CC Sabathia, baseball player, 2001-2019

CC Sabathia

⭐ Hall of Fame 2025

Born: 7/21/1980 in Vallejo, CA, USA

MLB Debut: 2001-04-08 | Final Game: 2019-09-24

Bats: L | Throws: L | Height: 6'6" | Weight: 300 lbs

Full name: Carsten Charles Sabathia

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Biography

CC Sabathia was a dominant left-handed pitcher whose career spanned from 2001 to 2019. Born in 1980, he made his Major League Baseball debut in the early 2000s and quickly established himself as one of the premier pitchers of his generation. Over his illustrious career, Sabathia compiled an impressive record of 251 wins against 161 losses, with a career earned run average (ERA) of 3.74. He recorded a remarkable 3,093 strikeouts, showcasing his ability to overpower hitters and his exceptional command on the mound. Throughout his tenure, he was known for his imposing presence, a heavy fastball, and a devastating slider, which made him a formidable opponent in any game. Sabathia's accolades reflect his significant impact on the game. He was honored with numerous awards, including the Cy Young Award, and was recognized as the American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player (ALCS MVP). A six-time All-Star, Sabathia's performances in the postseason further solidified his legacy as a clutch pitcher. His contributions to the game were recognized with his induction into the Hall of Fame in 2025, marking him as one of the elite pitchers of his era. Sabathia played a crucial role during a transformative time in baseball, navigating the pressures of the game with skill and poise, and leaving an indelible mark on the sport.

Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
251 161 561 560 38 12 0 3577.3 3404 1485 382 1099 3093 3.74 0

Career ERA 3.74 vs. league average 4.23 across their career seasons — 11.6% 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
2001 CLE AL 17 5 33 33 0 0 0 180.3 149 88 95 171 4.39 4.42 (+1%) 927.3
2002 CLE AL 13 11 33 33 2 0 0 210.0 198 102 88 149 4.37 4.28 (-2%) 2252.3
2003 CLE AL 13 9 30 30 2 1 0 197.7 190 79 66 141 3.60 4.40 (+18%) 2327.1
2004 CLE AL 11 10 30 30 1 1 0 188.0 176 86 72 139 4.12 4.46 (+8%) 1222.9
2005 CLE AL 15 10 31 31 1 0 0 196.7 185 88 62 161 4.03 4.29 (+6%) 3068.0
2006 CLE AL 12 11 28 28 6 2 0 192.7 182 69 44 172 3.22 4.53 (+29%) 6131.2
2007 CLE AL 19 7 34 34 4 1 0 241.0 238 86 37 209 3.21 4.47 (+28%) 8403.8
2008 CLE AL 6 8 18 18 3 2 0 122.3 117 52 34 123 3.83 4.32 (+12%) 2865.2
2008 MIL NL 11 2 17 17 7 3 0 130.7 106 24 25 128 1.65 4.32 (+62%) 6334.0
2009 NYY AL 19 8 34 34 2 1 0 230.0 197 86 67 197 3.37 4.32 (+22%) -
2010 NYY AL 21 7 34 34 2 0 0 237.7 209 84 74 197 3.18 4.08 (+22%) -
2011 NYY AL 19 8 33 33 3 1 0 237.3 230 79 61 230 3.00 3.94 (+24%) -
2012 NYY AL 15 6 28 28 2 0 0 200.0 184 75 44 197 3.38 4.01 (+16%) -
2013 NYY AL 14 13 32 32 2 0 0 211.0 224 112 65 175 4.78 3.87 (-24%) -
2014 NYY AL 3 4 8 8 0 0 0 46.0 58 27 10 48 5.28 3.74 (-41%) -
2015 NYY AL 6 10 29 29 1 0 0 167.3 188 88 50 137 4.73 3.96 (-19%) -
2016 NYY AL 9 12 30 30 0 0 0 179.7 172 78 65 152 3.91 4.19 (+7%) -
2017 NYY AL 14 5 27 27 0 0 0 148.7 139 61 50 120 3.69 4.36 (+15%) -
2018 NYY AL 9 7 29 29 0 0 0 153.0 150 62 51 140 3.65 4.15 (+12%) -
2019 NYY AL 5 8 23 22 0 0 0 107.3 112 59 39 107 4.95 4.51 (-10%) -

Career Batting Statistics

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
562 121 7 25 3 0 3 15 0 2 36 0.207 0.220 0.306 0.525 0.0

Career AVG .207 vs. league average .259 across their career seasons — 20.2% below league average.

Career OBP .220 vs. league average .326 across their career seasons — 32.7% below league average.

Career SLG .306 vs. league average .415 across their career seasons — 26.3% below league average.

