John Lackey, baseball player, 2002-2017

John Lackey

Born: 10/23/1978 in Abilene, TX, USA

MLB Debut: 2002-06-24 | Final Game: 2017-10-01

Bats: R | Throws: R | Height: 6'6" | Weight: 235 lbs

Full name: John Derran Lackey

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Biography

John Lackey, born in 1978, was a prominent pitcher in Major League Baseball from 2002 until his retirement in 2017. Known for his competitive spirit and durability on the mound, Lackey finished his career with a record of 188-147 and an earned run average (ERA) of 3.92. Over his 15 seasons in the league, he amassed an impressive 2,294 strikeouts, showcasing his ability to dominate hitters with a powerful fastball and an array of effective secondary pitches. Despite not recording any saves, Lackey was a reliable starting pitcher who contributed significantly to his teams’ successes. Lackey’s career included a notable All-Star selection, highlighting his recognition among peers and fans alike. He played during a transformative period in baseball, where the emphasis on pitching strategy and analytics began to reshape the game. His resilience and performance in high-pressure situations, particularly in the postseason, underscored his value as a clutch pitcher. Having spent time with the Los Angeles Angels, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago Cubs, Lackey's contributions to each franchise solidified his reputation as a key player in their respective successes, including winning multiple championships.

Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
188 147 448 446 18 8 0 2840.3 2862 1237 319 815 2294 3.92 0

Career ERA 3.92 vs. league average 4.21 across their career seasons — 7.0% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
2002 LAA AL 9 4 18 18 1 0 0 108.3 113 44 33 69 3.66 4.28 (+15%) -
2003 LAA AL 10 16 33 33 2 2 0 204.0 223 105 66 151 4.63 4.40 (-5%) -
2004 LAA AL 14 13 33 32 1 1 0 198.3 215 103 60 144 4.67 4.46 (-5%) -
2005 LAA AL 14 5 33 33 1 0 0 209.0 208 80 71 199 3.44 4.29 (+20%) 6482.9
2006 LAA AL 13 11 33 33 3 2 0 217.7 203 86 72 190 3.56 4.53 (+21%) 6671.0
2007 LAA AL 19 9 33 33 2 2 0 224.0 219 75 52 179 3.01 4.47 (+33%) 5447.6
2008 LAA AL 12 5 24 24 3 0 0 163.3 161 68 40 130 3.75 4.32 (+13%) -861.6
2009 LAA AL 11 8 27 27 1 1 0 176.3 177 75 47 139 3.83 4.32 (+11%) 2719.0
2010 BOS AL 14 11 33 33 0 0 0 215.0 233 105 72 156 4.40 4.08 (-8%) 1309.5
2011 BOS AL 12 12 28 28 0 0 0 160.0 203 114 56 108 6.41 3.94 (-63%) -3157.5
2013 BOS AL 10 13 29 29 2 0 0 189.3 179 74 40 161 3.52 3.87 (+9%) 20.9
2014 BOS AL 11 7 21 21 1 0 0 137.3 137 55 32 116 3.60 3.74 (+4%) 631.1
2014 STL NL 3 3 10 10 0 0 0 60.7 69 29 15 48 4.30 3.74 (-15%) -
2015 STL NL 13 10 33 33 1 0 0 218.0 211 67 53 175 2.77 3.96 (+30%) -
2016 CHC NL 11 8 29 29 0 0 0 188.3 146 70 53 180 3.35 4.19 (+20%) -
2017 CHC NL 12 12 31 30 0 0 0 170.7 165 87 53 149 4.59 4.36 (-5%) -

Career Batting Statistics

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
450 236 6 26 7 0 0 8 1 9 97 0.110 0.143 0.140 0.283 -1819.0

Career AVG .110 vs. league average .260 across their career seasons — 57.6% below league average.

Career OBP .143 vs. league average .327 across their career seasons — 56.3% below league average.

Career SLG .140 vs. league average .414 across their career seasons — 66.2% below league average.

Career OPS 0.283 vs. league average 0.741 across their career seasons — 61.9% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
2002 LAA AL 18 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
2003 LAA AL 33 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2004 LAA AL 33 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2005 LAA AL 33 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2006 LAA AL 33 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2007 LAA AL 33 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2008 LAA AL 24 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2009 LAA AL 27 8 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0.125 — — — — 0.0
2010 BOS AL 34 5 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.400 — — — — 0.0
2011 BOS AL 28 3 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.333 — — — — 0.0
2013 BOS AL 29 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2014 BOS AL 21 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
2014 STL NL 10 15 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.133 — — — — 0.0
2015 STL NL 33 62 0 7 2 0 0 3 0 4 24 0.113 .254 (-56%) .316 (-47%) .404 (-64%) .721 (-57%) -590.8
2016 CHC NL 29 63 1 6 2 0 0 2 0 2 31 0.095 .255 (-63%) .321 (-62%) .417 (-70%) .738 (-66%) -714.0
2017 CHC NL 32 53 2 7 1 0 0 1 1 3 23 0.132 .254 (-48%) .324 (-45%) .425 (-65%) .750 (-56%) -514.2

