What years did Clay Carroll play?

Clay Carroll played in Major League Baseball from 1964 to 1978.

Was Clay Carroll a pitcher?

Yes. Clay Carroll pitched in the major leagues, recording 96 wins and 681 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Clay Carroll hit?

Clay Carroll hit 1 career home runs with 27 hits.

What was Clay Carroll's career batting average?

Clay Carroll batted .130 over his career, with 27 hits in 208 at bats.

How many RBI did Clay Carroll have?

Clay Carroll drove in 7 runs in his career.

What was Clay Carroll's career ERA?

Clay Carroll finished with a 2.94 career ERA, going 96-73 with 681 strikeouts.

Clay Carroll

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1964-1978)

Clay Carroll was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1964 to 1978 for 6 teams, including the Milwaukee Braves, a span of 15 seasons. Across 731 career appearances, he went 96-73 with a 2.94 ERA, 681 strikeouts, and 143 saves. He also batted .130 with 1 home runs. Clay Carroll was a 2-time All-Star. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 10446.2.

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 October 12, 2026

W–L 96–73

ERA 2.94

WHIP 1.28

SO 681

Pitcher PIV 10446.2

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'1" / 178 lb
Born: 5/2/1941 in Clanton, AL, USA
MLB Debut: 1964-09-02
Last Game: 1978-10-01
Awards: 2× All-Star

Full name: Clay Palmer Carroll

📊 Compare This Player 📈 View Career Timeline

Career Pitching Statistics

Clay Carroll — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
96	73	731	28	1	0	143	1353.1	1,296	442	67	442	681	2.94	10446.2

Career ERA 2.94 vs. league average 3.57 across their career seasons — 17.8% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Clay Carroll Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1964	ML1	NL	2	0	11	1	0	1	20.1	15	4	3	17	1.77	3.58 (+51%)	799.2
1965	ML1	NL	0	1	19	1	0	1	34.2	35	17	13	16	4.41	3.50 (-26%)	-374.3
1966	ATL	NL	8	7	73	3	0	11	144.1	127	38	29	67	2.37	3.52 (+33%)	1812.9
1967	ATL	NL	6	12	42	7	1	0	93.0	111	57	29	35	5.52	3.30 (-67%)	-822.7
1968	ATL	NL	0	1	10	0	0	0	22.1	26	12	6	10	4.84	2.98 (-62%)	58.6
1968	CIN	NL	7	7	58	1	0	17	121.2	102	31	32	61	2.29	2.98 (+23%)	1066.7
1969	CIN	NL	12	6	71	4	0	7	150.2	149	59	78	90	3.52	3.61 (+2%)	-640.7
1970	CIN	NL	9	4	65	0	0	16	104.1	104	30	27	63	2.59	3.89 (+33%)	2991.7
1971	CIN	NL	10	4	61	0	0	15	93.2	78	26	42	64	2.50	3.47 (+28%)	670.5
1972	CIN	NL	6	4	65	0	0	37	96.0	89	24	32	51	2.25	3.26 (+31%)	536.4
1973	CIN	NL	8	8	53	5	0	14	92.2	111	38	34	41	3.69	3.75 (+1%)	238.9
1974	CIN	NL	12	5	57	3	0	6	100.2	96	24	30	46	2.15	3.63 (+41%)	1750.8
1975	CIN	NL	7	5	56	2	0	7	96.1	93	28	32	44	2.62	3.71 (+29%)	1663.3
1976	CHA	AL	4	4	29	0	0	6	77.1	67	22	24	38	2.56	3.51 (+27%)	1350.5
1977	SLN	NL	4	2	51	1	0	4	90.0	77	25	24	34	2.50	4.00 (+37%)	62.2
1977	CHA	AL	1	3	8	0	0	1	11.1	14	6	4	4	4.76	4.00 (-19%)	-717.9
1978	PIT	NL	0	0	2	0	0	0	4.0	2	1	3	0	2.25	—	0.0
Career · 17 seasons			96	73	731	28	1	143	1,353.1	1,296	442	442	681	2.94	—	10,446

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

Clay Carroll — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
731	208	17	27	0	0	1	7	0	7	65	.130	.158	.144	.302	0

Career AVG .130 vs. league average .252 across their career seasons — 48.4% below league average.

Career OBP .158 vs. league average .318 across their career seasons — 50.3% below league average.

Career SLG .144 vs. league average .371 across their career seasons — 61.2% below league average.

Career OPS .302 vs. league average .690 across their career seasons — 56.1% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Clay Carroll Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1964	ML1	NL	11	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1965	ML1	NL	19	5	0	0	0	0	0	3	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1966	ATL	NL	73	30	2	3	0	0	0	11	.100	—	—	—	—	0.0
1967	ATL	NL	42	16	0	1	0	1	1	5	.062	—	—	—	—	0.0
1968	ATL	NL	10	5	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1968	CIN	NL	58	24	2	6	0	2	1	5	.250	—	—	—	—	0.0
1969	CIN	NL	71	29	6	6	1	1	4	9	.207	—	—	—	—	0.0
1970	CIN	NL	65	14	1	1	0	0	1	4	.071	—	—	—	—	0.0
1971	CIN	NL	61	10	0	1	0	0	0	4	.100	—	—	—	—	0.0
1972	CIN	NL	65	11	2	2	0	1	0	3	.182	—	—	—	—	0.0
1973	CIN	NL	53	14	2	3	0	1	0	4	.214	—	—	—	—	0.0
1974	CIN	NL	57	18	1	3	0	1	0	8	.167	—	—	—	—	0.0
1975	CIN	NL	56	19	1	0	0	0	0	6	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1976	CHA	AL	29	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1977	SLN	NL	51	11	0	1	0	0	0	2	.091	—	—	—	—	0.0
1977	CHA	AL	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1978	PIT	NL	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 17 seasons			731	208	17	27	1	7	7	65	.130	—	—	—	—	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

