Roger Nelson

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 3 in · 200 lb

BornJune 7, 1944 · Altadena, CA, USA

MLB debutSeptember 9, 1967

Final gameSeptember 23, 1976

Seasons9 (1967–1976)

Chicago White Sox 1967; Baltimore Orioles 1968; Kansas City Royals 1969–1972; Cincinnati Reds 1973–1974; Kansas City Royals 1976

Percentile snapshot

1972 season — qualified pitchers

45.2

1.2

26.2

95.2

92.9

48.8

SHO

90.5

120

100

96.4

97.6

120

42.9

70.2

173.3

20.2

ERA

2.08

91.7

WHIP

.871

100

K/9

6.23

FIP

2.41

91.7

FIP-

76.8

90.5

ERA+

151.4

sWAR

3.9

70.2

of 85 qualified 1972 pitchers (min 154 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

sWAR

8.8

85.4

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	3B	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1967	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.2
1968	19	22	16	0	1	0	0	2	10	.063	.167	.063	.229	-33.5	-27.6	.135	1.2
1969	29	66	58	4	8	1	3	2	16	.138	.164	.172	.336	-19.7	-5.9	.160	2.6
1970	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	—	1.000	—	—	388.9	—	.749	-0.6
1971	13	7	6	2	2	0	0	1	2	.333	.429	.333	.762	135.6	120.9	.374	-0.4
1972	34	61	54	2	5	0	0	3	19	.093	.140	.093	.233	-50.3	-30.3	.122	3.9
1973	14	19	18	1	2	0	1	0	4	.111	.111	.111	.222	-50.6	-36.4	.104	0.5
1974	14	32	28	3	5	0	4	2	7	.179	.233	.179	.412	16.9	18.4	.208	1.0
1976	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.2

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1967	5	0	0	1	0	0	0	4	1	0	4	1	7.0	1.29	.571	5.14	3.99	129.6	239.6	0.2
1968	19	6	4	3	1	0	0	49	19	26	70	3	71.0	2.41	1.056	8.87	1.94	65.9	122.4	1.2
1969	29	29	7	13	0	8	1	170	71	65	82	12	193.3	3.31	1.216	3.82	3.42	93.6	110.6	2.6
1970	4	2	0	2	0	0	0	18	10	0	3	3	9.0	10.00	2.000	3.00	6.43	172.9	37.2	-0.6
1971	13	1	0	1	0	0	0	35	20	5	29	1	34.0	5.29	1.176	7.68	1.48	43.3	64.5	-0.4
1972	34	19	11	6	2	10	6	120	40	31	120	13	173.3	2.08	.871	6.23	2.41	76.8	151.4	3.9
1973	14	8	3	2	0	1	0	49	21	24	17	4	54.7	3.46	1.335	2.80	4.36	125.3	100.7	0.5
1974	14	12	4	4	1	1	0	67	32	35	42	7	85.3	3.38	1.195	4.43	3.93	111.1	104.9	1.0
1976	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2	4	4	0	8.7	2.08	.923	4.15	3.77	107.4	169.1	0.2

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

135

208

180

RBI

.1278

OBP

.1771

SLG

.1389

OPS

.3160

Pitching

G (P)

135

SHO

636

SO (P)

371

BB allowed

190

ERA

3.055

WHIP

1.1095

K/9

5.25

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	3B	RBI	TB
1969-09-02	DET @ KC Gameday	4	1	2	1	0	4
1974-04-12	CIN @ ATL Gameday	2	1	2	0	2	2
1969-05-04	KC @ LAA Gameday	5	1	2	0	1	2
1974-06-11	CIN @ WSH Gameday	3	1	2	0	1	2
1969-08-05	KC @ BAL Gameday	2	0	1	0	1	1

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1968-09-18	BAL @ BOS Gameday	6.0	3	3	3	2	13	0
1972-07-31	KC @ LAA Gameday	9.0	3	0	0	1	9	0
1972-08-23	BOS @ KC Gameday	9.0	1	0	0	1	9	0
1972-08-29	KC @ MIL Gameday	9.0	8	4	4	1	8	2
1972-09-27	KC @ CWS Gameday	9.0	7	2	2	0	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.