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Ben McDonald

Larry Benard McDonald

Position: Pitcher
Bats: Right, Throws: Right
Height: 6' 7", Weight: 212 lb.

Born: November 24, 1967 in Baton Rouge, LA
High School: Denham Springs HS (Denham Springs, LA)
School: Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, LA)
Drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1st round (1st pick) of the 1989 amateur draft.
Signed August 19, 1989. (All Transactions)
Debut: September 6, 1989 (Age 21)
Teams (by GP): Orioles/Brewers 1989-1997
Agents: Scott Boras, previously: Larry McDonald [*]
Final Game: July 16, 1997 (Age 29)
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Fine Details  · Last updated Feb 12, 2013 9:17AM
All-Time Rank (among pitchers): #605. Ian Kennedy… #606. Armando Benitez… #607. Bob Turley… #608. BEN MCDONALD… #609. Red Ehret… #610. Tim Burke… #611. C.J. Wilson… 

Standard Pitching

More Stats

Year Age Tm Lg W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF ERA+ WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB Awards
1989 21 BAL AL 1 0 1.000 8.59 6 0 2 0 0 0 7.1 8 7 7 2 4 0 3 0 1 1 33 46 1.636 9.8 2.5 4.9 3.7 0.75
1990 22 BAL AL 8 5 .615 2.43 21 15 2 3 2 0 118.2 88 36 32 9 35 0 65 0 0 5 472 157 1.037 6.7 0.7 2.7 4.9 1.86 RoY-8
1991 23 BAL AL 6 8 .429 4.84 21 21 0 1 0 0 126.1 126 71 68 16 43 2 85 1 0 3 532 82 1.338 9.0 1.1 3.1 6.1 1.98
1992 24 BAL AL 13 13 .500 4.24 35 35 0 4 2 0 227.0 213 113 107 32 74 5 158 9 2 3 958 94 1.264 8.4 1.3 2.9 6.3 2.14
1993 25 BAL AL 13 14 .481 3.39 34 34 0 7 1 0 220.1 185 92 83 17 86 4 171 5 1 7 914 132 1.230 7.6 0.7 3.5 7.0 1.99
1994 26 BAL AL 14 7 .667 4.06 24 24 0 5 1 0 157.1 151 75 71 14 54 2 94 2 1 3 655 123 1.303 8.6 0.8 3.1 5.4 1.74
1995 27 BAL AL 3 6 .333 4.16 14 13 1 1 0 0 80.0 67 40 37 10 38 3 62 3 2 4 342 115 1.313 7.5 1.1 4.3 7.0 1.63
1996 28 MIL AL 12 10 .545 3.90 35 35 0 2 0 0 221.1 228 104 96 25 67 0 146 6 0 4 951 133 1.333 9.3 1.0 2.7 5.9 2.18
1997 29 MIL AL 8 7 .533 4.06 21 21 0 1 0 0 133.0 120 68 60 13 36 2 110 5 0 3 551 115 1.173 8.1 0.9 2.4 7.4 3.06
9 Yrs 78 70 .527 3.91 211 198 5 24 6 0 1291.1 1186 606 561 138 437 18 894 31 7 33 5408 115 1.257 8.3 1.0 3.0 6.2 2.05
162 Game Avg. 13 12 .527 3.91 35 33 1 4 1 0 215 197 101 93 23 73 3 149 5 1 5 899 115 1.257 8.3 1.0 3.0 6.2 2.05
BAL (7 yrs) 58 53 .523 3.89 155 142 5 21 6 0 937.0 838 434 405 100 334 16 638 20 7 26 3906 111 1.251 8.0 1.0 3.2 6.1 1.91
MIL (2 yrs) 20 17 .541 3.96 56 56 0 3 0 0 354.1 348 172 156 38 103 2 256 11 0 7 1502 126 1.273 8.8 1.0 2.6 6.5 2.49

