Ken Forsch

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1970-1986)

W–L 114–113
ERA 3.37
WHIP 1.25
SO 1,047
Pitcher PIV 13222.2
Position
Pitcher
Bats / Throws
R / R
Height / Weight
6'4" / 195 lb
Born
9/8/1946 in Sacramento, CA, USA
MLB Debut
1970-09-07
Last Game
1986-05-23
Awards
2× All-Star

Full name: Kenneth Roth Forsch

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Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
114 113 521 241 70 18 51 2127.3 2,071 796 155 586 1,047 3.37 13222.2

Career ERA 3.37 vs. league average 3.75 across their career seasons — 10.2% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1970 HOU NL 1 2 4 4 1 0 0 24.0 28 15 5 13 5.62 3.89 (-45%) 701.9
1971 HOU NL 8 8 33 23 7 2 0 188.3 162 53 53 131 2.53 3.47 (+27%) 4639.1
1972 HOU NL 6 8 30 24 1 0 0 156.3 163 68 62 113 3.91 3.26 (-20%) -1794.3
1973 HOU NL 9 12 46 26 5 0 4 201.3 197 94 74 149 4.20 3.75 (-12%) 1761.2
1974 HOU NL 8 7 70 0 0 0 10 103.3 98 32 37 48 2.79 3.63 (+23%) 1082.7
1975 HOU NL 4 8 34 9 2 0 2 109.0 114 39 30 54 3.22 3.71 (+13%) 446.6
1976 HOU NL 4 3 52 0 0 0 19 92.0 76 22 26 49 2.15 3.51 (+39%) 766.9
1977 HOU NL 5 8 42 5 0 0 8 86.0 80 26 28 45 2.72 4.00 (+32%) 2096.5
1978 HOU NL 10 6 52 6 4 2 7 133.3 136 40 37 71 2.70 3.69 (+27%) 3825.9
1979 HOU NL 11 6 26 24 10 2 0 177.7 155 60 35 58 3.04 4.00 (+24%) 1415.2
1980 HOU NL 12 13 32 32 6 3 0 222.3 230 79 41 84 3.20 3.84 (+17%) 1862.0
1981 CAL AL 11 7 20 20 10 4 0 153.0 143 49 27 55 2.88 3.58 (+20%) 1971.1
1982 CAL AL 13 11 37 35 12 4 0 228.0 225 98 57 73 3.87 3.86 (avg) -3040.8
1983 CAL AL 11 12 31 31 11 1 0 219.3 226 99 61 81 4.06 3.87 (-5%) -1523.3
1984 CAL AL 1 1 2 2 1 0 0 16.3 14 4 3 10 2.20 3.81 (+42%) 51.0
1986 CAL AL 0 1 10 0 0 0 1 17.0 24 18 10 13 9.53 3.97 (-140%) -1039.4
Career · 16 seasons 114 113 521 241 70 18 51 2,127.1 2,071 796 586 1,047 3.37 — 13,222

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

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
521 383 16 52 6 0 0 17 1 16 163 .136 .170 .151 .322 -2,047

Career AVG .136 vs. league average .258 across their career seasons — 47.3% below league average.

Career OBP .170 vs. league average .324 across their career seasons — 47.4% below league average.

Career SLG .151 vs. league average .381 across their career seasons — 60.2% below league average.

Career OPS .322 vs. league average .704 across their career seasons — 54.3% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1970 HOU NL 4 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 .000 — — — — 0.0
1971 HOU NL 33 59 2 8 1 0 0 1 0 1 30 .136 .249 (-46%) .316 (-53%) .365 (-58%) .682 (-56%) -499.1
1972 HOU NL 30 41 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 1 21 .146 — — — — 0.0
1973 HOU NL 46 62 2 4 1 0 0 1 0 2 26 .065 .256 (-75%) .325 (-71%) .378 (-79%) .703 (-75%) -729.2
1974 HOU NL 70 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 .000 — — — — 0.0
1975 HOU NL 34 22 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 7 .045 — — — — 0.0
1976 HOU NL 52 11 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 .091 — — — — 0.0
1977 HOU NL 42 13 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 .077 — — — — 0.0
1978 HOU NL 52 27 1 5 0 0 0 3 0 0 9 .185 — — — — 0.0
1979 HOU NL 26 58 4 8 1 0 0 3 0 4 22 .138 .265 (-48%) .329 (-41%) .397 (-61%) .727 (-52%) -478.8
1980 HOU NL 32 77 3 18 3 0 0 8 1 1 33 .234 .264 (-12%) .326 (-25%) .387 (-30%) .714 (-28%) -340.2
1981 CAL AL 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1982 CAL AL 37 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1983 CAL AL 31 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1984 CAL AL 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1986 CAL AL 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
Career · 16 seasons 521 383 16 52 6 0 0 17 1 16 163 .136 — — — — -2,047

