What years did John Hiller play?

John Hiller played in Major League Baseball from 1965 to 1980.

Was John Hiller a pitcher?

Yes. John Hiller pitched in the major leagues, recording 87 wins and 1036 strikeouts.

How many home runs did John Hiller hit?

John Hiller hit 0 career home runs with 11 hits.

What was John Hiller's career batting average?

John Hiller batted .109 over his career, with 11 hits in 101 at bats.

How many RBI did John Hiller have?

John Hiller drove in 4 runs in his career.

What was John Hiller's career ERA?

John Hiller finished with a 2.83 career ERA, going 87-76 with 1,036 strikeouts.

John Hiller

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1965-1980)

John Hiller was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1965 to 1980 for the Detroit Tigers, a span of 16 seasons. Across 545 career appearances, he went 87-76 with a 2.83 ERA, 1,036 strikeouts, and 125 saves. John Hiller was an All-Star. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 7498.3.

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 87–76

ERA 2.83

WHIP 1.27

SO 1,036

Pitcher PIV 7498.3

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: R / L
Height / Weight: 6'1" / 185 lb
Born: 4/8/1943 in Toronto, ON, CAN
MLB Debut: 1965-09-06
Last Game: 1980-05-27
Awards: All-Star

Full name: John Frederick Hiller

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Career Pitching Statistics

John Hiller — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
87	76	545	43	13	6	125	1242.0	1,040	391	110	535	1,036	2.83	7498.3

Career ERA 2.83 vs. league average 3.63 across their career seasons — 22.0% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

John Hiller Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1965	DET	AL	0	0	5	0	0	0	1	6.0	5	0	1	4	0.00	—	0.0
1966	DET	AL	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2.0	2	2	2	1	9.00	—	0.0
1967	DET	AL	4	3	23	6	2	2	3	65.0	57	19	9	49	2.63	3.30 (+20%)	1740.1
1968	DET	AL	9	6	39	12	4	1	2	128.0	92	34	51	78	2.39	2.98 (+20%)	-939.8
1969	DET	AL	4	4	40	8	1	1	4	99.3	97	44	44	74	3.99	3.61 (-10%)	-1157.8
1970	DET	AL	6	6	47	5	1	1	3	104.0	82	35	46	89	3.03	3.89 (+22%)	197.6
1972	DET	AL	1	2	24	3	1	0	3	44.3	39	10	13	26	2.03	3.26 (+38%)	-241.3
1973	DET	AL	10	5	65	0	0	0	38	125.3	89	20	39	124	1.44	3.75 (+62%)	4819.6
1974	DET	AL	17	14	59	0	0	0	13	150.0	127	44	62	134	2.64	3.63 (+27%)	2586.6
1975	DET	AL	2	3	36	0	0	0	14	70.7	52	17	36	87	2.17	3.71 (+42%)	1709.5
1976	DET	AL	12	8	56	1	1	1	13	121.0	93	32	67	117	2.38	3.51 (+32%)	1093.4
1977	DET	AL	8	14	45	8	3	0	7	124.0	120	49	61	115	3.56	4.00 (+11%)	135.8
1978	DET	AL	9	4	51	0	0	0	15	92.3	64	24	35	74	2.34	3.69 (+37%)	1700.8
1979	DET	AL	4	7	43	0	0	0	9	79.3	83	46	55	46	5.22	4.00 (-30%)	-3856.5
1980	DET	AL	1	0	11	0	0	0	0	30.7	38	15	14	18	4.40	3.84 (-15%)	-289.8
Career · 15 seasons			87	76	545	43	13	6	125	1,242.0	1,040	391	535	1,036	2.83	—	7,498

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 Hiller — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
546	101	2	11	1	0	0	4	0	3	34	.109	.135	.119	.253	0

Career AVG .109 vs. league average .254 across their career seasons — 57.1% below league average.

Career OBP .135 vs. league average .320 across their career seasons — 57.9% below league average.

Career SLG .119 vs. league average .375 across their career seasons — 68.3% below league average.