Player Value--Pitchers

WAR Explained (v2.1): 8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Starter, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Repl
Year Age Tm Lg IP G GS R RA9 RA9opp RA9def RA9role PPFp RA9avg RAA WAA gmLI WAAadj WAR RAR waaWL% 162WL% Salary Awards
1989 21 BAL AL 7.1 6 0 7 8.59 4.18 0.12 -0.32 95.9 3.58 -4 -0.4 .7 0.1 -0.3 -3 .431 .497
1990 22 BAL AL 118.2 21 15 36 2.73 4.43 0.23 0.12 95.6 4.13 19 2.2 .7 -0.1 3.2 32 .605 .514 $241,667 RoY-8
1991 23 BAL AL 126.1 21 21 71 5.06 4.58 0.23 0.17 95.3 4.30 -11 -1.1 -0.1 0.0 4 .449 .493 $491,667
1992 24 BAL AL 227.0 35 35 113 4.48 4.40 0.08 0.15 100.8 4.50 1 0.1 -0.1 2.0 26 .503 .501 $500,000
1993 25 BAL AL 220.1 34 34 92 3.76 4.71 0.42 0.17 103.3 4.61 23 2.4 -0.1 4.2 48 .570 .515 $1,250,000
1994 26 BAL AL 157.1 24 24 75 4.29 5.22 0.50 0.19 102.9 5.04 13 1.2 -0.1 2.5 28 .551 .508 $2,675,000
1995 27 BAL AL 80.0 14 13 40 4.50 5.11 0.30 0.17 101.9 5.07 5 0.5 .4 -0.1 1.1 14 .536 .503 $4,500,000
1996 28 MIL AL 221.1 35 35 104 4.23 5.37 0.05 0.20 103.7 5.73 34 3.2 -0.1 5.1 67 .593 .520 $2,000,000
1997 29 MIL AL 133.0 21 21 68 4.60 4.92 0.30 0.18 103.2 4.95 5 0.4 -0.1 1.5 22 .521 .503 $5,000,000
9 Seasons 1291.1 211 198 606 4.22 4.83 0.25 0.17 101.3 4.82 84 8.6 .7 -0.8 19.3 237 .541 .506 $16,658,334
BAL (7 yrs) 937.0 155 142 434 4.17 4.70 0.29 0.16 100.4 4.58 46 4.9 .7 -0.6 12.7 147 .532 .504 $9,658,334
MIL (2 yrs) 354.1 56 56 172 4.37 5.20 0.14 0.20 103.5 5.44 38 3.7 -0.2 6.6 90 .566 .511 $7,000,000

Standard Batting

More Stats

Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB Pos Awards
1989 21 BAL AL 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 /1
1990 22 BAL AL 21 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 RoY-8
1991 23 BAL AL 21 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
1992 24 BAL AL 35 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
1993 25 BAL AL 34 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
1994 26 BAL AL 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
1995 27 BAL AL 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
1996 28 MIL AL 35 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
1997 29 MIL AL 21 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
9 Yrs 211 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 0 0 0 0 0 0
162 Game Avg. 162 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 0 0 0 0 0 0
BAL (7 yrs) 155 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
MIL (2 yrs) 56 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 0 0 0 0 0 0

Player Value--Batters

WAR Explained (v2.1): 8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Starter, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Repl
Year Age Tm Lg G PA Rbat Rbaser Rdp Rfield Rpos RAA WAA Rrep RAR WAR waaWL% 162WL% oWAR dWAR oRAR Salary Pos Awards
1989 21 BAL AL 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.0 0 /1
1990 22 BAL AL 21 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.0 0 $241,667 1 RoY-8
1991 23 BAL AL 21 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.0 0 $491,667 1
1992 24 BAL AL 35 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.0 0 $500,000 1
1993 25 BAL AL 34 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.0 0 $1,250,000 1
1994 26 BAL AL 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.0 0 $2,675,000 1
1995 27 BAL AL 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.0 0 $4,500,000 1
1996 28 MIL AL 35 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.1 0 $2,000,000 1
1997 29 MIL AL 21 1 -0 0 0 0 0 -0 -0.0 0 -0 0.0 .499 .500 0.0 0.0 -0 $5,000,000 1
9 Seasons 211 1 -0 0 0 0 0 -0 -0.0 0 -0 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.2 -0 $16,658,334
BAL (7 yrs) 155 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.1 0 $9,658,334
MIL (2 yrs) 56 1 -0 0 0 0 0 -0 -0.0 0 -0 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.1 -0 $7,000,000

