Lou Whitaker

Second Baseman · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1977-1995)

AVG .276
HR 244
RBI 1,084
H 2,369
OPS .789
PIV 19,796
Position
Second Baseman
Bats / Throws
L / R
Height / Weight
5'11" / 160 lb
Born
5/12/1957 in Brooklyn, NY, USA
MLB Debut
1977-09-09
Last Game
1995-10-01
Awards
5× All-Star · Rookie of the Year · 3× Gold Glove · 4× Silver Slugger

Full name: Louis Rodman Whitaker

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Career Batting Statistics

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
2,390 8,570 1,386 2,369 420 65 244 1,084 143 1,197 1,099 .276 .363 .426 .789 19,796

Career AVG .276 vs. league average .260 across their career seasons — +6.2% above league average.

Career OBP .363 vs. league average .326 across their career seasons — +11.3% above league average.

Career SLG .426 vs. league average .392 across their career seasons — +8.7% above league average.

Career OPS .789 vs. league average .718 across their career seasons — +9.9% above 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
1977 DET AL 11 32 5 8 1 0 0 2 2 4 6 .250 — — — — 0.0
1978 DET AL 139 484 71 138 12 7 3 58 7 61 65 .285 .257 (+11%) .323 (+12%) .378 (-6%) .702 (+2%) 373.8
1979 DET AL 127 423 75 121 14 8 3 42 20 78 66 .286 .265 (+8%) .329 (+20%) .397 (-5%) .727 (+6%) 866.1
1980 DET AL 145 477 68 111 19 1 1 45 8 73 79 .233 .264 (-12%) .326 (+1%) .387 (-27%) .714 (-14%) -862.8
1981 DET AL 109 335 48 88 14 4 5 36 5 40 42 .263 .255 (+3%) .320 (+6%) .368 (+1%) .688 (+4%) 274.0
1982 DET AL 152 560 76 160 22 8 15 65 11 48 58 .286 .261 (+9%) .324 (+5%) .388 (+12%) .712 (+9%) 928.5
1983 DET AL 161 643 94 206 40 6 12 72 17 67 70 .320 .260 (+23%) .324 (+17%) .389 (+17%) .714 (+17%) 2312.1
1984 DET AL 143 558 90 161 25 1 13 56 6 62 63 .289 .259 (+11%) .322 (+11%) .384 (+6%) .707 (+8%) 996.0
1985 DET AL 152 609 102 170 29 8 21 73 6 80 56 .279 .257 (+9%) .323 (+12%) .390 (+17%) .714 (+15%) 1883.8
1986 DET AL 144 584 95 157 26 6 20 73 13 63 70 .269 .257 (+4%) .325 (+4%) .395 (+11%) .720 (+7%) 842.8
1987 DET AL 149 604 110 160 38 6 16 59 13 71 108 .265 .262 (+1%) .331 (+3%) .415 (+3%) .746 (+3%) 373.6
1988 DET AL 115 403 54 111 18 2 12 55 2 66 61 .275 .254 (+8%) .317 (+18%) .377 (+11%) .695 (+14%) 1305.8
1989 DET AL 148 509 77 128 21 1 28 85 6 89 59 .251 .254 (-1%) .319 (+13%) .375 (+23%) .694 (+18%) 2013.9
1990 DET AL 132 472 75 112 22 2 18 60 8 74 71 .237 .257 (-8%) .324 (+4%) .385 (+6%) .710 (+5%) 541.4
1991 DET AL 138 470 94 131 26 2 23 78 4 90 45 .279 .255 (+9%) .323 (+21%) .384 (+27%) .708 (+24%) 2503.7
1992 DET AL 130 453 77 126 26 0 19 71 6 81 46 .278 .255 (+9%) .322 (+20%) .377 (+22%) .699 (+21%) 2094.9
1993 DET AL 119 383 72 111 32 1 9 67 3 78 46 .290 .265 (+9%) .332 (+24%) .403 (+11%) .735 (+17%) 1611.3
1994 DET AL 92 322 67 97 21 2 12 43 2 41 47 .301 .269 (+12%) .338 (+11%) .424 (+16%) .763 (+14%) 876.9
1995 DET AL 84 249 36 73 14 0 14 44 4 31 41 .293 .266 (+10%) .337 (+10%) .417 (+24%) .755 (+18%) 860.0
Career · 19 seasons 2,390 8,570 1,386 2,369 420 65 244 1,084 143 1,197 1,099 .276 — — — — 19,796

