The top flight pitchers in baseball right now are putting up some ridiculous stats every five days and choosing Cy Young winners will be tough.
For the first time all season long, there is not an Astros pitcher in this article. They still have quite the trio atop their rotation with Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Charlie Morton. That doesn’t even count Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers who are likely the best fourth and fifth starter in baseball. Verlander and Cole especially are still right on the fringe of being considered but they’re being beat out by a few pitchers as of August 1st. What’s really going to be fascinating this season is seeing how team performance comes into play in the voting. I think that factor should be one of the least relevant of all measures, but it won’t be a shock if it shows up in the final voting tally.
Unlike the MVP race, there’s some really solid candidates in the Nationals League that don’t feel like they’re being shoe-horned into the discussion. In fact, there will be three pitchers from the N.L. and only two for the A.L. because Luis Severino has fallen off a little bit in his past few starts. Much like the MVP column, the last two slides will be reserved for who should win the award in each league from this point moving forward. If you’ve read this column before, there have usually been GIFs from @pitchingninja to illustrate each pitcher at his best. That will not longer be the case in the article but it’s still a great way to see just a little piece of each pitcher. Let’s dive into the list!
5. Aaron Nola, RHP for the Philadelphia Phillies
12-3, 2.35 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 25.7 strikeout rate, 142.0 IP, 2.67 FIP, 3.31 xFIP, 4.6 WAR
The Phillies are battling for the lead in the N.L. East and that comes as a surprise to many. A lot of folks around baseball realized that the Phillies were a team on the upswing but I’m not sure anyone thought they would be 59-48 at this point. One of the main cogs of the Philadelphia squad has been starter Aaron Nola.
None of the other four main starters in Philly are over a 2.1 WAR and Nola has been the clear ace of the staff. There has even been some noise that he could be the N.L. MVP. That might be more because the MVP in the National League is family uninspiring because Nola isn’t at MVP of a league level yet. Of the 22 games that Nola has started, Nola has only given up four runs twice and he’s not given up five at all this year. 17 of the 22 starts have been two earned or fewer, which is an excellent mark and he’s given his team a chance to win every single time out. There’s a very good argument to have him over some of the other pitcher in the N.L and he may well end up there by the end of the season. Philly winning the East or making the playoffs would certainly help his cause. Nola is just 25 years old and is one of the premier starters in the majors right now.