What years did Doug Rau play?

Doug Rau played in Major League Baseball from 1972 to 1981.

Was Doug Rau a pitcher?

Yes. Doug Rau pitched in the major leagues, recording 81 wins and 697 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Doug Rau hit?

Doug Rau hit 0 career home runs with 58 hits.

What teams did Doug Rau play for?

Doug Rau played for 2 teams: the Los Angeles Dodgers (1972–1979) and the California Angels (1981).

What were Doug Rau's career stats?

In 222 games, Doug Rau went 81-60 with a 3.35 ERA, 697 strikeouts, 1,261.0 innings pitched, and 3 saves. At the plate he had 58 hits and 0 home runs.

What position did Doug Rau play?

Doug Rau played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.

How tall was Doug Rau and how much did he weigh?

Doug Rau was listed at 6 feet 2 inches and 175 pounds.

What was Doug Rau's career ERA?

Doug Rau finished with a 3.35 career ERA, going 81-60 with 697 strikeouts.

How many strikeouts did Doug Rau have?

Doug Rau recorded 697 career strikeouts.

Is Doug Rau in the Hall of Fame?

No. Doug Rau has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Doug Rau

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1972-1981)

Doug Rau was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1972 to 1981 for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the California Angels, a span of 10 seasons. Across 222 career appearances, he went 81-60 with a 3.35 ERA and 697 strikeouts. He also batted .154 with 0 home runs. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 6654.6.

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 15, 2026

W–L 81–60

ERA 3.35

WHIP 1.30

SO 697

Pitcher PIV 6654.6

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: L / L
Height / Weight: 6'2" / 175 lb
Born: 12/15/1948 in Columbus, TX, USA
MLB Debut: 1972-09-02
Last Game: 1981-05-26

Full name: Douglas James Rau

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Career Pitching Statistics

Doug Rau — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
81	60	222	187	33	11	3	1261.0	1,259	469	99	382	697	3.35	6654.6

Career ERA 3.35 vs. league average 3.69 across their career seasons — 9.3% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Doug Rau Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1972	LAN	NL	2	2	7	3	2	0	0	32.2	18	8	11	19	2.20	3.26 (+32%)	434.3
1973	LAN	NL	4	2	31	3	0	0	3	63.2	64	28	28	51	3.96	3.75 (-6%)	637.0
1974	LAN	NL	13	11	36	35	3	1	0	198.1	191	82	70	126	3.72	3.63 (-3%)	-548.2
1975	LAN	NL	15	9	38	38	8	2	0	257.2	227	89	61	151	3.11	3.71 (+16%)	4357.3
1976	LAN	NL	16	12	34	32	8	3	0	231.0	221	66	69	98	2.57	3.51 (+27%)	-1558.8
1977	LAN	NL	14	8	32	32	4	2	0	212.1	232	81	49	126	3.43	4.00 (+14%)	4165.4
1978	LAN	NL	15	9	30	30	7	2	0	199.0	219	72	68	95	3.26	3.69 (+12%)	-541.9
1979	LAN	NL	1	5	11	11	1	1	0	56.0	73	33	22	28	5.30	4.00 (-32%)	255.7
1981	CAL	AL	1	2	3	3	0	0	0	10.1	14	10	4	3	8.71	3.58 (-143%)	-546.0
Career · 9 seasons			81	60	222	187	33	11	3	1,261.0	1,259	469	382	697	3.35	—	6,655

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

Doug Rau — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
222	377	21	58	3	1	0	21	0	28	95	.154	.213	.167	.380	-2,455

Career AVG .154 vs. league average .257 across their career seasons — 40.2% below league average.

Career OBP .213 vs. league average .324 across their career seasons — 34.1% below league average.

Career SLG .167 vs. league average .377 across their career seasons — 55.6% below league average.

Career OPS .380 vs. league average .700 across their career seasons — 45.7% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Doug Rau Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1972	LAN	NL	7	7	0	1	0	1	1	1	2	.143	—	—	—	—	0.0
1973	LAN	NL	31	11	0	1	0	0	1	0	2	.091	—	—	—	—	0.0
1974	LAN	NL	36	64	3	9	0	0	4	6	22	.141	.256 (-45%)	.324 (-34%)	.369 (-62%)	.693 (-49%)	-468.3
1975	LAN	NL	38	87	5	17	0	0	6	5	28	.195	.257 (-24%)	.327 (-27%)	.374 (-48%)	.701 (-38%)	-502.7
1976	LAN	NL	34	60	5	9	0	0	2	7	15	.150	.255 (-41%)	.320 (-27%)	.360 (-58%)	.681 (-43%)	-384.8
1977	LAN	NL	32	71	4	10	1	0	2	5	11	.141	.264 (-47%)	.329 (-38%)	.401 (-61%)	.730 (-51%)	-579.1
1978	LAN	NL	30	63	3	9	1	0	5	2	13	.143	.257 (-45%)	.323 (-48%)	.378 (-58%)	.702 (-53%)	-520.1
1979	LAN	NL	11	14	1	2	1	0	0	2	2	.143	—	—	—	—	0.0
1981	CAL	AL	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 9 seasons			222	377	21	58	3	1	21	28	95	.154	—	—	—	—	-2,455

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

Doug Rau — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
6	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Doug Rau — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	AVG
1978	NLCS	LAN	1	1	.000
1978	WS	LAN	1	0	.000
1977	NLCS	LAN	1	0	.000
1977	WS	LAN	2	0	.000
1974	NLCS	LAN	1	0	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

