re: Will there ever be a greater pitcher than Nolan Ryan in the modern era?

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Nolan Ryan is the most overrated pitcher of all time.

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He's become underrated because so many people really think this

Best in the modern era, no. That's not even a good troll

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Now Kershaw hasn't quite matched Ryan's whole career and I doubt he ever catches his longevity and counting stats, but on a per-game basis, Kershaw is clearly better.

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that's how I have Kershaw and Baumgartner in my top 10.

I am cool with having guys in the top group with short careers or early in the career. Hence Koufax, who blew out his elbow at age 30 and took several years to learn to control his breaking ball.

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This thread is a non starter since Nolan Ryan isn't the best pitcher of the modern era to begin with

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I do think its cool that the Mets had him on the team with Seaver and Koosman and didn't let him do much because he had no control yet.

Kind of the opposite of Gossage, who struggled with control as a starter with the Chi White Sox and found himself after he jumped to another team where he became a reliever.

Along with those already mentioned, Tom Seaver, a contemporary and early teammate of Ryan's, was better. I would nominate Jim Palmer, also. Ryan flat out walked too many batters.

Nolan Ryan was maybe the greatest thrower of all time. But there is more to pitching than painting the corners with fastballs.

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He's become underrated because so many people really

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I agree, even though I lmao at the OP. He may be hitting Jeter territory in this respect. It became so cool to hate on Jeter--and I was guilty of this myself--mainly because of how much better ARod and for a short time Nomar were, that he became so overrated, he's underrated. He's the poster boy of this.

And there were so many Texans who emotionally put Ryan on this pedestal, that we take it upon ourselves to shame them( and they can't really be taken seriously), sometimes we gloss over just how good Ryan was. He's not top 5 or probably even 10, but he was damn good for an incredibly long time. That has value. Let's say you're the Yankees, who will almost always be competitive. Would you take Sandy Koufak's 4-5 years of dominance or 27 years of Nolan Ryan?

All-time leader in Ks and fewest H/9. That certainly speaks highly. Unfortunately, he's also the all-time leader in BBs, with an incredible 52% more than the next most.

Ryan was never willing to adjust his philosophy of avoiding contact at all costs.

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Greg Maddux Roger Clemens Pedro Martinez Randy Johnson

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Any of these baws have their own brand of meat sold at the grocery store?

Forget the modern era Nolan Ryan wasn't even they best pitcher in his own era.

Tom Seaver & Steve Carlton >>>> Nolan Ryan.

Apparently, they didn't record pitch counts until 1988, which is pretty hard to believe. Surely teams were counting long before then.

Ryan is fifth all-time in batters faced, just behind Phil Niekro.

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HAHAHAHA Nolan Ryan is like 30 games over 500 in his career.

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hahahahaha you think wins and losses are a good way to measure pitchers.