Fansided

MLB Awards Watch: Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa battle for AL Rookie of the Year

By Brad Rowland

Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) smiles during the ninth inning at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Cleveland Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) smiles during the ninth inning at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 7
Next
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22) works against the Colorado Rockies in the second inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22) works against the Colorado Rockies in the second inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports /

NL Cy Young

  1. Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers – Kershaw leads the NL in strikeout rate (11.39 K/9), innings pitched (215), FIP (2.09), xFIP (2.17) and fWAR (7.8) and, frankly, it doesn’t matter that he ranks third in ERA. That would be an issue if Kershaw’s ERA was bad, but considering it sits at 2.18c at the time of this post, that isn’t a knock on his profile. He’s been unhittable since the end of May, and that stretch will buoy the left-hander to the award.
  2. Jake Arrieta, Chicago Cubs – Arrieta has been lights-out. He could legitimately finish with a sub-2.00 ERA (currently at 1.96) while anchoring the staff of a legitimate NL contender…. and he still shouldn’t win. That isn’t a knock on Arrieta, but Kershaw has just been that good, and his best hope remains the possibility that the two Dodgers starters split votes when October arrives.
  3. Zack Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers – For a bit of reference, Greinke would be the leader in the AL Cy Young race given his performance, and he’s just unlucky to be living in a world occupied by both Kershaw and Arrieta. It will be fascinating to see the breakdown of voting, especially if Greinke maintains an MLB-leading ERA (1.65) for the remainder of the year, but the peripherals keep him comfortably behind the other two for now.

Next: AL Cy Young

Home/Chicago Cubs