The Baseball Scholar

Boston Red Sox Best Single Seasons

Dave Franks
1–2 minutes

These are the greatest individual seasons in Boston Red Sox history, broken down by player and position. Since we’re celebrating standout seasons, players can show up multiple times especially if they logged meaningful time at different spots on the field. Outfielders and pitchers may also appear for multiple seasons when those performances rank as the franchise’s best at their respective positions.

Catcher

  • Carlton Fisk – 1972HOFRookie of the Year

    Carlton Fisk Hitting Stats
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS
    7.3 165 131 514 457 74 134 28 9 22 61 52 83 5 2 .293 .370 .538 .909

    • First Base

  • Carl Yastrzemski – 1970HOF

    Carl Yastrzemski Hitting Stats
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS
    9.5 179 161 697 566 125 186 29 0 40 102 128 66 23 13 .329 .452 .592 1.044

    • Second Base

  • Dustin Pedroia – 2011

    Dustin Pedroia Hitting Stats
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS
    8.0 133 159 731 635 102 195 37 3 21 91 86 85 26 8 .307 .387 .474 .861

    • Third Base

  • Wade Boggs – 1987HOF

    Wade Boggs Hitting Stats
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS
    8.3 171 147 667 551 108 200 40 6 24 89 105 48 1 3 .363 .461 .588 1.049

    • Shortstop

  • Rico Petrocelli – 1969

    Rico Petrocelli Hitting Stats
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS
    10.0 163 154 643 535 92 159 32 2 40 97 98 68 3 5 .297 .403 .589 .992

    • Outfield

  • Ted Williams – 1957HOF

    Ted Williams Hitting Stats
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS
    9.7 223 132 546 420 96 163 28 1 38 87 119 43 0 1 .388 .526 .731 1.257

    • Outfield

  • Carl Yastrzemski – 1967HOFMVP

    Carl Yastrzemski Hitting Stats
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS
    12.4 194 161 680 579 112 189 31 4 44 121 91 69 10 8 .326 .418 .622 1.040

    • Outfield

  • Ted Williams – 1941HOF

    Ted Williams Hitting Stats
    WAR wRC+ G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS
    10.4 217 143 606 456 135 185 33 3 37 120 147 27 2 4 .406 .553 .735 1.287

    • Starting Pitcher

  • Pedro Martinez – 2000HOFCy Young

    Pedro Martinez Pitching Stats
    WAR ERA- G GS W L ERA IP CG ShO SV R ER BB SO K% WHIP
    11.7 35 29 29 18 6 1.74 217 7 4 0 44 42 32 284 34.8% 0.74

    • Starting Pitcher

  • Roger Clemens – 1990

    Roger Clemens Pitching Stats
    WAR ERA- G GS W L ERA IP CG ShO SV R ER BB SO K% WHIP
    10.4 47 31 31 21 6 1.93 228.1 7 4 0 59 49 54 209 22.7% 1.08

    • Starting Pitcher

  • Pedro Martinez – 1999HOFCy Young

    Pedro Martinez Pitching Stats
    WAR ERA- G GS W L ERA IP CG ShO SV R ER BB SO K% WHIP
    9.8 42 31 29 23 4 2.07 213.1 5 1 0 56 49 37 313 37.5% 0.92

    • Starting Pitcher

  • Cy Young – 1901HOF

    Cy Young Pitching Stats
    WAR ERA- G GS W L ERA IP CG ShO SV R ER BB SO K% WHIP
    12.5 44 43 41 33 10 1.62 371.1 38 5 0 112 67 37 158 0.97

    • Starting Pitcher

  • Dutch Leonard – 1914

    Dutch Leonard Pitching Stats
    WAR ERA- G GS W L ERA IP CG ShO SV R ER BB SO K% WHIP
    9.6 36 36 25 19 5 0.96 224.2 17 7 3 34 24 60 176 0.89

    • Relief Pitcher

  • Jonathan Papelbon – 2006

    Jonathan Papelbon Pitching Stats
    WAR ERA- G GS W L ERA IP CG ShO SV R ER BB SO K% WHIP
    5.0 20 59 0 4 2 0.92 68.1 0 0 35 8 7 13 75 29.2% 0.78

    • Relief Pitcher

  • Koji Uehara – 2013

    Koji Uehara Pitching Stats
    WAR ERA- G GS W L ERA IP CG ShO SV R ER BB SO K% WHIP
    3.5 26 73 0 4 1 1.09 74.1 0 0 21 10 9 9 101 38.1% 0.57

    • Relief Pitcher

  • Chris Martin – 2023

    Chris Martin Pitching Stats
    WAR ERA- G GS W L ERA IP CG ShO SV R ER BB SO K% WHIP
    3.2 23 55 0 4 1 1.05 51.1 0 0 3 6 6 8 46 23.1% 1.03

    • Honorable Mention

  • Catcher – Carlton Fisk, 1977
  • First Base – Jimmie Foxx, 1939
  • Second Base – Bobby Doerr, 1944
  • Third Base – Wade Boggs, 1988
  • Shortstop – Nomar Garciaparra, 2000
  • Outfield – Ted Williams, 1946
  • Outfield – Ted Williams, 1947
  • Outfield – Ted Williams, 1942
  • Starting Pitcher – Pedro Martinez, 2003
  • Starting Pitcher – Roger Clemens, 1986
  • Starting Pitcher – Lefty Grove, 1936
  • Starting Pitcher – Roger Clemens, 1992
  • Starting Pitcher – Roger Clemens, 1987
  • Relief Pitcher – Aroldis Chapman, 2025
  • Relief Pitcher – Luis Tiant, 1972

    • All underlying data used in this analysis is available in The Baseball Scholar Data Library.

    3 responses to “Boston Red Sox Best Single Seasons”

    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      Ortiz’s best season has to be 2006. 54 HR’s 137 RBI’s 1049 OPS. Just because his WAR was higher in 2007 doesnt mean it was his best year.

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      1. Dave Franks Avatar
        Dave Franks

        WAR was one of several metrics I used to compile these. wRC+ and wOBA were two other highly weighted metrics. None of those three metrics factors in RBI. I also didn’t use OPS because it uses SLG which incorrectly weighs hits.

        Having said all that, I wouldn’t argue for one of those two over the other.

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    2. mrgjg Avatar
      mrgjg

      How do you leave Yaz’s 1967 off? Not even on the bench? His 12.5 WAR was the second highest single season in history.

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