Nate Cornejo looked like a power pitcher. He towered over hitters on the mound, standing six-foot-five and weighing anywhere from 200 to 220 pounds. Scouts raved about the blazing fastball and sharp curve that had made him a high-school star in Kansas. It seemed he couldn’t miss.
Except that he did.
Cornejo’s fastball slowed and his curve somehow vanished by the time the Tigers called him up. He proved to be shockingly hittable in the big leagues, especially in 2003, his one full year as a starter for Detroit.
The season, to be sure, began promisingly. Cornejo won three of his first 10 starts, maintaining an ERA of 3.00. The only sign of danger was his inability to register third strikes. He notched just 11 strikeouts in his first 60 innings. Yet Cornejo was outperforming the other members of the Tigers’ young, ineffective rotation. Demoting him or sending him to the bullpen were out of the question.
The wheels began to come off with three straight losses in June. Cornejo went 3-14 with a 5.59 ERA in his final 20 starts, largely because of his inability to shut down the opposition with strikeouts. He ended the year with a total of 46 whiffs in 194 and two-thirds innings. That worked out to 2.13 strikeouts per nine innings, the worst one-year ratio for any fulltime starter in the Modern Era (1961 to the present).
These rankings are confined to pitchers who worked at least 192 innings in a single year, the equivalent of 32 starts of six innings each. A total of 822 pitchers shouldered such a workload at some point between 1961 and 2021, accounting for a total of 3,070 seasons at or above the 192-inning threshold.
Cornejo and the other nine pitchers listed below were the least powerful in that group, accounting for the lowest single-year ratios of strikeouts per nine innings. The following breakdowns also include the number of games each pitcher worked, his win-loss record, his total of walks, and his earned-run average.
Cornejo reached his high-water mark on July 24, 2003, when he notched four strikeouts in Detroit’s 7-4 victory over Cleveland. He posted more than two K’s in only five of his other 31 appearances.
The runner-up, Ross Grimsley, made 34 starts for the Orioles in 1977. He didn’t record more than five strikeouts in any of them.
Subscribe — free — to Baseball’s Best (and Worst)
A new installment will arrive in your email each Tuesday and Friday morning
1. Nate Cornejo (2003)
Club: Tigers
Strikeouts per nine innings: 2.13
Strikeouts: 46
Innings pitched: 194.2
Other stats: 32 G, 6-17 W-L, 58 BB, 4.67 ERA
2. Ross Grimsley (1977)
Club: Orioles
Strikeouts per nine innings: 2.18
Strikeouts: 53
Innings pitched: 218.1
Other stats: 34 G, 14-10 W-L, 74 BB, 3.96 ERA
3. Steve Kline (1972)
Club: Yankees
Strikeouts per nine innings: 2.21
Strikeouts: 58
Innings pitched: 236.1
Other stats: 32 G, 16-9 W-L, 44 BB, 2.40 ERA
4. Clyde Wright (1973)
Club: Angels
Strikeouts per nine innings: 2.28
Strikeouts: 65
Innings pitched: 257.0
Other stats: 37 G, 11-19 W-L, 76 BB, 3.68 ERA
5. Mike Caldwell (1983)
Club: Brewers
Strikeouts per nine innings: 2.29
Strikeouts: 58
Innings pitched: 228.1
Other stats: 32 G, 12-11 W-L, 51 BB, 4.53 ERA
6. Bob Stanley (1979)
Club: Red Sox
Strikeouts per nine innings: 2.33
Strikeouts: 56
Innings pitched: 216.2
Other stats: 40 G, 16-12 W-L, 44 BB, 3.99 ERA
7. Paul Splittorff (1980)
Club: Royals
Strikeouts per nine innings: 2.34
Strikeouts: 53
Innings pitched: 204.0
Other stats: 34 G, 14-11 W-L, 43 BB, 4.15 ERA
8. Bill Lee (1979)
Club: Expos
Strikeouts per nine innings: 2.39
Strikeouts: 59
Innings pitched: 222.0
Other stats: 33 G, 16-10 W-L, 46 BB, 3.04 ERA
9. (tie) Ken Holtzman (1976)
Club: Orioles-Yankees
Strikeouts per nine innings: 2.41
Strikeouts: 66
Innings pitched: 246.2
Other stats: 34 G, 14-11 W-L, 70 BB, 3.65 ERA
9. (tie) Lary Sorensen (1979)
Club: Brewers
Strikeouts per nine innings: 2.41
Strikeouts: 63
Innings pitched: 235.1
Other stats: 34 G, 15-14 W-L, 42 BB, 3.98 ERA