The Cy Young award is up this week. For last week’s MVP rankings, click here. For the Rookie of the Year rankings the week before, click here. Next week we’ll return to the rookie races. All stats are as of August 1st. The number in brackets represents a player’s ranking on the last such list.
The Cy Young award has once again become the Clayton Kershaw show. The young lefty is reeling off start after start of utter dominance, and is now the top Cy Young contender despite missing the first month of the season.
In the AL, Felix Hernandez has continued the best season of his career while Chris Sale, who also lost a month of injury, is rising fast.
AL
1. (1.) Felix Hernandez, SEA: 11-3, 2.01 ERA, 178 K, 165.1 IP, 0.89 WHIP
King Felix has now reeled off 14 straight starts of pitching at least seven innings without allowing more than two runs. During that stretch, he has a 1.44 ERA and is striking out nearly six batters for every walk. His ERA, H/9 (6.3), BB/9 (1.7) and K/9 (9.7) are all career bests and he has allowed just six home runs all season. Perhaps the most amazing stat of all, however, is that he hasn’t thrown a complete game since August 27th, 2012.
2. (5.) Chris Sale, CWS: 10-1, 1.88 ERA, 122 K, 110 IP, 0.86 WHIP
Sale has been every bit as good as Hernandez, but has done so throwing 55 fewer innings. Indeed, despite Hernandez’s incredible run, Sale has been the better pitcher of late, going 3-0 with a 0.85 ERA and 38 K in 31.2 July innings. However, having missed a month of the season, he has a long way to go in order to catch Hernandez.
3. (-) Corey Kluber, CLE: 11-6, 2.61 ERA, 170 K, 158.1 IP, 1.08 WHIP
In tossing consecutive complete games, without allowing an earned run in either, Kluber has cemented himself as on of the best pitchers in the AL. He struggled with control problems all through his minor league career, but last season he showed signs of greatness, allowing just 2 walks per nine. That control has carried over this season, as he owns a stellar 5.15 K/BB and, at 28 years old, should remain an ace for years to come.
4. (3.) Jon Lester, OAK: 10-7, 2.52 ERA, 149 K, 143 IP, 1.12 WHIP
Through some incredibly shrewd trading, Oakland has now pieced together an outrageously good pitching staff of Lester, Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir, Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel. While the trade certainly bodes well for the Athletics, it should make Lester’s numbers look even prettier given the A’s massive home park and stellar defense. It seems unlikely he’ll remain in Oakland beyond this season, but winning his 3rd World Series ring is now a definite possibility.
5. (4.) Scott Kazmir, OAK: 12-3, 2.37 ERA, 116 K, 129.1 IP, 1.02 WHIP
Having previously led the AL in walks with 100 in 2005 and strikeouts with 239 in 2007, Kazmir has reinvented himself as a pitcher. In posting a 9.7 K/9 ratio from 2005-2008, and a 9.2 mark last season, Kazmir sits a a good, but not elite, 8.1 mark this season. However, during that same stretch he walked 4.1 per nine, but is down to just 2.1 this season, thus his 3.87 K/BB is the best of his career. Indeed, strikeouts aside, Kazmir is set to smash his career bests in every meaningful pitching stat.
Off the list –
2. Garrett Richards, LAA
NL
1. (4.) Clayton Kershaw, LAD: 13-2, 1.71 ERA, 150 K, 121.1 IP, 0.82 WHIP
It’s a shame Kershaw missed all of April, because then his numbers would look even better. Though he has thrown 40 fewer innings than Johnny Cueto, he has the Reds ace beat in pretty well every other category. It is hard to say what is more impressive, his 1.71 ERA, 207 ERA+ or his insane 10.0 K/BB. He just keeps getting better, and at age 26 with two Cy Young awards already under his belt, the best may be yet to come.
2. (3.) Johnny Cuet0, CIN: 12-6, 2.05 ERA, 166 K, 162.2 IP, 0.92 WHIP
Though he has cooled off a bit from his outrageous start to the season, Cueto has still been excellent and is in the midst of the best season of his career, thanks to having shattered his career hit and strikeout rates. His league best 5.9 H/9 and stellar 9.2 K/9 are both well above the 8.4 and 7.0 marks he had coming in to the season. While this award looked like a battle between him and Adam Wainwright, the two are now looking up at Kershaw, a situation which doesn’t seem like it will change any time soon.
3. (1.) Adam Wainwright, STL: 13-5, 1.92 ERA, 122 K, 149.2 IP, 0.96 WHIP
Though July saw his throw three starts of at least seven scoreless innings, it also struck out just 17 batters in 33 innings, with an ugly 1.41 K/BB ratio. Though he has been scoreless in 10 of his 21 starts, an incredible feat, he hasn’t looked anywhere near as dominant lately as he did earlier this season. It is certainly too early for the Cardinals to hit the panic button, but it is going to be hard for him to maintain his low ERA if his rate stats continue to climb.
4. (3.) Julio Teheran, ATL: 10-7, 2.69 ERA, 141 K, 157.1 IP, 1.04 WHIP
In improving in just about every way from his excellent rookie season, the 23-year-old Teheran is looking like he’ll be a Cy Young contender for many years to come. he had a bit of a rough July, posting a 3.76 ERA and allowing five homers, but he struck out a batter per inning and should be perfectly fine moving forward.
5. (-) Tyson Ross, SD: 10-10, 2.60 ERA, 150 K, 148.2 IP, 1.18 WHIP
In his last eight starts, Tyson Ross has [posted a 1.47 ERA and K’d 60 in 55 innings. Thanks to the Padres historically pathetic offense, however, he has gone just 4-4 during that stretch. On the season he’s got a great 2.60 ERA and a stellar 9.1 K/9, building off a strong 2013 in which he posted a 3.04 ERA in twelve starts down the stretch upon joining the Padres rotation.
Off the list –
5. Josh Beckett, LAD
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