MLB / Players

Rick Waits

HandednessBats Left · Throws Left

Listed at6 ft 3 in · 194 lb

BornMay 15, 1952 · Atlanta, GA, USA

MLB debutSeptember 17, 1973

Final gameOctober 6, 1985

Seasons12 (1973–1985)

Texas Rangers 1973; Cleveland Indians 1975–1983; Milwaukee Brewers 1983–1985

Percentile snapshot

1981 season — qualified pitchers

18.4

29.9

28.7

11.5

52.9

SHO

37.9

173

4.6

48.3

11.5

126.3

18.4

ERA

4.92

1.1

WHIP

1.718

K/9

3.63

20.7

FIP

3.52

48.3

FIP-

96.5

51.7

ERA+

74.3

1.1

sWAR

-0.7

1.1

of 88 qualified 1981 pitchers (min 103 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

92.6

11.4

sWAR

8.9

85.6

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	SO	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1973	1	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.1
1975	16	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.4
1976	36	0	0	4	0	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.4
1977	38	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.3
1978	35	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3.8
1979	34	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.9
1980	33	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.3
1981	22	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.7
1982	25	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.6
1983	18	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.0
1984	47	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.0
1985	24	1	1	0	1	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-120.5	-100.0	.000	-0.8

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1973	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	1.0	9.00	2.000	0.00	5.58	149.0	41.6	-0.1
1975	16	7	6	2	1	3	0	57	23	25	34	3	70.3	2.94	1.166	4.35	3.25	85.8	128.8	1.4
1976	26	22	7	9	0	4	2	143	55	54	65	7	123.7	4.00	1.593	4.73	3.61	103.4	87.3	0.4
1977	37	16	9	7	2	1	0	132	60	64	62	8	135.3	3.99	1.448	4.12	4.04	101.7	99.4	1.3
1978	34	33	13	15	0	15	2	206	82	86	97	16	230.3	3.20	1.268	3.79	3.76	100.0	117.3	3.8
1979	34	34	16	13	0	8	3	230	114	91	91	26	231.0	4.44	1.390	3.55	4.68	109.5	96.2	1.9
1980	33	33	13	14	0	9	2	231	111	82	109	18	224.3	4.45	1.395	4.37	3.94	96.1	92.1	1.3
1981	22	21	8	10	0	5	1	173	69	44	51	7	126.3	4.92	1.718	3.63	3.52	96.5	74.3	-0.7
1982	25	21	2	13	0	2	0	128	69	57	44	13	115.0	5.40	1.609	3.44	4.91	119.6	76.0	-0.6
1983	18	2	0	3	0	0	0	62	27	20	33	2	49.7	4.89	1.651	5.98	3.23	81.0	81.3	0.0
1984	47	1	2	4	3	0	0	84	29	24	49	7	73.0	3.58	1.479	6.04	3.64	94.0	108.2	1.0
1985	24	0	3	2	1	0	0	67	34	20	24	3	47.0	6.51	1.851	4.60	3.83	92.4	63.6	-0.8

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

329

RBI

.0000

OBP

.0000

SLG

.0000

OPS

.0000

Pitching

G (P)

317

190

SHO

1,427

SO (P)

659

BB allowed

568

ERA

4.251

WHIP

1.4590

K/9

4.16

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	R
1976-04-20	TEX @ CLE Gameday	1
1976-04-30	LAA @ CLE Gameday	1
1976-06-09	MIN @ CLE Gameday	1
1976-06-11	CWS @ CLE Gameday	0
1976-08-03	BOS @ CLE Gameday	0

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1980-10-04	CLE @ BAL Gameday	9.0	9	4	4	2	11	1
1976-07-17	CLE @ MIN Gameday	9.0	4	0	0	4	8	0
1977-08-29	CWS @ CLE Gameday	9.0	6	2	2	2	8	1
1980-09-10	BOS @ CLE Gameday	9.0	9	4	4	5	8	1
1980-04-25	TEX @ CLE Gameday	8.2	6	4	3	1	8	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.