CC Sabathia debuted in the major leagues as a 20-year-old phenom and quickly evolved into an All-Star and Cy Young Award winner before becoming the ace of a World Series winner.
Along the way, Sabathia carved out a legacy as one of the most durable and effective left-handed starters the game has ever seen.
Carsten Charles Sabathia was born July 21, 1980, in Vallejo, Calif., and became Cleveland’s first-round draft pick in 1998. Three years later, the 6-foot-6 Sabathia won a spot in the big league rotation with a team that had featured one of MLB’s most prolific lineups for a decade.
Sabathia went 17-5 for Cleveland in 2001, leading the AL with a mark of 7.4 hits per nine innings and finishing second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting. He was named to his first All-Star Game in 2003 then hit his stride in 2007, winning the AL Cy Young Award after going 19-7 with 209 strikeouts in an MLB-best 241 innings.
But with his contract set to expire after the 2008 season, Sabathia was traded to the Brewers midway through that campaign. He proceeded to put up numbers that would make him one of the best deadline acquisitions in history – going 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts while leading the National League in complete games (seven) and shutouts (three).
After becoming a free agent, Sabathia signed a nine-year deal with the Yankees. He quickly proved to be the ace New York was looking for, going 19-8 with a 3.37 ERA. Sabathia started Game 1 of each of the Yankees’ three postseason series, winning ALCS Most Valuable Player honors and leading New York to the World Series title.
Sabathia followed his World Series campaign with three straight All-Star seasons, leading MLB with 21 wins in 2010. His impressive workload – 13 straight seasons with at least 180 innings pitched, including eight years with at least 200 innings – began to take their toll on Sabathia midway through the 2010s, but Sabathia continued to pitch through his age-38 season. He retired after the 2019 campaign with a 251-161 record, a 3.74 ERA and six All-Star Game selections as well as 11 Opening Day assignments.
Sabathia’s 3,093 strikeouts ranked 16th on the all-time list at the time of his retirement, and he was just the third left-hander to join the 3,000-strikeout club. He retired as one of only five pitchers with at least 250 wins, 3,000 strikeouts and a .600 winning percentage.
In 26 postseason games, Sabathia was 10-7 with 121 strikeouts in 130.1 innings.