Doug Rau — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
0	2	6	3	0	11.0	13	8	3	6	6.55

Playoff Pitching by Year

Doug Rau — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	L	G	GS	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1978	NLCS	LAN	0	1	1	5.0	5	2	2	1	3.60
1978	WS	LAN	0	1	0	2.0	1	0	0	3	0.00
1977	NLCS	LAN	0	1	0	1.0	0	0	0	1	0.00
1977	WS	LAN	1	2	1	2.1	4	3	0	1	11.57
1974	NLCS	LAN	1	1	1	0.2	3	3	1	0	40.50

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (444 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Doug Rau — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	100	170	6	26	0	3	.153
Away	122	207	15	32	0	18	.155

Pitching — Home / Away

Doug Rau — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	100	617.0	582	196	156	354	2.86
Away	122	644.0	677	273	226	343	3.82

Last 10 Games — Batting

Doug Rau — Last 10 Games — Batting
Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	R	H	BB	SO
1981-05-26	LAA	TOR	L	0	0	0	0	0
1981-05-21	LAA	BAL	W	0	0	0	0	0
1981-05-16	LAA	DET	L	0	0	0	0	0
1979-06-02	LAD	STL	L	1	0	0	0	0
1979-05-28	LAD	CIN	L	2	0	1	1	0
1979-05-22	LAD	SDP	L	1	1	0	1	0
1979-05-17	LAD	ATL	L	1	0	0	0	0
1979-05-11	LAD	WSN	W	3	0	0	0	1
1979-05-06	LAD	PHI	L	2	0	0	0	0
1979-04-30	LAD	WSN	L	0	0	0	0	0

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Doug Rau — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1981-05-26	LAA	TOR	L	2.1	4	4	4	1	2	1
1981-05-21	LAA	BAL	W	5.0	5	0	0	0	1	0
1981-05-16	LAA	DET	L	3.0	5	6	6	3	0	1
1979-06-02	LAD	STL	L	4.0	13	10	9	2	3	2
1979-05-28	LAD	CIN	—	9.0	4	0	0	1	5	0
1979-05-22	LAD	SDP	—	5.2	7	3	1	3	3	0
1979-05-17	LAD	ATL	—	5.0	7	2	2	0	2	0
1979-05-11	LAD	WSN	W	9.0	1	0	0	4	4	0
1979-05-06	LAD	PHI	L	7.0	9	2	2	2	3	1
1979-04-30	LAD	WSN	L	1.1	7	5	5	0	1	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Doug Rau — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	222	187	29	184	7	8

Season-by-Season Fielding

Doug Rau — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1972	LAN	P	7	3	0	6	0	1
1973	LAN	P	31	3	1	8	0	0
1974	LAN	P	36	35	8	27	0	3
1975	LAN	P	38	38	6	40	5	1
1976	LAN	P	34	32	5	39	1	1
1977	LAN	P	32	32	3	30	0	0
1978	LAN	P	30	30	3	24	1	2
1979	LAN	P	11	11	2	10	0	0
1981	CAL	P	3	3	1	0	0	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Doug Rau Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	222

Awards & Honors

Doug Rau — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
1976	Player of the Week	Week of 1976-07-23

College History

Doug Rau — College History
School Name	City	State	Years Attended
Texas A&M University	College Station	TX	1968, 1969, 1970

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Doug Rau (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Doug Rau: the record in brief

September 2, 1972 and May 26, 1981 bracket Doug Rau's time in the majors: the debut and the last game on record. Club by club, the record runs the Los Angeles Dodgers (1972 to 1979) and the California Angels (1981). Rau played primarily as a pitcher and threw and hit left-handed. Born on December 15, 1948, in Columbus, TX, USA, Rau was listed at 6-foot-2 and 175 pounds. The given name on file is Douglas James Rau.

Rau pitched in 222 games, starting 187, and finished with a 81-60 record and 3.35 ERA. Rau had 697 strikeouts, 33 complete games, and 11 shutouts. The leagues Rau pitched in allowed 3.69 earned runs per nine over those seasons, so the career ERA was 9.3% better than average. No season topped the 16 wins of 1976. 1975 produced Rau's most strikeouts, 151. In 1976, one of the busiest seasons, Rau posted a 2.57 ERA; the league figure that year was 3.51.

Frequently Asked Questions about Doug Rau

What years did Doug Rau play?: Doug Rau played in Major League Baseball from 1972 to 1981.
Was Doug Rau a pitcher?: Yes. Doug Rau pitched in the major leagues, recording 81 wins and 697 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Doug Rau hit?: Doug Rau hit 0 career home runs with 58 hits.
What teams did Doug Rau play for?: Doug Rau played for 2 teams: the Los Angeles Dodgers (1972–1979) and the California Angels (1981).
What were Doug Rau's career stats?: In 222 games, Doug Rau went 81-60 with a 3.35 ERA, 697 strikeouts, 1,261.0 innings pitched, and 3 saves. At the plate he had 58 hits and 0 home runs.
What position did Doug Rau play?: Doug Rau played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.
How tall was Doug Rau and how much did he weigh?: Doug Rau was listed at 6 feet 2 inches and 175 pounds.
What was Doug Rau's career ERA?: Doug Rau finished with a 3.35 career ERA, going 81-60 with 697 strikeouts.
How many strikeouts did Doug Rau have?: Doug Rau recorded 697 career strikeouts.
Is Doug Rau in the Hall of Fame?: No. Doug Rau has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.