San Diego Padres: First Half Cy Young

The San Diego Padres starting rotation has been pretty good this season, so who is the best starter of the first half of the 2019 season?

Eric Lauer was awarded the Opening Day start for the San Diego Padres in 2019, and he didn’t give up any runs. The Padres won that game starting a season that would be full of surprises from the youngest rotation in baseball.

Lauer now has a losing record with a 4.22 ERA but he hasn’t really pitched bad. When he trusts his fastball he has been pretty good in the first half of the season.

Only in 5 out of the 16 starts has he allowed more than 3 earned runs.

His breakout year still wasn’t enough to win the first half Cy Young.

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Matt Strahm has been too inconsistent to be in consideration of the best start of the first half, as he has an ERA over 5 and seems to have been moved to the bullpen.

Joey Lucchesi has also pitched well in his 2nd season in San Diego, posting a 3.91 ERA in 16 starts.

But the rookie right-hander nicknamed “The Sheriff” has had the best first half, and he is my Cy Young.

Chris Paddack, 23, took advantage of the opportunity in Spring Training and made the Opening Day roster. I believe he should have started Opening Day, but perhaps the team didn’t want him to feel under pressure so he started the final game of the Opening Series.

In that first start, he went five strong innings, striking out 7, and allowing just 1 earned run.

Since then he has had some up and downs including a 10-day roadblock to Lake Elsinore to give him rest, give him time to work on his changeup, and to limit his innings.

When he has been on a major league mound, he has been excellent. When he is on he arguably has the most devastating changeup in the league to complement a fastball that he can command up in the zone.

Just look at his fastball from his 11 K start vs Jacob deGrom and the Mets:

In 9 of his 14 starts, Paddack has allowed 2 or fewer runs and has 10 starts with at least 5 strikeouts.

Other than Braves rookie starter Mike Soroka who is an All-Star, Paddack has arguably been the best rookie pitcher this season.

Chris Paddack will be at the top of the rotation in a San Diego Padres uniform for years to come and pitched well enough to win my Cy Young for the first half of the season.