Standard Fielding

More Stats

Year Tm Lg Age Pos G GS CG Inn Ch PO A E DP Fld% RF/9 RF/G lgFld% lgRF9 lgRFG SB CS CS% lgCS% PO Awards
1989 BAL AL 21 P 6 0 0 7.1 2 0 2 0 0 1.000 2.45 0.33 .960 1.84 1.85 1 0 0% 31% 0
1990 BAL AL 22 P 21 15 3 118.2 30 15 14 1 1 .967 2.20 1.38 .953 1.78 1.76 10 2 17% 34% 2 RoY-8
1991 BAL AL 23 P 21 21 1 126.1 20 12 8 0 1 1.000 1.42 0.95 .956 1.80 1.80 14 3 18% 34% 0
1992 BAL AL 24 P 35 35 4 227.0 51 22 29 0 2 1.000 2.02 1.46 .953 1.72 1.71 20 8 29% 34% 0
1993 BAL AL 25 P 34 34 7 220.1 59 15 42 2 2 .966 2.33 1.68 .953 1.79 1.78 19 11 37% 36% 2
1994 BAL AL 26 P 24 24 5 157.1 32 7 25 0 1 1.000 1.83 1.33 .956 1.72 1.71 14 8 36% 31% 1
1995 BAL AL 27 P 14 13 1 80.0 19 5 13 1 0 .947 2.02 1.29 .960 1.79 1.77 9 5 36% 31% 0
1996 MIL AL 28 P 35 35 2 221.1 49 13 30 6 3 .878 1.75 1.23 .960 1.77 1.76 18 7 28% 30% 2
1997 MIL AL 29 P 21 21 1 133.0 23 6 16 1 3 .957 1.49 1.05 .955 1.71 1.69 20 4 17% 33% 0
9 Seasons P 211 198 24 1291.1 285 95 179 11 13 .961 1.91 1.30 .955 1.76 1.75 125 48 28% 33% 7
9 Seasons TOT 211 198 24 1291.1 285 95 179 11 13 .961 1.91 1.30 .955 1.76 1.75 125 48 28% 33% 7
Note: Fielding stats are a combination of official records and RetroSheet records. Both are likely to have substantial errors and will not match perfectly.
View Complete Notes on Fielding Data
Leagues historically made no effort to balance team, league, and player fielding stats. Since 1990 or so, computers have made this feasible, but prior to that there are hundreds or thousands of discrepancies each year in games played (even whether a player played a position), putouts, assists, double plays and errors.
  • Pre-1945 SB & CS data for catchers is estimated from catcher assists, games started and opposition stolen bases.
  • From 1945 on SB, CS, Pickoff, & WP data for catchers and pitchers is taken from play-by-play accounts in the retrosheet files. There are several hundred games without pbp from 1945 to 1973 and for those we may not have any data.
  • CG & GS come from the retrosheet data and should be complete and pretty accurate from 1916 on.
  • Innings played (like SB and CS) come from the retrosheet play-by-play data and should be considered mostly complete from 1945 to 1973 and complete from then on.
  • Stats (PO,A,G, etc) for LF-CF-RF positions (since 1916) is taken from play-by-play or box score data as available.
  • Stats (PO,A,G,etc) for C,P,1B,2B,3B,SS,OF positions is taken from the official reported totals and may have been corrected at various times since their publication.
  • For detailed information on which games retrosheet is missing play-by-play from 1945 to 1973, please see their most wanted games list
  • For detailed information on the availability of data on this site by year, see our data coverage page

Appearances on Leader Boards, Awards, and Honors

Stats are Year-Value-Rank · Glossary

WAR for Pitchers† s c a p y
1996 AL  5.1 (9th)

Earned Run Average s c a p y
1996 AL  3.90 (9th)

Wins s c a p y
1994 AL  14 (4th)

Win-Loss % s c a p y
1994 AL  .667 (9th)

Walks & Hits per IP s c a p y
1993 AL  1.230 (9th)
1996 AL  1.333 (10th)

Hits per 9 IP s c a p y
1993 AL  7.557 (5th)
Career  8.266 (212th)

Strikeouts per 9 IP s c a p y
1992 AL  6.264 (8th)
1993 AL  6.985 (8th)
Career  6.231 (206th)

Strikeouts s c a p y
1993 AL  171 (9th)

Games Started s c a p y
1992 AL  35 (3rd)
1993 AL  34 (6th)
1996 AL  35 (2nd)

Complete Games s c a p y
1993 AL  7 (6th)
1994 AL  5 (8th)

Shutouts s c a p y
1990 AL  2 (6th)
1992 AL  2 (8th)
1993 AL  1 (10th)

Home Runs s c a p y
1992 AL  32 (2nd)

Bases on Balls s c a p y
1993 AL  86 (8th)

Home Runs per 9 IP s c a p y
1993 AL  0.694 (9th)

Losses s c a p y
1993 AL  14 (4th)

Earned Runs s c a p y
1992 AL  107 (3rd)

Hit By Pitch s c a p y
1992 AL  9 (6th)

