Fansided

MLB Awards Watch: Hello, Corey Kluber

By Brad Rowland

Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber (28) is congratulated in the dugout after leaving the game during the eighth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber (28) is congratulated in the dugout after leaving the game during the eighth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 4
Next
Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber (28) delivers in the ninth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber (28) delivers in the ninth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /

Cy Young Award National League

  1. Clayton Kershaw, SP Los Angeles Dodgers – Clayton Kershaw leads the Major Leagues (not just the NL) in ERA (1.77), WHIP (0.86), wins (21), strikeout rate (10.85 K/9), fWAR (7.2) and bWAR (8.1). I could certainly wax poetic about his contributions, but that is pretty cut and dry, right?
  2. Adam Wainwright, SP St. Louis Cardinals – For the full season, Wainwright and Johnny Cueto (seen below) have identical marks in bWAR, but Wainwright holds a solid lead in the FanGraphs evaluation and every “luck” indicator in the book points to Wainwright’s season as holding a slight edge over Cueto’s. The biggest knock on Wainwright’s campaign has been a lack of strikeouts (just 7.10 per 9 innings), but his control (1.98 BB per 9) has been spot-on, and the veteran right-hander has been dominant as of late, with a 1.38 ERA over five September outings.
  3. Johnny Cueto, Cincinnati Reds – Cueto is third in the Majors (second in the NL) in ERA at 2.29 for the year, but his FIP stands over a full run higher (3.30) and the consensus is that Cueto has been relatively fortunate, especially when considering his .239 BABIP against. Still, he leads the NL in innings with more than 235 (!), and it is wildly impressive to post a sub-2.30 ERA over that type of workload.

American League

  1. Corey Kluber, SP Cleveland Indians – For the first time since the dawn of this column, we have a new favorite for the AL Cy Young Award. Corey Kluber now leads all American League pitchers in both fWAR (7.0) and bWAR (6.9), and on the strength of a 1.88 ERA after the All-Star break, he has closed the gap in ERA with previous leader Felix Hernandez (2.53 for Kluber to 2.34 for Hernandez). Kluber’s strikeout to walk ratio has been incredible this season (5.25-to-1), and that has pushed his success. He is a legitimate superstar.
  2. Felix Hernandez, SP Seattle Mariners – Because both pitchers are scheduled to make one additional start this season, “King Felix” is still alive and kicking. However, Hernandez was tattooed to the tune of 8 earned runs on Tuesday, ballooning his ERA to human-esque levels, and while his advanced metrics are lights-out, they are not to the level of Kluber’s at this moment. It isn’t as if Felix has “struggled” down the stretch (2.71 ERA after the All-Star break), but he hasn’t been quite as dominant, and he’ll need a heroic effort on the season’s final day to overtake Kluber.
  3. Chris Sale, SP Chicago White Sox – Sale actually leads the American League in ERA by a sizable margin at 2.17, and if he had been able to perform at his current pace over 33 starts, the left-hander would have a claim on the Cy Young award. Sale leads the AL in strikeout rate (10.76 K/9), and without the nagging injury that cost him a handful of outings, he would be garnering a lot more attention in what appears to be a two-man race.
Home/Chicago White Sox