What years did Jay Howell play?

Jay Howell played in Major League Baseball from 1980 to 1994.

Was Jay Howell a pitcher?

Yes. Jay Howell pitched in the major leagues, recording 58 wins and 666 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Jay Howell hit?

Jay Howell hit 0 career home runs.

What was Jay Howell's career batting average?

Jay Howell batted .000 over his career, with 0 hits in 9 at bats.

What was Jay Howell's career ERA?

Jay Howell finished with a 3.34 career ERA, going 58-53 with 666 strikeouts.

How many strikeouts did Jay Howell have?

Jay Howell recorded 666 career strikeouts.

Jay Howell

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1980-1994)

Jay Howell was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1980 to 1994 for 7 teams, including the Cincinnati Reds, a span of 15 seasons. Across 568 career appearances, he went 58-53 with a 3.34 ERA, 666 strikeouts, and 155 saves. Jay Howell was a 3-time All-Star. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 15212.6.

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 58–53

ERA 3.34

WHIP 1.27

SO 666

Pitcher PIV 15212.6

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'3" / 200 lb
Born: 11/26/1955 in Miami, FL, USA
MLB Debut: 1980-08-10
Last Game: 1994-08-08
Awards: 3× All-Star

Full name: Jay Canfield Howell

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Career Pitching Statistics

Jay Howell — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
58	53	568	21	2	0	155	844.2	782	313	57	291	666	3.34	15212.6

Career ERA 3.34 vs. league average 3.92 across their career seasons — 14.9% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Jay Howell Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1980	CIN	NL	0	0	5	0	0	0	3.1	8	5	0	1	13.50	—	0.0
1981	CHN	NL	2	0	10	2	0	0	22.1	23	12	10	10	4.84	3.58 (-35%)	-826.0
1982	NYA	AL	2	3	6	6	0	0	28.0	42	24	13	21	7.71	3.86 (-100%)	555.6
1983	NYA	AL	1	5	19	12	2	0	82.0	89	49	35	61	5.38	3.87 (-39%)	219.2
1984	NYA	AL	9	4	61	1	0	7	103.2	86	31	34	109	2.69	3.81 (+29%)	4062.4
1985	OAK	AL	9	8	63	0	0	29	98.0	98	31	31	68	2.85	3.89 (+27%)	2384.6
1986	OAK	AL	3	6	38	0	0	16	53.1	53	20	23	42	3.38	3.97 (+15%)	937.1
1987	OAK	AL	3	4	36	0	0	16	44.1	48	29	21	35	5.89	4.29 (-37%)	-273.4
1988	LAN	NL	5	3	50	0	0	21	65.0	44	15	21	70	2.08	3.73 (+44%)	3133.9
1989	LAN	NL	5	3	56	0	0	28	79.2	60	14	22	55	1.58	3.71 (+57%)	2045.0
1990	LAN	NL	5	5	45	0	0	16	66.0	59	16	20	59	2.18	3.86 (+43%)	1127.5
1991	LAN	NL	6	5	44	0	0	16	51.0	39	18	11	40	3.18	3.91 (+19%)	1486.2
1992	LAN	NL	1	3	41	0	0	4	46.2	41	8	18	36	1.54	3.75 (+59%)	855.8
1993	ATL	NL	3	3	54	0	0	0	58.1	48	15	16	37	2.31	4.19 (+45%)	1445.4
1994	TEX	AL	4	1	40	0	0	2	43.0	44	26	16	22	5.44	4.51 (-21%)	-1940.8
Career · 15 seasons			58	53	568	21	2	155	844.2	782	313	291	666	3.34	—	15,213

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

Jay Howell — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
568	9	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000	.100	.000	.100	0

Career AVG .000 vs. league average .259 across their career seasons — 100.0% below league average.

Career OBP .100 vs. league average .325 across their career seasons — 69.2% below league average.

Career SLG .000 vs. league average .390 across their career seasons — 100.0% below league average.

Career OPS .100 vs. league average .715 across their career seasons — 86.0% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Jay Howell Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1980	CIN	NL	5	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1981	CHN	NL	10	2	2	1	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1982	NYA	AL	6	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1983	NYA	AL	19	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1984	NYA	AL	61	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1985	OAK	AL	63	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1986	OAK	AL	38	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1987	OAK	AL	36	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1988	LAN	NL	50	2	0	0	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1989	LAN	NL	56	3	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1990	LAN	NL	45	2	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1991	LAN	NL	44	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1992	LAN	NL	41	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1993	ATL	NL	54	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1994	TEX	AL	40	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 15 seasons			568	9	2	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

Jay Howell — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Jay Howell — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1988	NLCS	LAN	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1988	WS	LAN	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

