| Player | bWAR/IP | bWAR | IP | From | To | Age | SO | ERA | FIP | ERA+ | BB/9 | SO/9 | SO/BB |
| Johan Santana | 0.0277 (3rd) | 42.8 (9th) | 1,543 (73rd) | 2000 | 2008 | 21-29 | 1587 (29th) | 3.11 (52nd) | 3.34 (63rd) | 144 (2nd) | 2.49 (48th) | 9.26 (5th) | 3.72 (5th) |
I can’t speak for everyone reading this, but I personally forgot just how dominant Johan Santana was at the beginning of his career. Almost everyone else who cracked this list pitched roughly 2000+ innings. Santana threw just 1,543 innings and everyone who accumulated more than his 42.8 bWAR completed at least 1,935 frames.
Santana’s peak coincided with an offensive explosion in baseball. Between 2004 and 2006, while teams were putting up runs at historic clips, Santana quietly led the league three years in a row in strikeouts, strikeouts per nine, hits per nine, FIP, WHIP, and ERA+. He won the AL Cy Young award in both 2004 and 2006 and placed in the top five in the voting three more times before turning thirty.
Santana once looked like he was going to be a sure-fire Hall of Famer. Unfortunately, he would only pitch in three seasons on the other side of thirty before injuries did him in.
His ranking is held back only by his lack of innings and championships, but, for straight dominance, Santana is as good a choice as any on this list.