Corey Kluber
The two-time Cy Young winner's career tells the story of elite dominance followed by painful decline. Kluber's peak from 2014-2018 with Cleveland was extraordinary — that 2017 season stands as one of the decade's best pitching performances, with his 2.25 ERA nearly two runs better than league average.
But injuries derailed everything after 2018. The man who once struck out 265 batters while walking just 52 became a shell of himself, posting a 5.07 ERA over his final four seasons. His career strikeout rate of 9.5 per nine innings doesn't capture how dominant he was when healthy.
Kluber's legacy rests on those Cleveland years when his signature cutter and devastating slider made him virtually unhittable. That 2017 Cy Young season, where he led the Indians to within one game of a World Series title, represents the peak of modern power pitching before his arm betrayed him.
Career · Pitching
13 seasons| Year | Team | G | IP | W | L | ERA | ERA+ | SO | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | CLE | 3 | 4.3 | 0 | 0 | 8.31 | 47 | 5 | 2.077 |
| 2012 | CLE | 12 | 63.0 | 2 | 5 | 5.14 | 78 | 54 | 1.492 |
| 2013 | CLE | 26 | 147.3 | 11 | 5 | 3.85 | 100 | 136 | 1.262 |
| 2014 | CLE | 34 | 235.7 | 18 | 9 | 2.44 | 153 | 269 | 1.095 |
| 2015 | CLE | 32 | 222.0 | 9 | 16 | 3.49 | 113 | 245 | 1.054 |
| 2016 | CLE | 32 | 215.0 | 18 | 9 | 3.14 | 133 | 227 | 1.056 |
| 2017 | CLE | 29 | 203.7 | 18 | 4 | 2.25 | 193 | 265 | 0.869 |
| 2018 | CLE | 33 | 215.0 | 20 | 7 | 2.89 | 143 | 222 | 0.991 |
| 2019 | CLE | 7 | 35.7 | 2 | 3 | 5.80 | 77 | 38 | 1.654 |
| 2020 | TEX | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | — | 1 | 1.000 |
| 2021 | NYY | 16 | 80.0 | 5 | 3 | 3.83 | 111 | 82 | 1.338 |
| 2022 | TB | 31 | 164.0 | 10 | 10 | 4.34 | 91 | 139 | 1.213 |
| 2023 | BOS | 15 | 55.0 | 3 | 6 | 7.04 | 62 | 42 | 1.636 |
| Career | 271 | 1641.7 | 116 | 77 | — | — | 1725 | — | |
Matchups, projections, comps — grounded in Lahman, Retrosheet, and Statcast.