Time to Consider Kevin Gausman for NL Cy Young

There’s no doubt that Jacob deGrom is and should be the betting favorite to win the National League Cy Young Award, but that doesn’t mean we should stop recognizing other pitchers who are putting up numbers that would be award-winning in any other season.

Kevin Gausman deserves that credit.

I tweeted out a poll on Wednesday night, asking my followers who is their NL Cy Young winner if deGrom wasn’t in the mix. The majority of people gave the nod to the Gas Man.

Despite Gausman getting 57.9% of the vote, oddsmakers don’t seem to agree. On WynnBET’s latest odds list to win the NL Cy Young award, Gausman is listed at +1500, tied with Zack Wheeler, Yu Darvish and Corbin Burnes. Jacob deGrom is unsurprisingly the heavy favorite at -300.

It’s also interesting to note that Trevor Rogers isn’t listed in the top seven, despite having the fourth-lowest ERA in the league.

It’s time for us to all give Gausman the respect he deserves, and if you think tragedy will strike the second half of deGrom’s season, the Giants pitcher is a great value bet at +1500 odds.

The 30-year old has always been a solid pitcher in the majors. His ERA has usually hovered in the high threes to mid fours, but nobody expected the season that we’ve seen from him this year. Through his first 15 starts, he has an 8-1 record with a 1.49 ERA and a 0.766 WHIP.

He ranks behind only deGrom in earned run average among all starting pitchers in Major League Baseball, and he has a better win-loss record than deGrom, who currently sits at 7-2. Furthermore, he’s allowed more than two runs in a single start just once all season, and it came back in his third start on April 13 against the Cincinnati Reds.

The Colorado native also has the highest WAR (wins above replacement) above all starting pitchers at 4.3.

Many people (including myself) were expecting a regression to the mean at some point this season, but after a seven-inning, one-run performance against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night, it’s time to finally give him the respect he deserves.

An injury or a late season collapse by deGrom would have to happen for the Cy Young to be handed to someone else, but if it does, that someone else is going to be Kevin Gausman.