Once the umpires instituted the new larger strike zones in 1963 and the mound was raised, Koufax became the most dominant pitcher on the planet.
In addition to the help he received from his park and the era, many people don’t even remember that before Koufax became a superhuman strikeout machine, he was actually a below-average pitcher.
Jayson Stark writes in his book, “The Stark Truth,” that Koufax is the most overrated left-handed pitcher of all-time. He focuses primarily on his first six seasons, what Stark refers to as The Other Half of Koufax's Career.
I don't want to penalize Koufax too much for his performance early on. However, Koufax did struggle with his control more than about any pitcher in the league. He constantly ranked among the league leaders in walks.
During his first six seasons, only one other pitcher in all of baseball who pitched as many innings as Koufax had a higher ERA than Koufax (Chuck Stobbs, 4.28). Koufax’s numbers were that of a struggling lefty trying to find his way. He was 36-40 with a 4.10 ERA and allowed close to 13 base runners per nine innings, including over five walks per game.
In fact, Koufax nearly quit the game following the 1960 season. He had gone just 8-13 with a 3.91 ERA, while walking 100 batters in just 175 innings pitched.
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