MLB awards watch: AL Cy Young race
3. Mike Minor, LHP, Texas Rangers
5-3, 72 strikeouts, 1.13 WHIP, 3.6 WAR and 2.55 ERA.
Like Morton, Mike Minor has been a consistent starter. April was a better month for Minor, but that doesn’t mean his May was bad.
Minor had an ERA of 1.75, a 0.83 WHIP and a record of 3-1 in 36 innings pitched in April. Perhaps he set the bar too high, as he has gone 2-1 with a 2.10 ERA and 1.43 WHIP in May.
In April, Minor was working into the latter stages of ballgames more, pitching seven or more innings four times with one complete game. So far in May, he has one such start.
Regardless, the southpaw has had two spectacular months to begin the season. In the American League, he is top five in ERA, and top 10 in innings pitched and strikeouts.
Minor‘s fastball percentage is currently a bit over 42 percent, which would be the lowest usage of his career. Instead, he is using his slider 18 percent of the time, curveball 16 percent and changeup over 23 percent. That’s the third-highest slider percentage of his career and his changeup usage is at a career high.
Yes, some of those usage percentages are marginally different, but Minor has been mixing things up this season.