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Texas Rangers' Top 5 Pitchers with the most strikeouts in a single season

August 22nd was the anniversary of Nolan Ryan striking out his 5,000 batter and so I wanted to celebrate that by looking back at the best single season strikeout kings for Texas

By Michael Sanders |
Sports Contributor Archive 2018
Sports Contributor Archive 2018 / Ron Vesely/GettyImages
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Texas has a history known more for guys who strike out rather than pitchers that have high strikeout seasons. They have a history of producing great offensive players more so than the ability to develop pitching. In the late 80's and early 90's they had players such as Ivan Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez, Ruben Sierra, Sammy Sosa, Dean Palmer, Steve Buchele, and others come through their minor league system. That has continued to the present day with players such as Ian Kinsler, Hank Blalock, Joey Gallo, and Josh Jung having made their way to Arlington.

The history of offensive greatness is there, but this team also has had some very good to great pitchers wear the Texas Rangers red and blue. Here are the top 5 single-season strikeout leaders for the Texas Rangers. These are pitchers who were with the Rangers for entire seasons and accumulated all of their numbers that season for Texas.

#5 Fergie Jenkins 225 Strikeouts in 1974

Fergie Jenkins was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991 and is known mostly for his time spent in Chicago with Ernie Banks. In 1973 Jenkins was traded by the Cubs to the Texas Rangers. He was coming off his first non 20-win season since 1966. He won 14 games and lost 16 in 1973. His ERA jumped to 3.89 from 3.20 and he ONLY had seven complete games. The Cubs knowing he had just turned 30 decided to trade him to Texas.

Jenkins came to Arlington with a point to prove that his career was not over. He put together one of the greatest pitching seasons in Texas Rangers history. He won 25 games, had 29 complete games, lowered his ERA to 2.82, pitched 328 innings, and had 225 strikeouts. He helped turn around a team that had lost 105 games in 1973. In 1974 Texas won 89 and finished second place in the AL West.

Jenkins finished second in the Cy Young voting to the Oakland A's Catfish Hunter who had the same amount of wins and a lower ERA for the Oakland A's. Jenkins would pitch one more season in Texas in 1975 where he won 17 games and his ERA went back up to 3.93. Texas then traded Jenkins to the Boston Red Sox after the season.

Jenkins was traded back to Texas before the 1978 season and pitched four more seasons for the Rangers. None of those seasons measured up to what he did in 1974. Jenkins to this day still has the fifth most single-season strikeouts for the Texas Rangers for what he did in 1974, nearly 50 years later.

#4 Nolan Ryan 232 Strikeouts in 1990

On several Texas Rangers pitching statistical categories it normally does not take long before Nolan Ryan's name will appear. Ryan in 1990 was entering his second season with the Rangers at 43-years-old. He had been in the majors at that time for 24 years. Ryan was not ready to hang them up yet. He was still pumping fastballs and making his legend known against a generation of batters that grew up watching Nolan Ryan.

June 11th against the defending World Series champion Oakland A's Ryan had another magical night in a career that was full of nights like this. He threw the sixth no-hitter of his career that night at Oakland Coliseum. He struck out 14 A's batters that night.

The season for Ryan saw him finish with a 13-9 record, a 3.44 ERA, 204 innings pitched, and he struck out 232 batters. Texas in Ryan's second season finished with an 83-79 record which was good for 3rd place in the AL West. The fans continued to fall in love with Ryan and flock to his home starts. It was a good time to be a Texas Rangers fan even if they were not able to end their playoff drought that season.

#3 Lance Lynn 246 Strikeouts in 2019

In the later years of the Jon Daniels tenure as general manager his staff had a great ability to find undervalued starting pitchers and turn them into All-Stars or Cy Young contenders while in Texas. The Rangers did that with Mike Minor, Lance Lynn, and Kyle Gibson.

