Fernando Valenzuela, baseball player, 1980-1997

Fernando Valenzuela

Born: 11/1/1960 in Navojoa, Sonora, México

Died: 10/22/2024 in Los Angeles, CA, USA

MLB Debut: 1980-09-15 | Final Game: 1997-07-14

Bats: L | Throws: L | Height: 5'11" | Weight: 180 lbs

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Biography

Fernando Valenzuela, born in 1960, was a prominent pitcher who made a significant impact on Major League Baseball during his career from 1980 to 1997. Valenzuela burst onto the scene with the Los Angeles Dodgers, captivating fans with his unique pitching style, which included a distinctive windup and the effective use of a screwball. His rookie season in 1981 was nothing short of sensational, leading to his winning the Rookie of the Year and the TSN Rookie Pitcher of the Year awards, as well as the prestigious Cy Young Award. Valenzuela's success helped usher in an era of increased interest in baseball, particularly among Hispanic fans, and he became an iconic figure in Los Angeles. Throughout his career, Valenzuela recorded a win-loss record of 173-153 and an earned run average (ERA) of 3.54, solidifying his status as one of the era's top pitchers. He accumulated 2,074 strikeouts and contributed 2 saves, showcasing his ability to dominate hitters. Valenzuela was selected as an All-Star six times, reflecting his consistent performance and popularity within the sport. His influence lingered well beyond his playing days, as he opened doors for future generations of Latin American players in the league, leaving a lasting legacy in the history of baseball.

Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
173 153 453 424 113 31 2 2930.0 2718 1154 226 1151 2074 3.54 0

Career ERA 3.54 vs. league average 4.04 across their career seasons — 12.2% 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
1980 LAD NL 2 0 10 0 0 0 1 17.7 8 0 5 16 0.00 3.84 (+100%) -
1981 LAD NL 13 7 25 25 11 8 0 192.3 140 53 61 180 2.48 3.58 (+31%) -
1982 LAD NL 19 13 37 37 18 4 0 285.0 247 91 83 199 2.87 3.86 (+26%) -
1983 LAD NL 15 10 35 35 9 4 0 257.0 245 107 99 189 3.75 3.87 (+3%) -
1984 LAD NL 12 17 34 34 12 2 0 261.0 218 88 106 240 3.03 3.81 (+20%) -
1985 LAD NL 17 10 35 35 14 5 0 272.3 211 74 101 208 2.45 3.89 (+37%) -
1986 LAD NL 21 11 34 34 20 3 0 269.3 226 94 85 242 3.14 3.97 (+21%) -
1987 LAD NL 14 14 34 34 12 1 0 251.0 254 111 124 190 3.98 4.29 (+7%) -
1988 LAD NL 5 8 23 22 3 0 1 142.3 142 67 76 64 4.24 3.73 (-13%) -
1989 LAD NL 10 13 31 31 3 0 0 196.7 185 75 98 116 3.43 3.71 (+8%) -
1990 LAD NL 13 13 33 33 5 2 0 204.0 223 104 77 115 4.59 3.86 (-19%) -
1991 LAA AL 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 6.7 14 9 3 5 12.15 — -
1993 BAL AL 8 10 32 31 5 2 0 178.7 179 98 79 78 4.94 4.19 (-18%) -2908.0
1994 PHI NL 1 2 8 7 0 0 0 45.0 42 15 7 19 3.00 4.51 (+34%) -627.5
1995 SDP NL 8 3 29 15 0 0 0 90.3 101 50 34 57 4.98 4.45 (-12%) -
1996 SDP NL 13 8 33 31 0 0 0 171.7 177 69 67 95 3.62 4.61 (+22%) -
1997 SDP NL 2 8 13 13 1 0 0 66.3 84 35 32 51 4.75 4.39 (-8%) -
1997 STL NL 0 4 5 5 0 0 0 22.7 22 14 14 10 5.56 4.39 (-27%) -

Career Batting Statistics

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
474 936 56 187 26 1 10 84 0 8 145 0.200 0.205 0.262 0.467 -5141.2

Career AVG .200 vs. league average .261 across their career seasons — 23.5% below league average.

Career OBP .205 vs. league average .328 across their career seasons — 37.4% below league average.

Career SLG .262 vs. league average .397 across their career seasons — 34.0% below league average.