Jay Howell — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
0	2	4	0	1	3.1	4	3	3	3	8.10

Playoff Pitching by Year

Jay Howell — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1988	NLCS	LAN	0	1	2	0	0	0.2	1	2	2	1	27.00
1988	WS	LAN	0	1	2	0	1	2.2	3	1	1	2	3.38

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1136 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Jay Howell — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	293	2	1	0	0	0	.000
Away	275	7	1	0	0	0	.000

Pitching — Home / Away

Jay Howell — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	293	445.2	385	131	134	349	2.65
Away	275	399.0	397	182	157	317	4.11

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Jay Howell — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	SO	HR
1994-08-08	TEX	SEA	—	1.0	1	0	0	0	0
1994-08-07	TEX	OAK	—	1.0	0	0	0	0	0
1994-08-05	TEX	OAK	—	0.0	1	0	0	0	0
1994-08-03	TEX	CHW	—	0.2	1	1	1	0	1
1994-07-30	TEX	LAA	—	2.0	4	2	1	1	0
1994-07-26	TEX	MIN	W	1.0	1	1	1	0	1
1994-07-20	TEX	CLE	—	1.1	1	1	1	0	1
1994-07-19	TEX	CLE	—	1.0	1	1	1	1	1
1994-07-08	TEX	DET	—	0.1	0	0	0	1	0
1994-07-06	TEX	CLE	—	1.0	0	0	0	0	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Jay Howell — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	568	21	63	112	8	9

Season-by-Season Fielding

Jay Howell — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1980	CIN	P	5	0	0	0	0	0
1981	CHN	P	10	2	2	9	0	1
1982	NYA	P	6	6	2	2	0	0
1983	NYA	P	19	12	7	10	1	0
1984	NYA	P	61	1	11	16	1	3
1985	OAK	P	63	0	1	15	0	1
1986	OAK	P	38	0	2	6	0	0
1987	OAK	P	36	0	3	4	1	0
1988	LAN	P	50	0	7	6	1	0
1989	LAN	P	56	0	5	10	1	2
1990	LAN	P	45	0	3	8	0	0
1991	LAN	P	44	0	5	6	1	1
1992	LAN	P	41	0	6	7	0	0
1993	ATL	P	54	0	4	7	0	0
1994	TEX	P	40	0	5	6	2	1

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Jay Howell Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	568

Awards & Honors

Jay Howell — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
1989	Player of the Week	Week of 1989-08-05
1985	Pitcher of the Month	June

Salary History

Jay Howell — Salary History
Year	Team	League	Salary
1994	TEX	AL	$805,000
1993	ATL	NL	$1,000,000
1992	LAN	NL	$2,575,000
1991	LAN	NL	$1,050,000
1990	LAN	NL	$1,025,000
1989	LAN	NL	$925,000
1988	LAN	NL	$595,000
1987	OAK	AL	$530,000
1986	OAK	AL	$530,000
1985	OAK	AL	$262,500
Total Career Earnings			$9,297,500

College History

Jay Howell — College History
School Name	City	State	Years Attended
University of Colorado	Boulder	CO	1974, 1975, 1976

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Jay Howell (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

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Jay Howell: the record in brief

Between the debut on August 10, 1980 and the final game on August 8, 1994, Jay Howell built the record summarized on this page. The team column moves through the Cincinnati Reds (1980), the Chicago Cubs (1981), the New York Yankees (1982 through 1984), the Oakland Athletics (1985 to 1987), the Los Angeles Dodgers (1988 through 1992), the Atlanta Braves (1993), and the Texas Rangers (1994). Howell played primarily as a pitcher and batted and threw right-handed. Born on November 26, 1955, in Miami, FL, USA, Howell was listed at 6'3" and 200 pounds. On the record, Jay Howell was born Jay Canfield Howell.

Howell's career pitching line is 58 wins, 53 losses and a 3.34 ERA over 568 appearances. Howell had 666 strikeouts and 155 saves. That 3.34 ERA compares with a 3.92 league average across the same seasons, 14.9% better. No season topped the 9 wins of 1984. The most saves in one season was 29, in 1985.

Frequently Asked Questions about Jay Howell

What years did Jay Howell play?: Jay Howell played in Major League Baseball from 1980 to 1994.
Was Jay Howell a pitcher?: Yes. Jay Howell pitched in the major leagues, recording 58 wins and 666 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Jay Howell hit?: Jay Howell hit 0 career home runs.
What was Jay Howell's career batting average?: Jay Howell batted .000 over his career, with 0 hits in 9 at bats.
What was Jay Howell's career ERA?: Jay Howell finished with a 3.34 career ERA, going 58-53 with 666 strikeouts.
How many strikeouts did Jay Howell have?: Jay Howell recorded 666 career strikeouts.