Washington Nationals: Stephen Strasburg For Cy Young
By Ron Juckett
A perfect start to 2016 places Washington Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg in the Cy Young conversation. Can he top Clayton Kershaw?
Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg is having a whale of a year. Now 13-0 after shutting down the Pittsburgh Pirates Friday night, could he steal the National League Cy Young Award away from Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw?
Although Kershaw’s numbers are bordering on all-time great status, 11-2 record, 1.79 ERA, 0.727 WHiP, 220 ERA+, he has missed a month with a lower back injury and is not expected back until the end of July at the earliest. Even if at full-strength, will the lefty be able to pitch at that level coming down the stretch?
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Enter Strasburg.
Since his well-heralded arrival in 2010, the Nationals have waited for him to hit these heights. As they hold a comfortable lead over the Miami Marlins and New York Mets in the NL East, Strasburg has matured into the workhorse envisioned. Aside from the perfect record, he is fifth in WHiP at 0.985 and strikeouts tossing 138. His 13 wins lead the NL and his WAR of 4.2 is fourth. In every counting and advanced metric, he sits in the top six. This is the year justifying why all his rookie baseball cards are worth a paycheck.
Strasburg has battled over the years. Not only on the mound, but with injuries. He needed Tommy John surgery in 2011. An innings cap in 2012 forced him to miss the playoffs. A neck injury last year limited him to 23 starts. Although the signs of brilliance were there, he had not put it all together until now.
The righty owns left-handed hitters in 2016. In 189 at-bats, they are hitting .175. Although they take him deep more often, seven to four from righties, if they put the ball in play the BABIP is .226. Right-handers are more successful in a relative sense, hitting .213 with a BABIP of .295. If you think Nationals Park and its size has helped him, his ERA on the road is nearly a run lower. Away from DC, it is 1.99 compared to the 2.86 at the Navy Yard. If you take Kershaw out of the equation, along with the recent struggles of the Chicago Cubs and Jake Arrieta, Strasburg would be the odds-on favorite to win his first Cy Young.
At some point, he will lose a game. Not since Roy Face’s 18-1 season in 1959 for the Pirates has any pitcher flirted with a perfect season. It should be noted that Face was strictly a bullpen pitcher, tossing 93.1 innings in 57 games.
Strasburg has yet to receive less than three runs a start from his offense. Ten times, they gave him six runs or more. It is easier to pitch when your teammates have your back. In every sense of the word, this is a total team effort.
Although Strasburg is having a career year, his critics and the stat gurus will point out that the lone statistic he leads in is wins. On paper, he is in a fight with Kershaw, Arrieta and San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner.
The writers who will vote on the Cy Young, however, are older and use the traditional numbers of wins, ERA and strikeouts to measure. As with Chicago White Sox hurler Chris Sale and his bid to be the first pitcher to top 25 wins since 1990, a zero or a one in the loss column at season’s end boosts Strasburg’s chances.
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The writers have the final say.