MLB / Players

Ken Forsch

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 4 in · 195 lb

BornSeptember 8, 1946 · Sacramento, CA, USA

MLB debutSeptember 7, 1970

Final gameMay 23, 1986

Seasons16 (1970–1986)

Houston Astros 1970–1980; California Angels 1981–1984; California Angels 1986

Percentile snapshot

1983 season — qualified pitchers

19.5

40.2

32.2

33.3

87.4

SHO

20.7

226

27.6

24.1

63.2

17.2

27.6

219.3

63.2

ERA

4.06

33.3

WHIP

1.309

51.7

K/9

3.32

10.3

FIP

4.22

24.1

FIP-

104.6

27.6

ERA+

99.3

42.5

sWAR

2.1

42.5

of 88 qualified 1983 pitchers (min 162 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

106.9

64.4

sWAR

26.4

95.8

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	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1970	4	9	6	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-118.4	-100.0	.000	-0.3
1971	33	63	59	2	8	1	1	1	30	0	.136	.150	.153	.303	-27.9	-12.8	.144	3.7
1972	30	49	41	2	6	0	0	1	21	0	.146	.167	.146	.313	-22.7	-9.1	.151	0.4
1973	46	69	62	2	4	1	1	2	26	0	.065	.094	.081	.174	-65.8	-50.9	.088	0.2
1974	70	9	7	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	.000	.125	.000	.125	-58.7	-61.9	.096	1.8
1975	34	29	22	1	1	0	0	4	7	0	.045	.192	.045	.238	-19.4	-28.8	.154	1.3
1976	52	14	11	0	1	0	1	1	3	0	.091	.167	.091	.258	-23.1	-22.2	.142	2.1
1977	42	15	13	1	1	0	0	1	5	0	.077	.143	.077	.220	-38.5	-36.4	.119	1.7
1978	52	29	27	1	5	0	3	0	9	0	.185	.185	.185	.370	-2.3	8.0	.173	2.4
1979	26	68	58	4	8	1	3	4	22	0	.138	.194	.155	.349	-3.3	-0.4	.174	2.8
1980	32	84	77	3	18	3	8	1	33	1	.234	.244	.273	.516	44.8	49.8	.240	2.9
1981	20	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.9
1982	37	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.7
1983	31	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.1
1984	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.5
1986	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.9

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1970	4	4	1	2	0	1	0	28	15	5	13	1	24.0	5.63	1.375	4.88	2.93	75.0	69.5	-0.3
1971	33	23	8	8	0	7	2	162	53	53	131	8	188.3	2.53	1.142	6.26	2.61	77.2	133.6	3.7
1972	30	24	6	8	0	1	0	163	68	62	113	19	156.3	3.91	1.439	6.51	3.85	113.7	86.5	0.4
1973	46	26	9	12	4	5	0	197	94	74	149	18	201.3	4.20	1.346	6.66	3.40	93.1	86.8	0.2
1974	70	0	8	7	10	0	0	98	32	37	48	3	103.3	2.79	1.306	4.18	3.22	92.0	125.7	1.8
1975	34	9	4	8	2	2	0	114	39	30	54	9	109.0	3.22	1.321	4.46	3.58	104.7	106.2	1.3
1976	52	0	4	3	19	0	0	76	22	26	49	5	92.0	2.15	1.109	4.79	3.20	98.5	151.1	2.1
1977	42	5	5	8	8	0	0	80	26	28	45	2	86.0	2.72	1.256	4.71	3.04	84.0	132.9	1.7
1978	52	6	10	6	7	4	2	136	40	37	71	2	133.3	2.70	1.298	4.79	2.61	78.2	123.5	2.4
1979	26	24	11	6	0	10	2	155	60	35	58	14	177.7	3.04	1.069	2.94	3.65	103.5	116.2	2.8
1980	32	32	12	13	0	6	3	230	79	41	84	15	222.3	3.20	1.219	3.40	3.51	104.8	104.9	2.9
1981	20	20	11	7	0	10	4	143	49	27	55	7	153.0	2.88	1.111	3.24	3.02	82.9	126.5	2.9
1982	37	35	13	11	0	12	4	225	98	57	73	25	228.0	3.87	1.237	2.88	4.37	107.7	104.9	2.7
1983	31	31	11	12	0	11	1	226	99	61	81	21	219.3	4.06	1.309	3.32	4.22	104.6	99.3	2.1
1984	2	2	1	1	0	1	0	14	4	3	10	2	16.3	2.20	1.041	5.51	3.67	92.4	180.0	0.5
1986	10	0	0	1	1	0	0	24	18	10	13	4	17.0	9.53	2.000	6.88	6.44	156.1	43.3	-0.9

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

521

438

383

RBI

163

.1358

OBP

.1704

SLG

.1514

OPS

.3218

Pitching

G (P)

521

394th-most career G (P)

241

114

493rd-most career W

113

408th-most career L

364th-most career SV

SHO

292nd-most career SHO

2,127

381st-most career IP

SO (P)

1,047

BB allowed

586

ERA

3.368

352nd-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.2490

335th-lowest career WHIP

K/9

4.43

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
1980-05-04	HOU @ STL Gameday	3	0	2	1	1	3
1980-06-20	PIT @ HOU Gameday	4	1	2	1	0	3
1979-07-24	CHC @ HOU Gameday	4	1	2	0	1	2
1980-06-09	CHC @ HOU Gameday	3	0	2	0	1	2
1971-09-24	HOU @ SD Gameday	5	0	2	0	0	2

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
1972-05-13	PIT @ HOU Gameday	11.0	9	1	1	1	11
1971-06-27	SF @ HOU Gameday	9.0	6	2	2	1	11
1978-09-21	ATL @ HOU Gameday	9.0	5	0	0	1	10
1971-08-04	LAD @ HOU Gameday	9.0	4	0	0	3	9
1972-06-03	HOU @ WSH Gameday	9.0	6	0	0	2	9

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× 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.