In the AL:
· Corey Kluber, Indians: I gotta be honest. I don’t exactly know all the facets on how WAR works but as of right now. WAR says Kluber with his 2.02 ERA is having a better season than Verlander’s 1.24. Kluber has an 8-2 record and has only given up 19 earned runs in 84.2 innings on the year. He’s struck out 88 in those 84.2 and has a down right nasty .84 WHIP. His WAR checks in at an AL high 3.5. The Indians are a baffling team. They have two of the best position players with Jose Ramirez and Francis Lindor and one of the best pitching staffs with Kluber leading it yet they’ve spent the year hovering around .500.
· Justin Verlander, Astros: Verlander checks in at number 2 this week as Kluber has supplanted him. That isn’t to say that Verlander did anything wrong though. The righty has only given up 12 earned runs in 13 starts on the season culminating in a 7-2 record and a 1.24 ERA. Verlander continues to lead the league in WHIP at .72 and leads the best pitching staff in all of baseball.
In the NL:
· Jacob deGrom, Mets: deGrom continues his torrid pace as the Mets staff leader. With Harvey gone and Syndergaard on the DL, deGrom is the unquestioned leader and he has the stats to prove it. He leads the lead in WAR right now with a 3.7 and has the second best ERA in the league at 1.49. The wins have been hard to come by for the befallen Mets thus his record reflects that at 4-0. So far, deGrom has only given up 12 runs in 12 starts this year.
· Aaron Nola, Phillies: One could opt to put another NL East pitcher, Max Scherzer, in this position but to everyone’s surprise, Nola has usurped the three time Cy Young winner on the list. The Phillies would have been happy with a step above last years 3.54 ERA but they’ve been ecstatic with Nola’s sublime 2.18 ERA with a 3.6 WAR that ranks second in the league. The 24 year old with his 7-2 record is inspiring a turnaround in Philly whose fans haven’t seen a winning record since 2013. Nola is primed to take over the mantle as Phillies ace that was vacated by Hamels a number of years ago.
