Unlike the American League where there is plenty of unknown and intrigue, the race in the National League for the NL Cy Young award has been fairly anticlimactic to this point. It's not for a lack of great pitching, that has been on display and evident all year long for some. It's simply because of one overly dominant pitcher putting up historically great numbers.
The NL Cy Young award has basically turned into a race for second place at this stage. It sounds crazy to say that in early July but it's the reality of the situation.
Here are the three NL Cy Young leaders entering the MLB All-Star break, ranked.
3.) Kevin Gausman – Giants
When discussing one of the true and surprising feel good stories of the MLB season so far, not only are the San Francisco Giants in the mix, their starting pitcher Kevin Gausman is as well.
Gausman is a career journeyman, playing for his 4th team in his 9th year in the big leagues.
With a career record of 58-69 and an ERA of 4.01, the Giants had to be hoping to for Gausman to be a middle of the rotation innings eater. Instead, he's pieced together by far his best season of his career so far in 2021.
Gausman is 8-3 and has a 1.74 ERA across 17 starts for the Giants this year, putting him right in the mix for the NL Cy Young award. The righty has a WHIP of 0.801 and his walk numbers per nine innings have never been lower than they are this season (2.2 per 9 innings).
The incredible year for Gausman has gone hand-in-hand with the Giants surprise surge to the top of the NL West this year. San Francisco has the target on their back, leading the Dodgers and the Padres in the division. All the talk this offseason was LA coming off a World Series title and adding Trevor Bauer while the Padres went all out in acquiring Blake Snell and Yu Darvish. Yet it's the Giants leading the way and a big reason for it is the pitching of Kevin Gausman.
2.) Zack Wheeler – Phillies
It wasn't too long ago that Zack Wheeler was part of an up-and-coming Mets rotation that was supposed to take the league by storm. Wheeler was set to be a big part of that before he hit free agency and signed with the Phillies in the 2019 offseason.
Imagining a one-two punch of Wheeler and Jacob deGrom is terrifying and seems unfair and the former has had a great year for Philadelphia in 2021.
Wheeler leads the league in innings pitched (114) and strikeouts (139) and has been a constant in the Phillies rotation as they continue to hover around the middle of the NL East, but not far off the pace of the Mets.
Across 17 starts this year, Wheeler has five where he's going at least six innings while giving up zero runs. He's reached double digit strikeout totals in five starts as well with three of those coming back-to-back-to-back at the end of May. His ERA sits at a commanding 2.05.
It doesn't matter how it's sliced up, Zack Wheeler has been one of the best pitchers in all of baseball this year. If not for the dude who checks in at No. 1 on this list, Wheeler would be the clear leader for the NL Cy Young award.
1.) Jacob deGrom – Mets
This is the biggest no-brainer pick of the lot.
Jacob deGrom isn't just the commanding leader to win the NL Cy Young award, he's got a legitimate shot to win the MVP award.
Where to start with deGrom? How about the fact that he leads all of baseball in ERA (0.95), WHIP (0.541), strikeouts per 9 innings (14.4), walks per 9 innings (1.2), hits per 9 innings (3.7), home runs per 9 innings (0.4) and FIP (1.00).
What he has done this year renders most utterly speechless and for good reason.
Jacob deGrom's year has been historically good in more ways than one so far. Sarah Langs of MLB.com has done a tremendous job documenting it.
- Jacob deGrom’s 0.54 WHIP is the lowest by any pitcher in any 14-start span since at least 1901.
- His streak of allowing one or no earned runs in 12 straight starts from April 5 to June 21 is the longest streak among traditional starters since earned runs have been official. He broke a tie at 11 straight with Bob Gibson in '68.
- He's holding opposing hitters to a .122 batting average. That's the lowest for any pitcher in a 14-game span since at least 1901 (min. 80 IP).
The focus for individual awards for deGrom shouldn't be on the NL Cy Young. It should be going punch-for-punch with Fernando Tatis Jr. for the NL MVP award. That's how dominant deGrom has been for the Mets in 2021, putting him in some historic ranks in the game of baseball.
Follow Us
Subscribe