Clay Carroll — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
22	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Clay Carroll — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	SO	AVG
1975	NLCS	CIN	1	0	0	.000
1975	WS	CIN	5	0	0	.000
1973	NLCS	CIN	3	0	0	.000
1972	NLCS	CIN	2	0	0	.000
1972	WS	CIN	5	0	0	.000
1970	NLCS	CIN	2	0	0	.000
1970	WS	CIN	4	1	1	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

Clay Carroll — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
4	2	22	0	2	32.1	24	5	13	22	1.39

Playoff Pitching by Year

Clay Carroll — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1975	NLCS	CIN	0	0	1	0	1.0	0	0	1	1	0.00
1975	WS	CIN	1	0	5	0	5.2	4	2	2	3	3.18
1973	NLCS	CIN	1	0	3	0	7.0	5	1	1	2	1.29
1972	NLCS	CIN	1	1	2	0	2.2	2	1	3	0	3.38
1972	WS	CIN	0	1	5	1	5.2	6	1	4	3	1.59
1970	NLCS	CIN	0	0	2	1	1.1	2	0	0	2	0.00
1970	WS	CIN	1	0	4	0	9.0	5	0	2	11	0.00

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1462 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Clay Carroll — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	351	81	5	8	0	2	.099
Away	380	127	12	19	1	5	.150

Pitching — Home / Away

Clay Carroll — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	351	636.0	585	188	182	314	2.66
Away	380	717.1	711	254	260	367	3.19

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Clay Carroll — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1978-10-01	PIT	PHI	—	2.0	2	1	1	2	0	0
1978-09-11	PIT	PHI	—	2.0	0	0	0	1	0	0
1977-09-21	CHW	OAK	L	1.0	2	2	2	0	0	1
1977-09-18	CHW	LAA	—	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1977-09-17	CHW	LAA	—	0.2	1	0	0	0	0	0
1977-09-09	CHW	LAA	—	0.2	2	0	0	2	0	0
1977-09-08	CHW	LAA	L	0.1	1	1	0	0	0	0
1977-09-06	CHW	OAK	SV	3.1	3	1	1	2	1	1
1977-09-04	CHW	BAL	L	1.0	3	3	3	0	0	1
1977-09-03	CHW	BAL	W	3.1	2	0	0	0	3	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Clay Carroll — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	731	27	60	310	11	24

Season-by-Season Fielding

Clay Carroll — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1964	ML1	P	11	1	2	7	0	0
1965	ML1	P	19	1	3	5	1	1
1966	ATL	P	73	3	6	31	0	2
1967	ATL	P	42	7	3	22	0	4
1968	ATL	P	10	0	1	5	0	0
1968	CIN	P	58	1	3	31	1	1
1969	CIN	P	71	4	6	39	1	3
1970	CIN	P	65	0	8	22	2	1
1971	CIN	P	61	0	8	29	1	3
1972	CIN	P	65	0	4	21	1	1
1973	CIN	P	53	5	4	20	1	0
1974	CIN	P	57	3	4	25	2	3
1975	CIN	P	56	2	2	14	0	0
1976	CHA	P	29	0	0	15	0	2
1977	SLN	P	51	0	6	19	1	3
1977	CHA	P	8	0	0	3	0	0
1978	PIT	P	2	0	0	2	0	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Clay Carroll Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	731

Awards & Honors

Clay Carroll — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
1972	TSN Fireman of the Year

Award Voting History

Clay Carroll — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max
1974	Cy Young Award	NL	8th	2.0	120
1972	Cy Young Award	NL	5th	6.0	120
1972	Most Valuable Player	NL	13th	16.0	336
1968	Most Valuable Player	NL	25th	1.0	280

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Clay Carroll (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Clay Carroll: the record in brief

The profile opens with Clay Carroll's first major league game on September 2, 1964; the last one listed came on October 1, 1978. The season rows list, in order, the Milwaukee Braves (1964 through 1965), the Atlanta Braves (1966 to 1968), the Cincinnati Reds (1968 to 1975), the Chicago White Sox (1976 to 1977), the St. Louis Cardinals (1977), and the Pittsburgh Pirates (1978). Carroll is listed as a pitcher at 6-foot-1 and 178 pounds. The bio says Carroll threw and hit right-handed. Carroll was born on May 2, 1941, in Clanton, AL, USA. The given name on file is Clay Palmer Carroll.

The pitching table credits Carroll with a 96-73 record and a 2.94 ERA in 731 games. The same table counts 681 strikeouts and 143 saves. Against a 3.57 league ERA for the same years, Carroll was 17.8% better. 1969 brought Carroll a season-high 12 wins. The most saves in one season was 37, in 1972.

Frequently Asked Questions about Clay Carroll

What years did Clay Carroll play?: Clay Carroll played in Major League Baseball from 1964 to 1978.
Was Clay Carroll a pitcher?: Yes. Clay Carroll pitched in the major leagues, recording 96 wins and 681 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Clay Carroll hit?: Clay Carroll hit 1 career home runs with 27 hits.
What was Clay Carroll's career batting average?: Clay Carroll batted .130 over his career, with 27 hits in 208 at bats.
How many RBI did Clay Carroll have?: Clay Carroll drove in 7 runs in his career.
What was Clay Carroll's career ERA?: Clay Carroll finished with a 2.94 career ERA, going 96-73 with 681 strikeouts.