Adjusted ERA+ s c a p y
1996 AL  133 (8th)
Career  115 (199th)

Adj. Pitching Runs s c a p y
1996 AL  31 (9th)

Adj. Pitching Wins s c a p y
1996 AL  2.9 (9th)

Base-Out Runs Saved (RE24)† s c a p y
Career  94.17 (161st)

Win Probability Added (WPA)† s c a p y
Career  8.5 (236th)

Sit. Wins Saved (WPA/LI)† s c a p y
1990 AL  2.0 (10th)
1993 AL  3.2 (6th)
1994 AL  2.3 (9th)
1996 AL  2.7 (8th)
Career  10.8 (132nd)

Base-Out Wins Saved (REW)† s c a p y
Career  9.2 (171st)

Putouts as P s c a p y
1992 AL  22 (4th)

Errors Committed as P s c a p y
1996 AL  6 (1st)

Range Factor/Game as P s c a p y
1993 AL  1.68 (5th)

Fielding % as P s c a p y
1992 AL  1.000 (1st)
1994 AL  1.000 (1st)


† Statistics like WPA, REW and RE24 are computed from play-by-play data which is only complete from 1974 to the present. From 1945-1973, the data is incomplete, though for most seasons only less than 20 games per season total are missing. Please see our page on data coverage for a full view of the data used to create these leaderboards.

Hall Of Fame Statistics

Player rank in (·)

Gray InkPitching - 27 (874), Average HOFer ≈ 185
Hall of Fame StandardsPitching - 10 (845), Average HOFer ≈ 50
JAWS Starting Pitcher (437th), 19.3 career WAR/19.6 7yr-peak WAR/19.4 JAWS
Average HOF P (out of 57) = 68.1 career WAR/47.7 7yr-peak WAR/57.9 JAWS

Similarity Scores

Explanation of Similarity Scores
Similar Pitchers 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Compare Stats to Similars
  1. Jose Guzman (976)
  2. Chuck Dobson (971)
  3. Oil Can Boyd (967)
  4. Larry Christenson (962)
  5. Ernie Broglio (957)
  6. Chad Billingsley (956)
  7. David Palmer (955)
  8. Ubaldo Jimenez (953)
  9. Ed Figueroa (952)
  10. Danny Cox (952)
Most Similar by Ages 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Hold mouse over #'s to see names
  1. Anibal Sanchez (990)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  2. Joe Presko (991)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  3. Mike LaCoss (982)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  4. Johnny Cueto (991)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  5. Josh Beckett (981)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  6. Jim Lonborg (978)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  7. Brad Penny (974)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  8. Kevin Brown (976)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
* - Signifies Hall of Famer

Transactions

The transaction information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. We attempt to update transactions throughout the season.

Salaries

 Salaries may not be complete (especially pre-1985) and may not include some earned bonuses
Year Age Team Salary Sources Notes/Other Sources
199022Baltimore Orioles$241,667*
199123Baltimore Orioles$491,6671994 Joint Exhibit 1Incl $116,667 signing bon., $50,000 earned bonus
199224Baltimore Orioles$500,0001994 Joint Exhibit 1Includes $145,000 earned bonus
199325Baltimore Orioles$1,250,0001996 Joint Exhibit 1Includes $25,000 earned bonus
199426Baltimore Orioles$2,675,0001996 Joint Exhibit 1
199527Baltimore Orioles$4,500,0001996 Joint Exhibit 1Arbitratin win; $3,200,000 offer
199628Milwaukee Brewers$2,000,0001997 Joint Exhibit 1Includes $500,000 signing bonus
199729Milwaukee Brewers$5,000,0001997 AP survey
Career to date (may be incomplete)$16,658,334
Disputed Salaries
*1990 - $261,667 - 11/21/90 NYT -
Primary salary Data (about) courtesy Doug Pappas, and the Society for American Baseball Research.
Additional 1915-1969 salaries researched via Baseball Hall of Fame contract archives by Dr. Michael Haupert of UW-LaCrosse.
Salaries for mid-season call-ups or traded players may not be shown.
Salaries converted to alternate years using Consumer Price Index (CPI) data courtesty of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Board.

Other Resources & Links

Error?     Compare     Search SABR's Baseball Index     Other Links@google.com     Baseball Library     Baseball-Almanac.com     Retrosheet     The Baseball Cube     WahooSam.com     WhatIfSports: Ben McDonald    

Viewed 31,766 times through February 12, 2013.
Name and misspellings: Larry Ben Benard benji macdonald McDonald

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