Detroit Tigers: Top 10 Strikeout Kings

In thirteen seasons with the Tigers, Justin Verlander was a fan favorite and compiled the second most career strikeouts in franchise history.

The Tigers drafted Verlander second overall in the 2004 MLB Draft. It wasn’t until July 2005 that Verlander made his MLB debut. In 2006, the Tigers became the only team to have three pitchers through multiple 100 MPH fastballs in the same game as Verlander, Joel Zumaya, and Fernando Rodney each pitched in the game.

With the Tigers, Verlander was a 6x All-Star, and a Triple Crown winner. As well he pitched two no-hitters with the Tigers. His first came in 2007 and his next one in 2011.  As a member of the organization he logged 2511.0 innings of work with 2373 strikeouts. He posted a 3.49 ERA in 380 appearances. All of which were starts, and 23 of them were complete games.

Over the last decade, he’s been the best Tigers pitcher, arguably, since Jack Morris left the Tigers for the Twins. Justin was a part of a decade of Tigers baseball that captivated fans. As you well know, the Tigers admitted rebuild and traded JV away to the Astros.

Had he stayed with the Tigers he undoubtedly would have become the strike king in the motor city. However, that title belongs to Tigers’ great Mickey Lolich. A member of the 1968 World Series team and the franchise record holder for strikeouts (2679), games started (459), shutouts (39) and several other franchise records.