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
13 49 13 10 2 0 1 1 11 10 .204

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1987 ALCS DET 5 17 4 3 0 0 1 1 7 3 .176
1984 ALCS DET 3 14 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 .143
1984 WS DET 5 18 6 5 2 0 0 0 4 4 .278

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (2390 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

SplitGABRHHRRBIAVG
Home120942047311172146574.279
Away11814366655119798510.274

Last 10 Games — Batting

DateTmOppResABRH2B3BHRRBIBBSO
1995-10-01 DETBALL 100000001
1995-09-23 DETNYYL 100000001
1995-09-21 DETBALL 300000012
1995-09-18 DETBALL 400000002
1995-09-17 DETTEXL 100000000
1995-09-14 DETMILL 100000000
1995-09-13 DETMILW 512001301
1995-09-12 DETMILW 000000100
1995-08-30 DETCHWL 523001300
1995-08-29 DETCHWW 522000102

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
2B 2308 2146 4771 6653 189 1527

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1977 DET 2B 9 9 17 18 0 2
1978 DET 2B 136 124 301 458 17 95
1979 DET 2B 126 114 280 369 9 103
1980 DET 2B 143 130 340 428 12 93
1981 DET 2B 108 104 227 354 9 77
1982 DET 2B 149 144 331 470 10 120
1983 DET 2B 160 151 299 447 13 92
1984 DET 2B 142 131 290 405 15 83
1985 DET 2B 150 146 314 414 11 101
1986 DET 2B 141 136 276 421 11 98
1987 DET 2B 148 146 275 416 17 99
1988 DET 2B 110 103 218 284 8 53
1989 DET 2B 146 137 327 393 11 99
1990 DET 2B 130 117 286 372 6 98
1991 DET 2B 135 119 255 361 4 91
1992 DET 2B 119 112 256 312 9 72
1993 DET 2B 110 97 236 322 11 75
1994 DET 2B 83 73 136 246 12 44
1995 DET 2B 63 53 107 163 4 32

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Position Games
Second Base 2306
Designated Hitter 32

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
1987 Silver Slugger 2B
1985 Gold Glove 2B
1985 Silver Slugger 2B
1984 Gold Glove 2B
1984 Silver Slugger 2B
1984 TSN All-Star 2B
1983 Gold Glove 2B
1983 Player of the Month June
1983 Player of the Week Week of 1983-06-10
1983 Silver Slugger 2B
1983 TSN All-Star 2B
1978 Rookie of the Year

Salary History

Year Team League Salary
1995 DET AL $3,783,334
1994 DET AL $2,783,333
1993 DET AL $3,433,333
1992 DET AL $2,200,000
1991 DET AL $2,000,000
1990 DET AL $1,800,000
1989 DET AL $1,025,000
1988 DET AL $975,000
1987 DET AL $420,000
1986 DET AL $670,000
1985 DET AL $670,000
Total Career Earnings $19,760,000

Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
1983 Most Valuable Player AL 8th 84.0 392 0
1978 Rookie of the Year AL 1st 21.0 28 21

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Lou Whitaker (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

  1. 98
    Alan Trammell HOF
    .285 avg, 185 HR
  2. 97
    Bobby Grich
    .266 avg, 224 HR
  3. 94
    Todd Zeile
    .265 avg, 253 HR
  4. 94
    Ron Fairly
    .266 avg, 215 HR
  5. 93
    Buddy Bell
    .279 avg, 201 HR
  6. 93
    Bobby Bonilla
    .279 avg, 287 HR

Compare Lou Whitaker

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

vs Joe Morgan
vs Darrell Evans
vs Bobby Grich
vs Roberto Alomar
vs Craig Biggio
vs Ryne Sandberg

Browse all MLB player comparisons →

Frequently Asked Questions about Lou Whitaker

What years did Lou Whitaker play?
Lou Whitaker played in Major League Baseball from 1977 to 1995.
Was Lou Whitaker a pitcher?
No. Lou Whitaker was a position player (Second Baseman).
How many home runs did Lou Whitaker hit?
Lou Whitaker hit 244 career home runs with 2369 hits.