Career OPS 0.525 vs. league average 0.741 across their career seasons — 29.1% 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
2001 CLE AL 33 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2002 CLE AL 33 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.200 — — — — 0.0
2003 CLE AL 31 6 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.500 — — — — 0.0
2004 CLE AL 30 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.250 — — — — 0.0
2005 CLE AL 31 6 1 2 1 0 1 4 0 0 1 0.333 — — — — 0.0
2006 CLE AL 28 9 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 5 0.222 — — — — 0.0
2007 CLE AL 34 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.667 — — — — 0.0
2008 CLE AL 18 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0.333 — — — — 0.0
2008 MIL NL 17 48 3 11 2 0 1 6 0 0 10 0.229 — — — — 0.0
2009 NYY AL 34 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.250 — — — — 0.0
2010 NYY AL 34 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.200 — — — — 0.0
2011 NYY AL 33 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2012 NYY AL 28 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2013 NYY AL 32 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2014 NYY AL 8 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2015 NYY AL 29 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2016 NYY AL 30 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2017 NYY AL 27 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0.000 — — — — 0.0
2018 NYY AL 29 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
2019 NYY AL 23 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.000 — — — — 0.0

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
27 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
2019 ALCS NYA 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2018 ALDS1 NYA 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2017 ALCS NYA 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2017 ALDS1 NYA 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2012 ALCS NYA 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2012 ALDS1 NYA 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2011 ALDS1 NYA 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2010 ALCS NYA 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2010 ALDS2 NYA 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2009 ALCS NYA 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2009 ALDS1 NYA 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2009 WS NYA 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.000
2008 NLDS2 MIL 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000
2007 ALCS CLE 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2007 ALDS2 CLE 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
2001 ALDS1 CLE 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
10 7 26 23 0 130.3 137 62 63 121 4.28

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
2019 ALCS NYA 0 0 2 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 0.00
2018 ALDS1 NYA 0 1 1 1 0 3.0 5 3 2 1 9.00
2017 ALCS NYA 1 1 2 2 0 9.3 8 1 7 5 0.96
2017 ALDS1 NYA 0 0 2 2 0 9.7 8 4 3 14 3.72
2012 ALCS NYA 0 1 1 1 0 3.7 11 5 2 3 12.27
2012 ALDS1 NYA 2 0 2 2 0 17.7 12 3 3 16 1.53
2011 ALDS1 NYA 0 0 3 2 0 8.7 10 6 8 11 6.23
2010 ALCS NYA 1 0 2 2 0 10.0 17 7 4 10 6.30
2010 ALDS2 NYA 1 0 1 1 0 6.0 5 3 3 5 4.50
2009 ALCS NYA 2 0 2 2 0 16.0 9 2 3 12 1.12
2009 ALDS1 NYA 1 0 1 1 0 6.7 8 1 0 8 1.35
2009 WS NYA 0 1 2 2 0 13.7 11 5 6 12 3.29
2008 NLDS2 MIL 0 1 1 1 0 3.7 6 5 4 5 12.27
2007 ALCS CLE 0 2 2 2 0 10.3 17 12 7 9 10.45
2007 ALDS2 CLE 1 0 1 1 0 5.0 4 3 6 5 5.40
2001 ALDS1 CLE 1 0 1 1 0 6.0 6 2 5 5 3.00

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
P 561 560 48 360 28 25

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
2001 CLE P 33 33 3 21 1 1
2002 CLE P 33 33 2 19 1 2
2003 CLE P 30 30 7 19 2 2
2004 CLE P 30 30 1 17 0 2
2005 CLE P 31 31 2 17 2 0
2006 CLE P 28 28 7 15 3 1
2007 CLE P 34 34 1 24 1 1
2008 CLE P 18 18 2 10 0 1
2008 MIL P 17 17 3 18 1 4
2009 NYA P 34 34 3 28 0 0
2010 NYA P 34 34 4 30 1 3
2011 NYA P 33 33 3 21 3 2
2012 NYA P 28 28 1 27 0 0
2013 NYA P 32 32 1 30 2 2
2014 NYA P 8 8 1 5 0 0
2015 NYA P 29 29 3 7 1 0
2016 NYA P 30 30 2 18 4 2
2017 NYA P 27 27 2 19 1 0
2018 NYA P 29 29 0 12 3 1
2019 NYA P 23 22 0 3 2 1

Career Games by Position

Position Games
Pitcher 561

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
2011 Pitcher of the Month July
2009 ALCS MVP
2009 Pitcher of the Month August
2008 Pitcher of the Month August
2008 Pitcher of the Month July
2008 Player of the Week Week of 2008-06-14
2007 Cy Young Award
2007 MLB Players Choice Outstanding Pitcher
2007 Player of the Week Week of 2007-06-30
2007 TSN All-Star SP
2007 TSN Pitcher of the Year
2006 Pitcher of the Month May
2001 Rookie of the Month July
2001 TSN Rookie Pitcher of the Year

Salary History

Year Team League Salary
2016 NYA AL $25,000,000
2015 NYA AL $23,000,000
2014 NYA AL $23,000,000
2013 NYA AL $24,285,714
2012 NYA AL $23,000,000
2011 NYA AL $24,285,714
2010 NYA AL $24,285,714
2009 NYA AL $15,285,714
2008 CLE AL $11,000,000
2007 CLE AL $8,750,000
2006 CLE AL $7,000,000
2005 CLE AL $5,250,000
2004 CLE AL $2,700,000
2003 CLE AL $1,100,000
2002 CLE AL $700,000
Total Career Earnings $218,642,856

Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
2011 Cy Young Award AL 4th 63.0 196 0
2010 Cy Young Award AL 3rd 102.0 196 3
2010 Most Valuable Player AL 13th 13.0 392 0
2009 Cy Young Award AL 4th 13.0 140 0
2009 Most Valuable Player AL 21th 4.0 392 0
2008 Cy Young Award NL 5th 9.0 160 1
2008 Most Valuable Player NL 6th 121.0 448 0
2007 Cy Young Award AL 1st 119.0 140 19
2007 Most Valuable Player AL 14th 11.0 392 0
2001 Rookie of the Year AL 2nd 73.0 140 1