What years did John Axford play?

John Axford played in Major League Baseball from 2009 to 2021.

Was John Axford a pitcher?

Yes. John Axford pitched in the major leagues, recording 38 wins and 589 strikeouts.

How many home runs did John Axford hit?

John Axford hit 0 career home runs.

What was John Axford's career batting average?

John Axford batted .000 over his career, with 0 hits in 1 at bats.

What was John Axford's career ERA?

John Axford finished with a 3.90 career ERA, going 38-34 with 589 strikeouts.

How many strikeouts did John Axford have?

John Axford recorded 589 career strikeouts.

John Axford

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (2009-2021)

John Axford was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 2009 to 2021 for 8 teams, including the Milwaukee Brewers, a span of 13 seasons. Across 544 career appearances, he went 38-34 with a 3.90 ERA, 589 strikeouts, and 144 saves. John Axford was a Reliever of the Year. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 4339.5.

W (Wins):: Games credited to a pitcher whose team took a lead it never surrendered while he was the pitcher of record.
ERA (Earned Run Average):: Earned runs allowed per nine innings pitched: (ER × 9) ÷ IP. The primary measure of pitching effectiveness.
SO (Strikeouts):: For a batter, times retired on a third strike; for a pitcher, batters retired on a third strike.
WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched):: Baserunners allowed per inning: (BB + H) ÷ IP. Under 1.00 is elite.

Data updated September 9, 2026

W–L 38–34

ERA 3.90

WHIP 1.42

SO 589

Pitcher PIV 4339.5

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'5" / 234 lb
Born: 4/1/1983 in Simcoe, ON, CAN
MLB Debut: 2009-09-15
Last Game: 2021-08-02
Awards: Reliever of the Year

Full name: John Berton Axford

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Career Pitching Statistics

John Axford — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
38	34	544	1	0	0	144	525.7	485	228	50	261	589	3.90	4339.5

Career ERA 3.90 vs. league average 4.08 across their career seasons — near league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

John Axford Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
2009	MIL	NL	0	0	7	0	1	7.7	5	3	6	9	3.52	—	0.0
2010	MIL	NL	8	2	50	0	24	58.0	42	16	27	76	2.48	4.08 (+39%)	2859.8
2011	MIL	NL	2	2	74	0	46	73.7	59	16	25	86	1.95	3.94 (+50%)	2856.5
2012	MIL	NL	5	8	75	0	35	69.3	61	36	39	93	4.67	4.01 (-16%)	-80.5
2013	MIL	NL	6	7	62	0	0	54.7	62	27	23	54	4.45	3.87 (-15%)	-1232.6
2013	SLN	NL	1	0	13	0	0	10.3	11	2	3	11	1.74	3.87 (+55%)	462.2
2014	CLE	AL	2	3	49	0	10	43.7	34	19	30	51	3.92	3.74 (-5%)	-1060.8
2014	PIT	NL	0	1	13	0	0	11.0	9	5	6	12	4.09	3.74 (-9%)	242.8
2015	COL	NL	4	5	60	0	25	55.7	56	26	32	62	4.20	3.96 (-6%)	558.5
2016	OAK	AL	6	4	68	0	3	65.7	65	29	30	60	3.97	4.19 (+5%)	291.7
2017	OAK	AL	0	1	22	0	0	21.0	27	15	17	21	6.43	4.36 (-48%)	-719.8
2018	TOR	AL	4	1	45	1	0	51.0	44	25	20	50	4.41	4.15 (-6%)	161.7
2018	LAN	NL	0	0	5	0	0	3.7	8	7	2	4	17.18	—	0.0
2021	MIL	NL	0	0	1	0	0	0.3	2	2	1	0	54.00	—	0.0
Career · 14 seasons			38	34	544	1	144	525.2	485	228	261	589	3.90	—	4,340

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Career Batting Statistics

John Axford — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
544	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	0

Career AVG .000 vs. league average .254 across their career seasons — 100.0% below league average.

Career OBP .000 vs. league average .321 across their career seasons — 100.0% below league average.

Career SLG .000 vs. league average .407 across their career seasons — 100.0% below league average.