The best of these pitchers was Lance Lynn. By the end of the 2018 season Lynn had fallen out of favor in St. Louis and Minnesota and then was a mild disappointment for the New York Yankees. He became a free agent and did not get the type of offers a pitcher of his caliber should receive. He decided to sign with Texas for three years and try to revive his career.

2019 was Lynn's best season of his career. He won 16 games for a Texas team that was in the wild card race till September. He had a 3.67 ERA, pitched 208 innings, and had 246 strikeouts. That season earned him Cy Young votes and he finished 5th in the voting for the award. Lynn was Daniel's second success story of finding a pitcher in the free agency bargain bin and turning them into one of the best pitchers in the league. The combination of Minor and Lynn at the top of the rotation won plenty of games for Texas in the 2019 season.

Lynn would eventually be traded after the 2020 season to the White Sox for Dane Dunning. He was nearly brought back at the trade deadline this season, but ended up being traded to the Dodgers. Lynn now resides third on the single-season strikeout list for the Texas Rangers with 246 strikeouts in the 2019 season.

#2 Yu Darvish 277 Strikeouts in the 2013 Season

Darvish was a Japanese sensation before Ohtani made his name known. He was the pitcher who overshadowed Daisuke Matsuzaka and led Japan to the 2009 World Baseball Classic championship. He was the pitcher who was desired by every organization. He was the pitcher in 2011 that the Rangers were seeking. He was to be the ace of the staff and help prolong this contending window for the Texas Rangers. In 2011 the Rangers won the bidding process for Darvish. He did sign with Texas for six years and made his debut in April 2012.

Darvish's rookie season he exploded on the scene. He had 16 wins, a 3.90 ERA, and 221 strikeouts. He made the all-star team, finished third in rookie of the year voting, and ninth in Cy Young voting. He was outstanding and gave flashes of what his career was going to be like.

He came into 2013 with not only high expectations, but also was carrying the hope of the Texas Rangers franchise in his right arm. He got off to a blazing start as he was one out away from a perfect game in his first start of the season. He struck out 14 in that game and was absolutely dominant against a young Astros squad. In 2013 had 12 double digit strikeout games. He lowered his ERA more than a point to 2.83. He won fewer games, but did surpass 200 innings for the only time in his career to this point. He finished second in Cy Young voting and made his second all-star team.

Darvish had another really good season in 2014, but was shut down in August of that season with elbow inflammation. Then in March of 2015 it was determined he would need Tommy John surgery. . The 277 strikeouts he had in 2013 still stand as a career-high for Darvish and the second-highest single-season strikeout total in Texas Rangers' history.

#1 Nolan Ryan 301 strikeouts in the 1989 Seaon

Of course Nolan Ryan is number one on this list. 1989 was his first season in a Texas Rangers uniform after signing with the Rangers in the 1988 offseason. It was a much balley-hooed signing by the team that immediately generated a ton of fan interest and unforgettable moments. In that 1989 season Ryan was able to reach and surpass 5.000 strikeouts for his career. He is the only pitcher to have passed that 5,000 strikeout milestone in baseball history.

In 1989 the 42-year old Ryan was looking to continue his mark of leading the league in strikeouts much like he had done in 1987 and 1988 in the National League. He was looking to continue dominating that category in the American League. Ryan got off to a fast start as he struck out 15 Milwaukee Brewers in his second start and just kept going from there. He had double-digit strikeout games in 18 of his 32 starts.

Ryan ended the season with 301 strikeouts. He is the only Texas Rangers pitcher to have more than 300 in a season. He also won 16 games that season, had a 3.20 ERA, and pitched in 239 1/3rd innings. It was not so much a return to form as it was a continuation of his dominance at such an advanced age.

In 1991 Ryan made the All-Star team and finished 5th in Cy Young voting. It was a dominant run for Ryan that he was able to continue for another 4 seasons until 1993 when his elbow blew out and forced him into retirement at the age of 47 after an unbelievable run of 27 seasons. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999 with Robin Yount and George Brett in what is still one of the best Hall of Fame classes in the history of the sport.

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