With his 4th inning strikeout of Hunter Feduccia last night, Kevin Gausman became the 91st pitcher in major league history to record 2,000 strikeouts (and finished the night in 90th place given that Andy Benes had 2,000 on the nose). Gausman is just the 10th among those 91 to have played for the Blue Jays (of 539 players who have taken the mound for the Jays).
Even in that rarified air however, Gausman holds a particular distinction: he’s the only pitcher to record his 2000th strikeout for the Blue Jays. To get a better sense of these pitchers and their impact for the Blue Jays franchise, let’s split out their strikeouts for the Jays and sort by that:
It turns out there’s a few distinct categories here. The first is future Hall of Fame pitchers who came to Toronto at the tail end of their career, with both the 2,000 strikeout milestone and their best years well in the rearview mirror such that they’re mostly footnotes for Blue Jays purposes. A 48-year old Phil Niekro made three starts for the Jays in August 1987 as a desperation stopgap before Pat Gillick was able to acquire Mike Flanagan as a real upgrade. His 2,000th strikeout nearly pre-dated the Blue Jays franchise, occurring beforehand in April 1978.
Max Scherzer has had a few moments, but has mostly vacillated between injured and ineffective as a Blue Jay. His 2,000th strikeout likewise came well beforehand, back in mid-2017. Jack Morris at least had one solid season left in him before the bottom fell out in 1993, but is best remembered for achievements elsewhere. He was less than a year removed from the 2,000K milestone in April 1991.
The next grouping is a couple of pitchers who were in their primes with the Jays, but were short term rentals and went on record their 2,000th strikeouts later. David Price was electric for the Jays in the 2015 playoff surge, and just made it across the 2,000 mark as his career tailed off. David Cone was so good for the Jays in 1992 that they got him again in 1995 (and they should have retained him as a free agent instead of Dave Stewart). But both those stints together amounted to just 25 games pitched.
At the other end, Roy Halladay stand almost singularly in Blue Jays history. But his 2,000th strikeout came with Philadelphia as he faded in 2012. Then there’s Rogers Clemens, who is a unicorn-ish mix of the first two groups: a Hall of Fame calibre pitcher who was with the Jays during his prime (or second prime, anyway) for a relatively short period such that he’s most remembered for what he did with other teams and off the diamond.
That leaves a group of three into which Gausman best fits. Like Gausman, A.J. Burnett came to the Jays as a high profile free agent, came into his own later such that the second half of his career was better (especially from a strikeout perspective), and had some very good years for the Blue Jays that represent a significant part of his career. Even had he not opted out though, his 2,000th strikeout only came in later 2013.
David Wells doesn’t quite fit that profile, and wasn’t so much a strikeout pitcher as most others mentioned here, just pitched forever. But like Gausman about 40% of his strikeouts came with the Jays, and when all is said and done Toronto will represent the most significant part of a career spanning many stops. His 2,000th strikeout came in early 2005, more than four year after departing the Jays the second time, and almost 18 years after first breaking in with them. His first strikeout came while the SkyDome was still being built and by the time of the 2,000 it was the Rogers Centre.
One final note of interest: while (very unlikely), Gausman has at least an outside shot at 3,000 strikeouts. Though he’s first the Blue Jay to record a 2,000th strikeout with the Jays, even should he stay the Jays and hit that milestone, he will not the first to hit 3,000 with them. That was Clemens, when he struck out Randy Winn to finish off the side in the 3rd inning on July 5, 1998.
Anthony Edwards
Keldon Johnson
