We are about a month away from hitting the halfway point in the 2010 MLB season and if the Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres, and Toronto Blue Jays haven't surprised anyone in regard to their level of playing currently, then we can be nice and surprised at the AL and NL pitchers I have chosen as the best currently playing the game.
I suppose these two pitchers being the best right now isn't too hard to understand, considering their statistics are able to tell the story, but at the beginnings of the season, no one would have suspected that they would be the best right now. It is usually all about Tim Lincecum, Roy Halladay, C.C. Sabathia, and Josh Beckett. However, Lincecum has recorded 5 no decisions already (currently 5-2, but leads the majors in K's), Beckett has played AWFUL so far this year, and Sabathia is only 5-3 with a 4.14 ERA. Yea, yea, Roy Halladay pitched a perfect game recently, but so did Dallas Braden who was completely unknown minus the incident with A-Rod (which was a completely garbage freak out by Braden, but I digress).
So this year, about 60 games into the season, the two best pitchers in the MLB right now from each league is Ubaldo Jimenez(NL) and Phil Hughes (AL).
Jimenez has started 12 games and in those games, he has an 11-1 record with a...wait for it...0.93 ERA! He came into last nights game with a 0.77 ERA but gave up 2 runs in the 8th to make is explode a little bit. But really, it didn't matter because he is DOMINATING right now. He follows up those big stats with 87.1 innings pitched, 52 hits given up, only 2 homeruns given up, and 78 strikeouts. The Rockies aren't playing up to their potential right now, but it is still early in the season. Just to put it in perspective: if the Rockies has two more pitchers who were as great at Jimenez, they may be undefeated right now.
Phil Hughes came out of the bullpen for the Yanks this year, barely winning that 5th spot in the rotation. Well Giradi, Dave Island, and the rest of the Yankees are absolutely thrilled with how he has performed so far this season. He has a solid record of 7-1 with a 2.54 ERA. For those who have trouble with baseballs stats, any ERA below a 3 is considered incredible. Hell, a 3-4 point ERA is average so a 2.54 is very good (obviously not a 0.93 but Jimenez can't be touched this season). Hughes has also recorded 47 hits in 63.2 innings (again for those who don't get it, the less hits you have per innings you pitch is the best. 100 innings and 100 hits is not so great but 100 innings and 60 hits is great). Hughes has only given up 4 homers and has recorded 64 K's. The Yanks are still second in the AL East and about 2.5 games up in the Wild Card (with the two teams behind them being Toronto and Boston so anyone who says the AL East is NOT the best division in baseball has no knowledge of the game whatsoever), but again it is still early and anything can happen.
These two pitchers are winning their leagues at the moment, but anything can happen. There are still 100 games to be played which can make these stats obsolete very quickly. However, the stats DO talk and if both Jimenez and Hughes keep pitching the way they are right now with no slumps, then they should both be in line to win their respective CY Young awards.
Thanks for readin...
-Adam
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