Poll: Your choice for the American League’s best first-half pitcher

Narrowing this field down to five nominees was much more difficult than I had originally thought. I could easily remove a couple, add two others, and still think of another two deserving to be here.

There are a trio in which I do feel strong in having here. I’ll not mention those three as I do not want to sway your voting. I will say that for stretches, if not for their entire of the first halves of this season, all five have shown dominance over opposing hitters.

Again, my nominees were taken by looking at statistics, not be if a player’s team was in a contending position. Here’s who I believe should be considered as the American League’s top pitcher for the first half of the 2014 season.

I’ll also repeat something for the AL MVP post. Many of these posts pop up on the interwebs at this time of year. Most tell you their choices for this award and that award (The awards are, of course, not real.). I want our readers to have that choice. We voted for our All-Star teams for the AL and NL. Time for the readers to have a little fun.

(Players are listed in alphabetical order.)

Jul 15, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; American League pitcher Felix Hernandez (34) of the Seattle Mariners throws a pitch in the first inning during the 2014 MLB All Star Game at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

1. Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners
2014 stats: 11-2, 2.12 ERA, 2.04 FIP, 0.901 WHIP

“King Felix” is up to his usual tricks. He ranks in the top ten in the following:

H/9: 3rd – 6.5
HR/9: T1st – 0.3
BB/9: T6th – 1.6
SO/9: 7th – 9.6
SO/BB: 6th – 6.16

His 154 strikeouts ranks second in the AL (David Price – 164). He also ranks second in ERA and tops in FIP. Hernandez’s bWAR of 4.4 bests all other AL pitchers and sits third overall in the AL.

Hard not to include Felix on this list with the season he’s crafting. This has the potential to be his best including his Cy Young season of 2010. And that’s saying a lot considering what he did that season.

Jul 15, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; American League pitcher Scott Kazmir (26) of the Oakland Athletics throws a pitch in the 6th inning during the 2014 MLB All Star Game at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

2. Scott Kazmir, Oakland Athletics
2014 stats: 11-3, 2.38 ERA, 3.20 FIP, 0.980 WHIP

There were still questions about Kazmir even after the season he posted for Cleveland in 2013. No, it wasn’t a sensational season for Kazmir, but he did prove he can still pitch. He’s done a little more than that for the A’s thus far in 2014.

Here’s how Kazmir ranks against the other AL pitchers

ERA: 3rd
FIP: 13th
H/9: T4th – 6.8
HR/9: T17th – 0.8
BB/9: T12th – 2.1
SO/9: T13 – 8.3
SO/BB: 12th – 4.00

While some thought of 2013 as possibly a fluke, we might be seeing the Scott Kazmir many thought would be present when he broke into the bigs in 2004 with the then Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He was gone for a while, but it appears that he’s back and back in a big way.

He’s clearly on his way to a career year. Now if he can only stay healthy. He did leave a June 30 game, but his outings since that date have been spectacular (2-0, 0.64 ERA, 14 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 17 SO, 3 BB, .125 BAA).

Jun 20, 2014; Anaheim, CA, USA; Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Garrett Richards (43) pitches during the second inning against the Texas Rangers at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

3. Garrett Richards, Los Angeles Angels
2014 stats: 11-2, 2.55 ERA, 2.69 FIP, 1.062 WHIP

The breakout season for Richards has been a wonderful surprise to some baseball fans. Maybe not as much to Angels fans as much has been expected of 2009’s 42nd overall pick. His first half performance has helped propel the Angels into the AL West race. Could say he’s been the Angels best pitcher at this point of the season.

Heading into this season, Richards owned a record 11-13 in 84 games (29 starts). His ERA was 4.42 with a WHIP of 1.430. Take what he’s done thus far in 2014, and here’s what we have: 22-15, 3.77 ERA, 1.302 WHIP. While the ERA and WHIP, as well as his FIP of 3.65, might still not be where you would like, they are still improving.

And some of Richards’ 2014 numbers stack up pretty well against many other AL pitchers.

ERA: 5th
FIP: 5th
WHIP: 6th
H/9: 2nd – 6.4
HR/9: T1st – 0.3
SO/9: T9th – 9.3

Jul 15, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; American League pitcher Chris Sale (49) of the Chicago White Sox throws a pitch in the fourth inning during the 2014 MLB All Star Game at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

4. Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox
2014 stats: 8-1, 2.08 ERA, 2.47 FIP, 0.842 WHIP

Sure, he missed some time, but he’s made exceptionally good use of the time he’s been on the mound.

He leads the AL in ERA. I know there’s certain folk that believe that’s an antiquated stat, but I think it still holds some significance. I stress, some, but it’s not a huge lead over the previously mentioned Felix Hernandez. Here’s a look at some other stats and where Sale ranks among his AL pitching brethren.

ERA: 1st
FIP: 2nd
WHIP: 1st
H/9: 1st – 6.1
HR/9: T8th – 0.6
BB/9: 5th – 1.5
SO/9: 5th – 9.7
SO/BB: 5th – 6.38

Less time does mean less innings (95 IP) than the others, but you cannot deny what Sale’s done when on the mound.

There’s my five. I’m positive there are others that you feel should be noted here. As I did with the AL MVP vote, if you feel a pitcher should have been nominated, vote for “other” on the poll and please leave his name within our comments section. Also add why you believe he should be among the five as well as who you think should be removed from my five.

(If you missed the vote for first-half AL MVP, you can head here to vote for the category! Just be sure you vote here, too!)