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

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1980 NLCS HOU 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
0 1 2 1 0 8.7 10 4 1 6 4.15

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1980 NLCS HOU 0 1 2 1 0 8.7 10 4 1 6 4.15

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1042 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

SplitGABRHHRRBIAVG
Home2581801031010.172
Away26320362107.103

Pitching — Home / Away

SplitGIPHERBBSOERA
Home2581082.110223612785503.00
Away2631044.210494353084973.75

Last 10 Games — Pitching

DateTmOppDecIPHRERBBSOHR
1986-05-23 LAANYY — 4.2544441
1986-05-14 LAABOS — 0.1232001
1986-05-09 LAAMIL — 2.1443200
1986-05-05 LAABOS — 0.1000000
1986-05-01 LAATOR — 0.1211001
1986-04-25 LAAMIN — 2.2533040
1986-04-18 LAAMIN — 0.0100000
1986-04-14 LAASEA — 2.2311130
1986-04-11 LAAOAK SV 3.0000110
1986-04-08 LAASEA L 0.2244211

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
P 521 241 134 305 26 24

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1970 HOU P 4 4 2 2 0 1
1971 HOU P 33 23 8 19 2 1
1972 HOU P 30 24 9 9 2 1
1973 HOU P 46 26 15 16 0 1
1974 HOU P 70 0 9 14 2 1
1975 HOU P 34 9 6 14 2 3
1976 HOU P 52 0 4 17 0 0
1977 HOU P 42 5 10 15 1 1
1978 HOU P 52 6 9 24 2 0
1979 HOU P 26 24 10 37 1 5
1980 HOU P 32 32 11 45 3 2
1981 CAL P 20 20 18 24 2 2
1982 CAL P 37 35 13 29 5 2
1983 CAL P 31 31 9 31 3 2
1984 CAL P 2 2 1 6 0 1
1986 CAL P 10 0 0 3 1 1

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Position Games
Pitcher 521

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
1979 Pitcher of the Month April
1979 Player of the Week Week of 1979-04-06

Salary History

Year Team League Salary
1986 CAL AL $100,000
1985 CAL AL $633,333
Total Career Earnings $733,333

College History

School Name City State Years Attended
Sacramento City College Sacramento CA 1965, 1966
Oregon State University Corvallis OR 1967, 1968

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Ken Forsch (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

  1. 98
    Billy O'Dell
    105-100, 3.29 ERA
  2. 97
    Johnny Sain
    139-116, 3.49 ERA
  3. 80
    Don Robinson
    109-106, 3.79 ERA
  4. 79
    Mudcat Grant
    145-119, 3.63 ERA
  5. 70
    Harry Gumbert
    143-113, 3.68 ERA
  6. 69
    Wilbur Wood
    164-156, 3.24 ERA

Compare Ken Forsch

Side-by-side career stat comparisons against Forsch's closest peers by position and era.

vs J. R. Richard
vs Brian Downing
vs Bobby Grich
vs Bob Watson
vs Bob Forsch

Browse all MLB player comparisons →

Frequently Asked Questions about Ken Forsch

What years did Ken Forsch play?
Ken Forsch played in Major League Baseball from 1970 to 1986.
Was Ken Forsch a pitcher?
Yes. Ken Forsch pitched in the major leagues, recording 114 wins and 1047 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Ken Forsch hit?
Ken Forsch hit 0 career home runs with 52 hits.