Career OPS .000 vs. league average .728 across their career seasons — 100.0% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

John Axford Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
2009	MIL	NL	7	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2010	MIL	NL	50	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2011	MIL	NL	74	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2012	MIL	NL	75	1	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2013	MIL	NL	62	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2013	SLN	NL	13	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2014	CLE	AL	49	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2014	PIT	NL	13	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2015	COL	NL	60	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2016	OAK	AL	68	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2017	OAK	AL	22	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2018	TOR	AL	45	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2018	LAN	NL	5	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2021	MIL	NL	1	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 14 seasons			544	1	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

John Axford — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Playoff Batting by Year

John Axford — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AVG
2013	NLCS	SLN	2	.000
2013	NLDS1	SLN	2	.000
2013	WS	SLN	2	.000
2011	NLCS	MIL	3	.000
2011	NLDS2	MIL	3	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

John Axford — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1	0	12	0	3	12.7	7	2	6	18	1.42

Playoff Pitching by Year

John Axford — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	G	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
2013	NLCS	SLN	0	2	0	2.0	2	1	1	4	4.50
2013	NLDS1	SLN	0	2	0	1.3	0	0	2	0	0.00
2013	WS	SLN	0	2	0	2.3	0	0	1	5	0.00
2011	NLCS	MIL	0	3	2	3.0	2	0	0	4	0.00
2011	NLDS2	MIL	1	3	1	4.0	3	1	2	5	2.25

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1088 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

John Axford — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	286	1	0	0	0	0	.000
Away	258	0	0	0	0	0	—

Pitching — Home / Away

John Axford — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	286	278.2	273	124	119	298	4.00
Away	258	247.0	212	104	142	291	3.79

Last 10 Games — Pitching

John Axford — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
2021-08-02	MIL	PIT	—	0.1	2	2	2	1	0	0
2018-09-21	LAD	SDP	—	0.0	3	2	1	0	0	0
2018-09-17	LAD	COL	—	0.1	1	0	0	0	0	0
2018-08-12	LAD	COL	—	2.0	0	0	0	0	2	0
2018-08-10	LAD	COL	—	1.0	1	0	0	0	2	0
2018-08-04	LAD	HOU	—	0.1	3	6	6	2	0	0
2018-07-28	TOR	CHW	—	3.0	1	0	0	0	3	0
2018-07-24	TOR	MIN	—	1.1	2	3	3	1	1	1
2018-07-22	TOR	BAL	W	1.0	3	2	2	1	2	0
2018-07-20	TOR	BAL	W	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

John Axford — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	544	1	20	57	6	4

Season-by-Season Fielding

John Axford — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
2009	MIL	P	7	0	1	0	0	0
2010	MIL	P	50	0	4	5	0	2
2011	MIL	P	74	0	1	7	2	1
2012	MIL	P	75	0	2	4	1	0
2013	MIL	P	62	0	1	3	0	0
2013	SLN	P	13	0	0	0	0	0
2014	CLE	P	49	0	0	4	0	0
2014	PIT	P	13	0	2	2	0	0
2015	COL	P	60	0	6	8	1	1
2016	OAK	P	68	0	2	11	0	0
2017	OAK	P	22	0	1	4	0	0
2018	TOR	P	45	1	0	7	2	0
2018	LAN	P	5	0	0	2	0	0
2021	MIL	P	1	0	0	0	0	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

John Axford Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	544

Awards & Honors

John Axford — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
2011	Reliever of the Month	July
2011	Reliever of the Year Award

Salary History

John Axford — Salary History
Year	Team	League	Salary
2016	OAK	AL	$4,500,000
2015	COL	NL	$2,600,000
2014	CLE	AL	$4,500,000
2013	MIL	NL	$5,000,000
2012	MIL	NL	$525,000
2011	MIL	NL	$442,500
Total Career Earnings			$17,567,500

College History

John Axford — College History
School Name	City	State	Years Attended
Canisius College	Buffalo	NY	2006
University of Notre Dame	South Bend	IN	2003, 2005

Award Voting History

John Axford — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
2011	Cy Young Award	NL	9th	2.0	224	0
2011	Most Valuable Player	NL	17th	7.0	448	0

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

John Axford (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Frequently Asked Questions about John Axford

What years did John Axford play?: John Axford played in Major League Baseball from 2009 to 2021.
Was John Axford a pitcher?: Yes. John Axford pitched in the major leagues, recording 38 wins and 589 strikeouts.
How many home runs did John Axford hit?: John Axford hit 0 career home runs.
What was John Axford's career batting average?: John Axford batted .000 over his career, with 0 hits in 1 at bats.
What was John Axford's career ERA?: John Axford finished with a 3.90 career ERA, going 38-34 with 589 strikeouts.
How many strikeouts did John Axford have?: John Axford recorded 589 career strikeouts.