228	.307	.266	.573	54.3	51.6	.275	6.7
1998	26	68	51	4	10	1	0	0	5	8	16	0	0	.196	.317	.216	.532	53.8	45.3	.268	4.4
1999	29	72	62	11	17	4	0	1	7	5	28	0	0	.274	.338	.387	.725	87.0	84.7	.329	5.2
2001	36	10	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	0	.000	.125	.000	.125	-64.5	-63.2	.091	1.2
2002	75	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-130.0	-100.0	.000	1.5
2003	62	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-126.6	-100.0	.000	2.9
2004	73	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-128.3	-100.0	.000	2.2
2005	33	83	68	1	10	2	1	0	3	3	26	0	0	.147	.183	.206	.389	-9.4	2.2	.179	5.4
2006	35	86	64	5	8	3	0	0	4	4	27	0	0	.125	.176	.172	.348	-16.3	-9.2	.165	4.7
2007	32	68	54	1	5	1	0	0	2	1	19	0	0	.093	.109	.111	.220	-59.2	-42.3	.102	4.7
2008	6	9	8	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-128.4	-100.0	.000	0.7
2009	15	16	15	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	7	0	0	.067	.125	.067	.192	-59.5	-46.5	.103	-1.0

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1988	12	12	2	7	0	0	0	74	39	33	37	10	64.0	5.48	1.672	5.20	5.22	143.1	66.6	-0.8
1989	29	29	12	11	0	5	0	160	68	72	168	15	208.0	2.94	1.115	7.27	3.05	84.0	123.4	3.9
1990	34	34	14	11	0	6	2	206	99	90	170	20	231.3	3.85	1.280	6.61	3.64	91.1	103.9	2.9
1991	36	36	14	13	0	5	0	206	97	77	148	16	229.7	3.80	1.232	5.80	3.45	89.4	101.6	2.4
1992	35	35	15	12	0	9	3	206	78	80	215	17	246.7	2.85	1.159	7.84	2.96	81.0	128.5	5.2
1993	35	35	15	11	0	3	1	208	98	100	208	23	243.7	3.62	1.264	7.68	3.80	94.9	110.7	3.8
1994	21	21	6	10	0	1	0	120	62	48	113	15	134.7	4.14	1.248	7.55	3.99	94.8	101.7	1.6
1995	29	29	12	7	0	2	1	166	68	72	193	15	192.7	3.18	1.235	9.02	3.26	77.0	133.1	4.1
1996	35	35	24	8	0	6	2	199	83	55	276	19	253.7	2.94	1.001	9.79	2.57	59.8	145.6	6.7
1997	35	35	15	12	0	7	2	234	86	63	241	21	256.0	3.02	1.160	8.47	3.01	70.9	140.3	6.7
1998	26	26	17	3	0	2	2	145	54	44	173	10	167.7	2.90	1.127	9.29	2.64	63.3	143.8	4.4
1999	29	29	11	8	0	1	1	168	66	40	156	14	186.3	3.19	1.116	7.53	3.08	68.4	141.5	5.2
2001	36	5	3	3	10	0	0	53	22	10	57	7	59.0	3.36	1.068	8.69	3.23	73.8	130.3	1.2
2002	75	0	3	2	55	0	0	59	29	24	85	4	80.3	3.25	1.033	9.52	2.30	56.6	125.3	1.5
2003	62	0	0	2	45	0	0	48	8	8	73	2	64.3	1.12	.870	10.21	1.48	35.0	378.7	2.9
2004	73	0	0	1	44	0	0	75	25	13	85	8	81.7	2.76	1.078	9.37	2.62	61.0	156.0	2.2
2005	33	33	14	7	0	3	1	210	78	53	169	18	229.7	3.06	1.145	6.62	3.24	76.7	138.4	5.4
2006	35	35	16	9	0	3	1	221	90	55	211	23	232.0	3.49	1.190	8.19	3.41	76.6	127.4	4.7
2007	32	32	14	8	0	0	0	196	71	47	197	18	205.7	3.11	1.182	8.62	3.14	71.6	141.3	4.7
2008	6	5	3	2	0	0	0	25	8	8	36	2	28.0	2.57	1.179	11.57	2.32	54.8	164.6	0.7
2009	15	15	3	8	0	0	0	95	55	18	73	11	78.0	6.35	1.449	8.42	3.87	87.8	68.5	-1.0

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

735

1,167

948

151

RBI

365

.1593

OBP

.2260

SLG

.2068

OPS

.4328

Pitching

G (P)

723

101st-most career G (P)

481

65th-most career GS

213

96th-most career W

155

149th-most career L

154

87th-most career SV

SHO

354th-most career SHO

3,473

76th-most career IP

SO (P)

3,084

19th-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

1,010

111th-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.327

329th-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.1759

114th-lowest career WHIP

K/9

7.99

94th-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
1999-06-07	TB @ ATL Gameday	3	1	2	1	3	5
1989-05-03	PHI @ ATL Gameday	3	2	2	1	2	5
1996-09-22	WSH @ ATL Gameday	2	1	1	1	3	4
1992-04-18	ATL @ LAD Gameday	2	1	1	1	1	4
1994-06-29	ATL @ WSH Gameday	4	1	1	1	1	4

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1992-05-24	ATL @ WSH Gameday	9.0	6	1	1	2	15	0
2005-04-10	NYM @ ATL Gameday	7.1	8	2	2	0	15	1
1996-05-29	ATL @ CHC Gameday	9.0	4	0	0	2	13	0
1996-09-07	NYM @ ATL Gameday	9.0	7	1	1	1	13	0
1996-04-14	ATL @ SD Gameday	8.0	1	0	0	1	13	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.

Honors

Hall of Fame, 2015 (BBWAA)

1× NLCS MVP1× Cy Young Award1× Silver Slugger8× 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.