Career OPS 0.467 vs. league average 0.724 across their career seasons — 35.5% 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
1980 LAD NL 10 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 — — — — 0.0
1981 LAD NL 25 64 3 16 0 1 0 7 0 1 9 0.250 .255 (-2%) .320 (-18%) .368 (-24%) .688 (-21%) -223.2
1982 LAD NL 38 95 6 16 0 0 1 9 0 3 16 0.168 .261 (-36%) .324 (-41%) .388 (-49%) .712 (-45%) -743.4
1983 LAD NL 36 91 5 17 3 0 1 9 0 1 23 0.187 .260 (-28%) .324 (-40%) .389 (-35%) .714 (-38%) -596.5
1984 LAD NL 35 79 5 15 3 0 3 7 0 1 11 0.190 .259 (-27%) .322 (-38%) .384 (-11%) .707 (-23%) -333.3
1985 LAD NL 35 97 7 21 2 0 1 7 0 0 9 0.216 .257 (-16%) .323 (-34%) .390 (-31%) .714 (-32%) -547.5
1986 LAD NL 39 109 5 24 4 0 0 7 0 0 11 0.220 .257 (-15%) .325 (-33%) .395 (-35%) .720 (-34%) -654.5
1987 LAD NL 38 92 4 13 1 0 1 8 0 0 11 0.141 .262 (-46%) .331 (-57%) .415 (-56%) .746 (-56%) -908.9
1988 LAD NL 23 44 2 8 2 0 0 1 0 1 5 0.182 — — — — 0.0
1989 LAD NL 34 66 3 12 2 0 0 6 0 0 11 0.182 .254 (-28%) .319 (-43%) .375 (-43%) .694 (-43%) -472.6
1990 LAD NL 35 69 8 21 5 0 1 11 0 1 12 0.304 .257 (+18%) .324 (-5%) .385 (+9%) .710 (+3%) 1.7
1991 LAA AL 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1993 BAL AL 32 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1994 PHI NL 8 12 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.250 — — — — 0.0
1995 SDP NL 29 32 3 8 1 0 2 8 0 0 6 0.250 — — — — 0.0
1996 SDP NL 36 63 4 9 2 0 0 2 0 0 15 0.143 .269 (-47%) .340 (-58%) .426 (-59%) .767 (-59%) -663.1
1997 SDP NL 14 17 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 0.176 — — — — 0.0
1997 STL NL 5 5 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.200 — — — — 0.0

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
9 20 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 1 0.050

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1996 NLDS2 SDN 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1985 NLCS LAN 2 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.200
1983 NLCS LAN 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.000
1981 NLCS LAN 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.000
1981 NWDIV LAN 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000
1981 WS LAN 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.000

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
5 1 9 8 0 63.7 47 14 31 44 1.98

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1996 NLDS2 SDN 0 0 1 0 0 0.7 0 0 2 0 0.00
1985 NLCS LAN 1 0 2 2 0 14.3 11 3 10 13 1.88
1983 NLCS LAN 1 0 1 1 0 8.0 7 1 4 5 1.12
1981 NLCS LAN 1 1 2 2 0 14.7 10 4 5 10 2.45
1981 NWDIV LAN 1 0 2 2 0 17.0 10 2 3 10 1.06
1981 WS LAN 1 0 1 1 0 9.0 9 4 7 6 4.00

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
1B 1 0 2 0 0 0
OF 1 0 0 0 0 0
P 453 424 200 586 30 31

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1980 LAN P 10 0 0 3 0 1
1981 LAN P 25 25 12 33 3 2
1982 LAN OF 1 0 0 0 0 0
1982 LAN P 37 37 20 64 2 4
1983 LAN P 35 35 20 54 2 5
1984 LAN P 34 34 21 48 2 4
1985 LAN P 35 35 18 45 0 0
1986 LAN P 34 34 29 47 1 2
1987 LAN P 34 34 15 53 4 2
1988 LAN P 23 22 6 38 1 2
1989 LAN 1B 1 0 2 0 0 0
1989 LAN P 31 31 18 35 5 4
1990 LAN P 33 33 5 31 3 2
1991 CAL P 2 2 0 1 0 0
1993 BAL P 32 31 11 37 4 1
1994 PHI P 8 7 2 8 0 0
1995 SDN P 29 15 7 27 0 2
1996 SDN P 33 31 11 38 1 0
1997 SDN P 13 13 4 16 1 0
1997 SLN P 5 5 1 8 1 0

Career Games by Position

Position Games
Pitcher 453
First Base 1
Left Field 1
Right Field 1

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
1993 Pitcher of the Month July
1990 Player of the Week Week of 1990-06-30
1986 Gold Glove P
1986 Player of the Week Week of 1986-05-02
1986 Player of the Week Week of 1986-05-23
1986 TSN All-Star LHP
1985 Pitcher of the Month April
1985 Pitcher of the Month July
1983 Silver Slugger P
1981 Cy Young Award
1981 Pitcher of the Month April
1981 Player of the Week Week of 1981-04-10
1981 Player of the Week Week of 1981-09-04
1981 Rookie of the Year
1981 Silver Slugger P
1981 TSN All-Star LHP
1981 TSN Major League Player of the Year
1981 TSN Pitcher of the Year
1981 TSN Rookie Pitcher of the Year

Salary History

Year Team League Salary
1997 SDN NL $1,650,000
1996 SDN NL $1,000,000
1995 SDN NL $425,000
1994 SDN NL $275,000
1993 BAL AL $650,000
1991 CAL AL $300,000
1990 LAN NL $2,000,000
1989 LAN NL $1,850,000
1988 LAN NL $2,050,000
1987 LAN NL $1,850,000
1986 LAN NL $1,600,000
1985 LAN NL $1,200,000
Total Career Earnings $14,850,000

Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
1986 Cy Young Award NL 2nd 88.0 120 9
1986 Most Valuable Player NL 19th 4.0 336 0
1985 Cy Young Award NL 5th 4.0 120 0
1985 Most Valuable Player NL 23th 1.0 336 0
1982 Cy Young Award NL 3rd 25.0 120 1
1982 Most Valuable Player NL 21th 3.0 336 0
1981 Cy Young Award NL 1st 70.0 120 8
1981 Most Valuable Player NL 5th 90.0 336 1
1981 Rookie of the Year NL 1st 107.0 120 17