We’re back to the Cy Young race this week. For last week’s MVP rankings, click here. For the Rookie of the Year review the week before, click here. Next week we’ll return to the Rookie race. All stats are as of June 6. The number in brackets represents a player’s ranking during the last review.
It’s a shame Clayton Kershaw missed all of April with a back injury. Otherwise, on the heels of a near-perfect game, he would undoubtedly be included among the NL’s Cy Young contenders. His 9-inning, no-hit, no-walk, 15-K game scored a 102 on Bill James’ Game Score. That figure represents the second best 9-inning start in major league history, three points behind Kerry Wood’s 20-K, one-hitter in 1998.
Still, Kershaw did miss that month, and as such, has a long ways to go to catch Johnny Cueto.
Over in the AL, Masahiro Tanaka and Felix Hernandez are locked in a near-tie with Tanaka just barely edging out the lead.
AL – Tanaka on Top
1. (1.) Masahiro Tanaka, NYY: 11-1, 1.99 ERA, 113 K, 99.2 IP, 0.95 WHIP
Tanaka has dominated in every start he’s made so far in his major league career. He hasn’t given up more than three earned runs or pitched fewer than six innings in any of his 14 starts. On top of wins and ERA, he is leading the AL in ERA+ at 203, sits second in K/9 with 10.2 and is tied for second in WHIP. He could become the first player in the American League to win both the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards in the same season.
2. (2.) Felix Hernandez, SEA: 8-2, 2.22 ERA, 122 K, 113.1 IP, 0.95 WHIP
King Felix, the 2010 Cy Young winner, sits just below Tanaka this week. He has two more starts than his Yankee counterpart, and thus has pitched 13.2 more innings and K’d 9 more batters. He has also given up just three home runs all season. Tanaka’s rate stats, however, are enough to make up the difference. Combined with the fact that, unlike Tanaka, Hernandez has had a couple mediocre starts and King Felix sits in second where he finished in 2009.
3. (-) Yu Darvish, TEX: 7-3, 2.39 ERA, 109 K, 90.1 IP, 1.20 WHIP, 10.9 K/9
Last year’s runner up is at it again. His last outing in Oakland was a dud, giving up eight hits, seven runs (four earned) and walking five over five innings. In his previous start, however, he tossed a 10-K shutout against the Marlins. All told, Darvish is pitching just as well this year as he did last year, when he struck out 277 batters, the most in the American League since 2000. His strikeout rate is slightly down (though still stellar) and his hit rate is slightly up (though again, still very good) but his home run rate has been slashed by more than half. After giving up 26 dingers last year, at a rate of 1.1 per nine innings, he has given up just 5 this season, good for 0.5 per nine.
4. (-) Scott Kazmir, OAK: 9-2, 2.08 ERA, 80 K, 95 IP, 0.94 WHIP
Kazmir has been the best pitcher on a stellar A’s pitching staff. Between 2009 and 2012 he battled through injuries and mediocrity, missing the entire 2012 season, only to make a comeback with the Indians last season. Over 29 starts, Kazmir went 10-9 with a 4.04 ERA, striking out more than a batter per inning. Now, at the age of 30, Kazmir is enjoying the best year of his career. While his K/9 is well below his career rate, he has cut his walks almost in half, and is leading the AL in H/9 with just 6.6.
5. (3.) Mark Buehrle, TOR: 10-4, 2.32 ERA, 59 K, 100.2 IP, 1.23 WHIP
Having lost his last three starts, Buehrle is in danger of falling off this list completely. Still, the lefty is enjoying far and away the best season of his career. While his strikeout and walk rates remain pretty close to his career averages, Buehrle has chopped his home run rate in half, which is no doubt a large reason why his ERA sits a run and a half below his career 3.79 mark. Averaging 25 homers per year, Buehrle has given up just five so far.
Off the list –
(4.) Dallas Keuchel
(5.) Sonny Gray
NL – Cueto retakes the Lead
1. (2.) Johnny Cueto, CIN: 6-5, 1.92 ERA, 111 K, 108 IP, 0.83 WHIP
If there was ever evidence that wins and losses don’t reflect a pitcher’s ability, look no further than Johnny Cueto. Six times this season, Cueto has gone at least six innings, given up two or fewer runs and failed to get the win. Still, leading the majors in WHIP, ERA, complete games (3), and H/9 (5.3) and the National League in innings pitched and ERA+ (192), Cueto has been the best pitcher in the majors so far this season.
2. (1.) Adam Wainwright, STL: 9-3, 2.15 ERA, 91 K, 100.1 IP, 0.93 WHIP
Wainwright began and ended May with awful starts, the only blemishes on his stellar season. On May 2nd, he gave up 10 hits and six runs in five innings against the Cubs. On May 30th, he gave up eight hits and seven runs in four and a third innings against the Giants. Incredibly, seven of Wainwright’s 14 starts have been scoreless. Wainwright is no stranger to second place for this award either; he finished second to Roy Halladay in 2010 and second to Clayton Kershaw last year. (SIA Alert)
3. (3.) Julio Teheran, ATL: 6-4, 2.31 ERA, 84 K, 105 IP, 0.93 WHIP
Coming off an excellent rookie season, Teheran has improved nearly every aspect of his game. While he is striking out batters at a slightly lower clip, he has trimmed his walk and hit rates while pitching far deeper into games. Like Wainwright, Teheran’s numbers are weighed down by two bad starts, including allowing seven runs to the Rockies on June 11th and lasting just three innings, allowing five runs (four earned) against the Giants on May 14th. Those turns aside, Teheran hasn’t gone fewer than six innings and has only allowed more than two earned runs once.
4. (5.) Tim Hudson, SF: 7-3, 2.39 ERA, 60 K, 94 IP, 1.06 WHIP
Hudson got hit hard in his last start, allowing 12 hits and 7 runs in four and two-thirds innings against the White Sox. Prior to that disaster, Hudson had been consistently excellent in every start. Hudson’s first two months of the season scream regression, and it appears that that is what’s in store for the 38-year-old veteran. After walking just six batters through the end of May, Hudson has walked eight so far in June, to go along with 30 hits in 23.1 innings. With his hit, home run and strikeout rates all floating around his career rates, and his walk rate steadily rising, his ERA is starting to look like an outlier.
5. (4.) Zack Greinke, LAD: 9-3, 2.57 ERA, 97 K, 91 IP, 1.17 WHIP
Having his best season since he won this award back in 2009, Greinke hasn’t really had a bad start all year. Unfortunately, he also hasn’t been pitching all that deep into games. Despite only once giving up more than three earned runs, Greinke has made it past the 6th inning just five times in fifteen starts. That isn’t necessarily a huge problem for the Dodgers, given their stellar bullpen, but it’s the main reason why he ranks below Hudson, who has pitched more innings despite having made one less start.
For more on sports injuries, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
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