Hitting pitchers.?

Question

Who was the best hitting pitcher of all time? Stats would be nice.

Answer 1

I'm assuming that you're excluding Babe Ruth, a former pitcher who would be the obvious answer.

Of those who are known mostly for pitching, I'd say it's between a few of them:

Bob Caruthers (.282 AVG, .391 OBP, 29 homers, 359 RBI)

Red Ruffing (.269 BA, 36 homers, 273 RBI)

Wes Ferrell (.280 AVG, .351 OBP, 38 homers, 208 RBI)

There are still some decent-hitting pitchers today like Mike Hampton (.242, 15 homers), but few can match those other guys' numbers.

Answer 2

The best I ever saw was Don Robinson, who played for the
Pirates and Giants. He hit .242 with 13 homers, and sometimes the Giants would use him as a pinch-hitter.

Dontrelle Willis is probably the best hitting pitcher today (.222, 6 homers including 3 last year).

Wes Ferrell holds the all-time pitcher record with 38 homers; he hit 9 in 1931, which is also a record for pitchers.

Babe Ruth hit 14 home runs as a pitcher, according to Wikipedia.

Answer 3

Overall you have to say Babe Ruth. Here are his stats during years he pitched. Obviously it includes games played at outfield, but I've got no way to sort them out. These are from the years 1914 to 1918, the years he was primarily a pitcher.

678 At Bats 203 Hits 48 doubles 18 triples 20 home runs

99Runs 116 RBI's 6 stolen bases .299 batting average in 261 games.

Answer 4

Besides babe Ruth, who was a great pitcher before turning into an outfielder, these are some names of good hitting pitchers:

Rick Rhoden. He hit .238 If he had been used as an outfielder, he would have had a better batting average.

Terry Forster. He played for 16 season, and hit .397 lifetime, for the only 78 AB they ever gave him. His OBP was of .412 and struck out only 9 times in his career.

Don Newcombe. He hit .271 lifetime. One season he got 105 AB because he was often used as a pinch hitter.

Valenzuela was not a good hitter. He got famous for hitting a triple while throwing a shutout, but that was it. He hit .200 lifetime.

Answer 5

Excluding Babe Ruth, I would have to say that the best hitting pitcher of the last thirty plus years is Ken (Kemer) Brett, the late brother of George Brett. Ken pitched for several teams in his big league career and was the youngest player to pitch in a World Series (1967- Red Sox) game. Ken passed away a few years ago. I believe that he was only in his early fifties.
Some people say that Ken was actually a better hitter than George.

Answer 6

I don't know about the all-time best hitting pitcher. There is quite a list. But here's one for you: Rick Wise. Click below for the story.

Answer 7

Probably the Bambino.

Rick Rhoden once DH'd when he was with the Yankees.

Of all of the active (or potentially active) pitchers, Mike Hampton.

You can get career stats, with season-by-season details, for any player who has ever plaed in MLB, by going here:

Answer 8

i could say that carlos zambrano or jason marquis are extraordinarily sturdy hitting pitchers. they the two have gained golden slugger awards. i dont understand the place they could rank baseball historic previous. kerry wood hit some living house runs himself. that's for sure a biased answer on account that im a cubs fan. a number of the all-time great hitting pitchers are from the hayday of baseball; that's extremely demanding to discover sturdy hitting pitchers those days. i regulate my vote to mike hampton.

Answer 9

I would have to say Babe Ruth. There is no better hitting pitcher than the Babe.

Answer 10

I don't have any stats, but I would think it was Babe Ruth....I would imagine he hit for himself when he was pitching.