Texas Baseball: 5 best Longhorns of all-time in the MLB
1. Roger Clemens, P
Career: 1984-2007, 11 ASG, 139.2 WAR, 2 WS, 1 MVP, 7 CY, 4 major awards (25.27 points)
Without a doubt, the most accomplished Longhorns player ever in the MLB is the 11-time All-Star right-handed pitcher Roger Clemens. The 6-foot-4 Clemens continuously racked up accolade after accolade during his accomplished baseball career, which started out in college at San Jacinto College North in 1981.
Clemens would eventually make his way to Texas in 1982, which kicked off what would be a tremendous collegiate career with the Longhorns. He was a two-time All-American in college, one of which he helped to lead Texas to a College World Series ring in 1983.
After his collegiate career came to a close in 1983, the Red Sox selected the Longhorns star with the 19th pick in the first round of the 1983 MLB Draft. Clemens got off to a slow start with the Red Sox as a rookie in 1984, as an undiagnosed (at the time) torn labrum put a ceiling on his true potential.
Clemens found his form and really burst onto the scene for the first time with the Red Sox during the 1986 season, which would be the first of seven Cy Young awards, 11 All-Star Game appearances, and one MVP. He would go on to be one of the most dominant starting pitchers of the 1980s and most of the 1990s with the Red Sox.
Clemens won three Cy Young awards from 1986-1991 and made the All-Star Game in all but one season.
The end of Clemens’ run with the Red Sox in the mid-to-late 1990s didn’t see him find as much success as the prior decade. But he was still solid on the mound for the Sox before signing with the Blue Jays ahead of the 1997 season. Clemens returned to form with the Blue Jays, winning two consecutive Cy Young awards and making the All-Star Game in 1997 and 1998.
Clemens’s success only continued when he joined the New York Yankees during the 1999 season, which saw him get his first World Series ring. He would get a second World Series ring with the Yankees the following season, in 2000.
In the early-to-mid 2000s, Clemens remained one of the more dominant starting pitchers in the MLB. Despite turning 40 in 2003, Clemens would find himself making three more All-Star Games and winning one more Cy Young award.
Next. 3 recent Texas transfer departures that turned into contributors in the NFL. dark
Clemens is clearly one of the most decorated starting pitchers in the recent history of the MLB. He looked like a sure-fire first-ballot Hall-of-Famer when he retired from baseball in 2007. But when he was alleged by the Mitchell Report that Clemens used steroids late in his MLB career, which hurt his chances of getting into the Hall-of-Fame.
The eligibility for Clemens to be voted into the Hall-of-Fame ended in 2022, without him getting inducted.