Boston Red Sox closer Koji Uehara made history in 2013:
Koji Uehara finishes year with lowest WHIP ever (min 40 IP): 0.565, beating Eck's 1989 record of 0.607
— Trent McCotter (@trentmccotter) September 30, 2013
Uehara finished the season with a remarkable 1.09 ERA, 0.57 WHIP, and 21 saves in 74 1/3 innings. He struck out 101 -- 38.1 percent of hitters he faced --and walked only nine. I can go on: Uehara allowed only nine earned runs on 33 hits. Opponents hit a laughable .130/.163/.237 against him.
The right-handed reliever dominated left-handed batters. They hit only .115/.153/.185 against him. Frankly, they should be ashamed of themselves.
Wait, there's more: when Uehara got ahead of hitters, they didn't have a prayer. In 0-2 counts, batters hit .073/.073/.127 in 55 at-bats against Uehara, striking out 34 times. When down 1-2, batters hit .017/.017/.017 in 59 at-bats, striking out 37 times.
It was, any way you look at it, a remarkable season. Uehara threw 775 of his 1,049 pitches for strikes. He becomes the only pitcher to ever strike out more than 100 hitters and walk fewer than 10. And two of those walks were intentional. He last walked a batter on Aug. 3 -- it's been 22 games. He last allowed a home run on June 30.
Uehara did it all while earning only $4.25 million. By pitching in over 55 games this season -- he pitched in 73 -- a vesting option at the same amount kicks in for 2014. And it's a bargain. FanGraphs has Uehara's 2013 season, in which he was worth 3.3 Wins Above Replacement (WAR), valued at a whopping $16.6 million.
Best of all: Uehara put together his magical season at the age of 38.
Congratulations, Koji. We're not worthy.
