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Joe Nathan played 16 major-league seasons (1999-2016) as a P (787). Career totals and every year-by-year line below come from the SABR/Lahman database (CC BY-SA), covering 1871-2025.
Showing 5 season lines
| Year | Age | Team | G | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 25 | SFN | 19 | 28 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | .179 | .448 | 18 |
| 2000 | 26 | SFN | 20 | 32 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | .156 | .583 | 46 |
| 2003 | 29 | SFN | 78 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | -100 |
| 2004 | 30 | MIN | 73 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | -100 |
| 2006 | 32 | MIN | 64 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | -100 |
| Year | Age | Team | G | GS | W | L | SV | IP | SO | BB | ERA | ERA+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 25 | SFN | 19 | 14 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 90.1 | 54 | 46 | 4.18 | 109 |
| 2000 | 26 | SFN | 20 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 93.1 | 61 | 63 | 5.21 | 89 |
| 2002 | 28 | SFN | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.2 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 | — |
| 2003 | 29 | SFN | 78 | 0 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 79 | 83 | 33 | 2.96 | 144 |
| 2004 | 30 | MIN | 73 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 44 | 72.1 | 89 | 23 | 1.62 | 286 |
| 2005 | 31 | MIN | 69 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 43 | 70 | 94 | 22 | 2.70 | 161 |
| 2006 | 32 | MIN | 64 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 36 | 68.1 | 95 | 16 | 1.58 | 288 |
| 2007 | 33 | MIN | 68 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 37 | 71.2 | 77 | 19 | 1.88 | 239 |
| 2008 | 34 | MIN | 68 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 39 | 67.2 | 74 | 18 | 1.33 | 327 |
| 2009 | 35 | MIN | 70 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 47 | 68.2 | 89 | 22 | 2.10 | 212 |
| 2011 | 37 | MIN | 48 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 44.2 | 43 | 14 | 4.84 | 84 |
| 2012 | 38 | TEX | 66 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 37 | 64.1 | 78 | 13 | 2.80 | 146 |
| 2013 | 39 | TEX | 67 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 43 | 64.2 | 73 | 22 | 1.39 | 287 |
| 2014 | 40 | DET | 62 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 35 | 58 | 54 | 29 | 4.81 | 79 |
| 2015 | 41 | DET | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.1 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | — |
| 2016 | 42 | CHN|SFN | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6.1 | 9 | 4 | 0.00 | — |
| Year | Pos | G | GS | PO | A | E | DP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | P | 19 | 14 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| 2000 | P | 20 | 15 | 8 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| 2002 | P | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2003 | P | 78 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| 2004 | P | 73 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
| 2005 | P | 69 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| 2006 | P | 64 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| 2007 | P | 68 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 2008 | P | 68 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| 2009 | P | 70 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| 2011 | P | 48 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 2012 | P | 66 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| 2013 | P | 67 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014 | P | 62 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | P | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Team codes are the source codes (e.g. NYN for the New York Mets, BS1 for the 1875 Boston club). OPS+ is league-season normalized, not park-adjusted; unrecorded source values (such as RBI in the earliest recorded seasons) are absent, never zero-filled.
Joe Nathan won: TSN All-Star 2005 (AL).
MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year voting history (4 ballot finishes, 0 wins). Full year pages: 2006, 2004.
| Year | Award | Lg | Rank | Points | First-place votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Cy Young Award | AL | 5 | 1 / 140 | 0 |
| 2004 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 12 | 12 / 392 | 0 |
| 2006 | Cy Young Award | AL | 5 | 3 / 140 | 0 |
| 2006 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 18 | 6 / 392 | 0 |
Joe Nathan ranks on 6 all-time single-season position leaderboards (1871-2025, league-season-normalized OPS+ / ERA+).
| Rank | Board | Year | Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| #30 | closers | 2008 | 327 ERA+ |
| #45 | relief pitchers | 2008 | 327 ERA+ |
| #51 | closers | 2006 | 288 ERA+ |
| #52 | closers | 2013 | 287 ERA+ |
| #53 | closers | 2004 | 286 ERA+ |
| #68 | relief pitchers | 2004 | 286 ERA+ |
Every career total and season line is computed from the SABR / Sean Lahman baseball database (2025 edition, CC BY-SA 3.0), the same source behind our historical position leaderboards. Rate stats use league-season normalization only (OPS+ and ERA+ as marked, never park-adjusted); unrecorded early-era values stay absent rather than being invented. Career totals sum only what the source records.
Award winners and MVP / Cy Young / Rookie of the Year voting history come from the same database; the year pages live under MLB award voting history. Official transactions (2011 to the current season) come from the MLB StatsAPI feed on our transactions archive.