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
29 12 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.167

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
2017 NLCS CHN 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2016 NLCS CHN 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000
2016 NLDS1 CHN 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000
2016 WS CHN 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000
2015 NLDS1 SLN 2 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.333
2014 NLCS SLN 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000
2014 NLDS2 SLN 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
2013 ALCS BOS 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2013 ALDS1 BOS 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2013 WS BOS 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2009 ALCS LAA 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2009 ALDS2 LAA 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2008 ALDS1 LAA 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2007 ALDS1 LAA 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2005 ALCS LAA 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2005 ALDS2 LAA 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2002 ALCS ANA 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2002 ALDS1 ANA 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2002 WS ANA 3 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.500

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
8 6 29 23 0 144.0 135 55 47 114 3.44

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
2017 NLCS CHN 0 0 3 0 0 3.7 5 4 2 3 9.82
2016 NLCS CHN 0 0 1 1 0 4.0 3 2 3 3 4.50
2016 NLDS1 CHN 0 0 1 1 0 4.0 7 3 2 4 6.75
2016 WS CHN 0 1 1 1 0 5.0 4 2 1 5 3.60
2015 NLDS1 SLN 1 0 2 2 0 10.3 6 4 2 10 3.48
2014 NLCS SLN 0 0 1 1 0 6.0 5 4 1 3 6.00
2014 NLDS2 SLN 1 0 1 1 0 7.0 5 1 1 8 1.29
2013 ALCS BOS 1 0 1 1 0 6.7 4 0 0 8 0.00
2013 ALDS1 BOS 1 0 1 1 0 5.3 7 4 3 6 6.75
2013 WS BOS 1 1 3 2 0 14.0 14 4 3 11 2.57
2009 ALCS LAA 0 1 2 2 0 12.3 15 5 6 10 3.65
2009 ALDS2 LAA 1 0 1 1 0 7.3 4 0 1 4 0.00
2008 ALDS1 LAA 0 1 2 2 0 13.7 11 4 4 6 2.63
2007 ALDS1 LAA 0 1 1 1 0 6.0 9 4 2 4 6.00
2005 ALCS LAA 0 1 1 1 0 5.0 8 5 1 3 9.00
2005 ALDS2 LAA 0 0 2 2 0 11.3 7 3 9 9 2.38
2002 ALCS ANA 1 0 1 1 0 7.0 3 0 0 7 0.00
2002 ALDS1 ANA 0 0 1 0 0 3.0 3 0 1 3 0.00
2002 WS ANA 1 0 3 2 0 12.3 15 6 5 7 4.38

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
P 448 446 222 299 28 29

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
2002 ANA P 18 18 4 16 0 2
2003 ANA P 33 33 14 22 3 2
2004 ANA P 33 32 15 23 0 1
2005 LAA P 33 33 5 25 3 0
2006 LAA P 33 33 9 26 0 1
2007 LAA P 33 33 22 25 2 5
2008 LAA P 24 24 9 10 5 3
2009 LAA P 27 27 13 22 2 3
2010 BOS P 33 33 22 21 3 3
2011 BOS P 28 28 19 16 3 4
2013 BOS P 29 29 18 29 2 0
2014 BOS P 21 21 6 10 0 0
2014 SLN P 10 10 6 5 3 0
2015 SLN P 33 33 20 15 2 3
2016 CHN P 29 29 13 19 0 1
2017 CHN P 31 30 27 15 0 1

Career Games by Position

Position Games
Pitcher 448

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
2008 Pitcher of the Month June
2006 Pitcher of the Month July

Salary History

Year Team League Salary
2016 CHN NL $16,000,000
2015 SLN NL $507,500
2014 SLN NL $15,250,000
2013 BOS AL $15,950,000
2012 BOS AL $15,950,000
2011 BOS AL $15,950,000
2010 BOS AL $18,700,000
2009 LAA AL $10,000,000
2008 LAA AL $7,333,333
2007 LAA AL $5,833,333
2006 LAA AL $3,340,000
2005 LAA AL $440,000
2004 ANA AL $375,000
2003 ANA AL $315,000
Total Career Earnings $125,944,166

College History

School Name City State Years Attended
Grayson County College Denison TX 1999
University of Texas at Arlington Arlington TX 1998

Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
2015 Cy Young Award NL 9th 1.0 210 0
2007 Cy Young Award AL 3rd 36.0 140 1
2007 Most Valuable Player AL 17th 4.0 392 0
2002 Rookie of the Year AL 4th 5.0 140 0