MLB Awards Watch: Top 5 NL Cy Young candidates through May

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Over in the American League, Houston’s Dallas Keuchel picked up back-to-back awards for the pitcher of the month in April and May. In the National League, April’s winner is a fresh faced up and comer in Major League Baseball while last months winner is a more familiar face. For our NL list through the month of April, click here.

Clayton Kershaw cleaned up in the awards department last season, winning both a Cy Young and MVP trophy. A World Series title still evades the best pitcher on planet earth, though. While the last time a team (the Giants) had a league MVP (Buster Posey) on their roster and won a World Series in the same season was only 2012, it was 2001 when Randy Johnson won pitching’s Holy Grail and a World Series with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Before that, it was 1998 when Roger Clemens accomplished the same feat.

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There’s a handful of strong pitcher’s playing on NL contenders in the early days of June. Kershaw is one of them, but he’s not a top candidate yet. Even though a slow start has been his story so far this season, there is still plenty of time for him to claw his way back into the conversation.

Honorable mentions go to Kershaw, as well as James Shields (7-0, 3.58), A.J. Burnett (6-1, 2.20) and Jacob deGrom (6-4, 2.41). Shields is yet to lose and leads the NL in punch outs, the 38-year-old Burnett is pitching like he’s 28 and the sophomore deGrom is definitely not experiencing a slump.

It’s also worth noting, that while the Philadelphia Phillies won’t be vying for postseason glory this year, they have two pitchers in the top 10 for WAR at the position. It’s possible that Aaron Harang (4-5, 2.02, 2.8 WAR) and Cole Hamels (5-4, 2.88, 2.5 WAR) won’t be in a Phillies uniform come August, so a move to a more successful ball club could catapult either of them into the top five if they continue doing what they’re doing.

Next: No. 5

5. Michael Wacha – 10 GS, 7-1, 2.27 ERA, 47 SO, 1.8 WAR

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

While Michael Wacha won’t be winning any pitching Triple Crowns due to his low strikeout numbers, he is the best starter on the best pitching staff in baseball.

It’s truly remarkable to sit back and watch the St. Louis Cardinals deny adversity when it comes knocking on their door. In spite of losing ace Adam Wainwright for the season at the end of April and trading away the No. 4 pitcher on this list, the Redbirds still went 18-11 in May and are leading the NL Central.

The staff has the lowest team ERA in MLB at 2.65. The Cardinals’ starters have a combined ERA of 2.91, with no other club having a rotation even flirting with a sub 3.00 mark. The Pittsburgh Pirates are second with a 3.17 ERA. Then there is St. Louis’ bullpen, whose collective ERA of 2.14 is almost a full half point lower than the second place Mets (2.57).

St. Louis just gets the job done, year in, year out. For as stellar as the staff has been so far in 2015, it would be unacceptable to not include one of their pitcher’s in the top five of this list. Wacha’s WAR of 1.8 through the first few days of June and 10 starts is already higher than it was after his 19 starts in 2014 (1.4).

Next: No. 4

4. Shelby Miller – 11 GS, 5-2, 1.89, 51, 2.7

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

For a while there, it looked the Atlanta Braves’ ace of the future would be Julio Teheran. Then, in a surprising move this past offseason, the Braves shipped outfielder Jason Heyward to the Cardinals and acquired the 24-year-old Shelby Miller.

Miller is under club control through the 2018 season and right now, there is no question about who the best starter in Atlanta’s rotation is. While Teheran is struggling with 4-2, 4.87 start, Miller’s start has been mostly all smiles.

The first time he allowed more than two earned runs in an outing did not come until his first and only start in June. Aside from that, he leads the NL with two shutouts and is second in ERA. To give you an idea of Miller’s efficieny levels in 2015, he has thrown more than 100 pitches in an outing only once (Apr. 30) despite having recording those two complete game shutouts. In those shutouts, he threw 94 and 99 pitches apiece.

While the Cardinals are getting by fine with the absence of Miller, the Braves could not be more thankful about having worked out a deal to pick him up last November. He’s eligible for his first year of arbitration in 2016, but something tells me Atlanta will be trying to lock him up to a long-term, guaranteed money type of multi-million dollar deal in the near future.

Next: No. 3

3. Zack Greinke – 11 GS, 5-1, 1.97, 60, 2.3

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Zack Greinke has not necessarily been more electric than Kershaw in 2015, but he has been much more consistent. Kershaw leads the Los Angeles Dodgers in strikeouts with 90 and is second in the NL, but Greinke’s ERA is almost two full points lower than that of his teammate.

May was not as kind to Greinke as April was in terms of luck. In baseball’s opening month, he rattled off four consecutive wins at one point. But in May, Greinke went five-for-five in quality starts and collected only a single win. One outing in Greinke’s campaign has not been of the quality variety so far in 2015 and that came on June 2.

Greinke is tied with four other pitchers across MLB for the top spot in the QS category, but he also has the fourth lowest ERA amongst starters in the NL.

Greinke won a Cy in 2009 with the Kansas City Royals. The last time a pitcher won two Cy Young’s in different leagues, it was done so by Clemens. He won in 2001 with the Yankees and then 2004 with the Astros. Greinke could match the Rocket with such a feat, but the No. 1 player on this list might have something to say about it first.

Next: No. 2

1. Max Scherzer – 11 GS, 6-4, 1.85, 90, 3.0

Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

The most highly compensated of the three big free agent arms from the offseason, Max Scherzer is easily meeting the lofty expectations that were laid out for him after inking a $210 million deal.

Jon Lester (4-4, 3.86) in Chicago has experienced his fair share of highs and lows so far in 2015, while Shields in San Diego has been playing better. Scherzer has been on point. He’s lacking some in the win-loss department, but in three of his four losses he allowed two or fewer earned runs and lasted seven-plus innings, so that can strictly be chalked up to a lack of run support.

The Washington Nationals got off to a slow start this year. The club went 10-13 and scored only 103 runs in April, but bounced back in May, going 18-9 while putting up 125 runs on offense. Bryce Harper has been outstanding at providing Scherzer and Co. with run support all year, but the Nats will need a healthy Jayson Werth and Anthony Rendon to maximize their full potential on offense.

You have to like Scherzer’s chances at a Triple Crown right now, too. But if he does not clean up with the individual accolades in 2015, he and the Nats still stand a good chance at making their first World Series in franchise history. Good thing for them, their ace boasts a stable 3.73 ERA with a K/9 of 11.5 in 12 lifetime postseason appearances.

Next: Top 5 AL Cy Young candidates through May