MLB Awards Watch: Rolling with Mike Trout

AL Cy Young

1. Chris Archer, Tampa Bay Rays – Archer doesn’t lead the AL in any major pitching category, but he lands in the top-5 across the board and continues to be my Cy Young front-runner. Archer’s 2.31 ERA is nothing resembling a fluke, and with nearly 11 strikeouts per 9 innings (10.98 K/9), he has made the jump to legitimately dominant in that category. It seems as if Archer is featured as a breakout by a different outlet every day, but we’ve been here for weeks. He’s a monster.
2. Dallas Keuchel, Houston Astros – Keuchel is still proving people wrong. While he has been lingering in AL Cy Young conversations throughout the season, some are convinced that he could crash back to Earth at any moment. In his last outing, though, Keuchel struck out 12 on the way to a complete game shutout of the Yankees, and for the season, he now boasts a 2.17 ERA in 116.1 innings. That type of strikeout showing isn’t likely to repeat itself for Keuchel, but the “stuff” continues to play.
3. Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox – Sale’s ERA (3.02) doesn’t nearly do his 2015 performance justice. For context, the powerful left-hander leads AL pitchers in fWAR (3.4) by a comfortable margin, and his peripheral stats (2.10 FIP, 2.36 xFIP) indicate that luck has been against him. Sale’s strikeout performance (12.18 K/9) is unmatched in the American League and given his strong command on top of that, he is borderline unhittable at times. Look beyond ERA and see that Sale might be the best pitcher in the AL right now.

Next: NL MVP