Career OPS .253 vs. league average .695 across their career seasons — 63.5% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

John Hiller Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1965	DET	AL	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1966	DET	AL	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1967	DET	AL	23	15	0	2	0	2	1	5	.133	—	—	—	—	0.0
1968	DET	AL	39	37	1	3	0	2	0	14	.081	—	—	—	—	0.0
1969	DET	AL	41	21	1	6	1	0	1	3	.286	—	—	—	—	0.0
1970	DET	AL	47	23	0	0	0	0	1	9	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1972	DET	AL	24	4	0	0	0	0	0	3	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1973	DET	AL	65	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1974	DET	AL	59	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1975	DET	AL	36	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1976	DET	AL	56	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1977	DET	AL	45	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1978	DET	AL	51	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1979	DET	AL	43	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1980	DET	AL	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 15 seasons			546	101	2	11	1	4	3	34	.109	—	—	—	—	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 Hiller — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Playoff Batting by Year

John Hiller — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1972	ALCS	DET	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1968	WS	DET	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

John Hiller — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1	0	5	0	0	5.3	7	3	4	2	5.06

Playoff Pitching by Year

John Hiller — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1972	ALCS	DET	1	0	3	0	0	3.3	1	0	1	1	0.00
1968	WS	DET	0	0	2	0	0	2.0	6	3	3	1	13.50

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1091 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

John Hiller — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	271	50	1	3	0	4	.060
Away	275	51	1	8	0	0	.157

Pitching — Home / Away

John Hiller — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	270	613.1	512	209	243	536	3.07
Away	275	628.2	528	182	292	500	2.61

Last 10 Games — Pitching

John Hiller — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1980-05-27	DET	NYY	—	4.0	10	4	4	0	1	1
1980-05-24	DET	BAL	—	3.1	3	2	2	2	2	0
1980-05-22	DET	BAL	—	0.2	2	0	0	0	0	0
1980-05-20	DET	NYY	W	2.2	2	3	3	2	2	0
1980-05-14	DET	OAK	—	4.0	1	0	0	3	4	0
1980-05-07	DET	SEA	—	3.0	0	0	0	3	0	0
1980-04-29	DET	TEX	—	4.2	8	3	3	1	2	1
1980-04-26	DET	BOS	—	0.2	4	3	3	1	0	1
1980-04-18	DET	KCR	—	2.1	4	0	0	1	2	0
1980-04-16	DET	BOS	—	1.1	1	0	0	1	2	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

John Hiller — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	545	43	45	136	8	5

Season-by-Season Fielding

John Hiller — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1965	DET	P	5	0	0	0	0	0
1966	DET	P	1	0	0	0	0	0
1967	DET	P	23	6	4	9	1	0
1968	DET	P	39	12	12	15	0	1
1969	DET	P	40	8	2	11	1	0
1970	DET	P	47	5	3	10	0	0
1972	DET	P	24	3	1	9	0	2
1973	DET	P	65	0	8	16	1	1
1974	DET	P	59	0	2	11	1	0
1975	DET	P	36	0	1	8	0	0
1976	DET	P	56	1	2	13	1	0
1977	DET	P	45	8	4	11	2	1
1978	DET	P	51	0	1	9	0	0
1979	DET	P	43	0	4	10	0	0
1980	DET	P	11	0	1	4	1	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

John Hiller Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	545

Awards & Honors

John Hiller — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
1973	Hutch Award
1973	TSN Comeback Player of the Year
1973	TSN Fireman of the Year

Award Voting History

John Hiller — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max
1974	Cy Young Award	AL	7th	1.0	120
1974	Most Valuable Player	AL	20th	11.0	336
1973	Cy Young Award	AL	4th	6.0	120
1973	Most Valuable Player	AL	4th	83.0	336

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

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

Frequently Asked Questions about John Hiller

What years did John Hiller play?: John Hiller played in Major League Baseball from 1965 to 1980.
Was John Hiller a pitcher?: Yes. John Hiller pitched in the major leagues, recording 87 wins and 1036 strikeouts.
How many home runs did John Hiller hit?: John Hiller hit 0 career home runs with 11 hits.
What was John Hiller's career batting average?: John Hiller batted .109 over his career, with 11 hits in 101 at bats.
How many RBI did John Hiller have?: John Hiller drove in 4 runs in his career.
What was John Hiller's career ERA?: John Hiller finished with a 2.83 career ERA, going 87-76 with 1,036 strikeouts.