Friday, August 29, 2014

Olney Backs Kershaw For 2014 NL MVP

From Byster Olney's latest blogpost (link insider only):

Clayton Kershaw started the year as the best pitcher on the planet, and in 2014 he has somehow gotten even better.

No team had loaded the bases against Kershaw even one time this season before the Diamondbacks did so Wednesday night. And naturally, Arizona didn't score. His success is predictable, writes Dylan Hernandez.

He gave everybody else a one-month head start by opening the season on the disabled list, yet as of this morning, Kershaw leads all starting pitchers in wins (16), along with his usual array of outstanding ratio statistics, from his ERA (1.73) to his WHIP (0.84), quality start percentage (91 percent), opponents' OPS (.524), etc. He has stranded the highest percentage of runners, at 83.3 percent. And he has the highest swinging-strike percentage (the guy in second place, Chris Sale, isn't that close).

From Elias: For the second consecutive year, Kershaw will take a sub-2.00 ERA into the month of September:

Sub-2.00 ERA through August in back-to-back years in live ball era (since 1920) (Note: Minimum 20 starts)

  • Clayton Kershaw, 2013 and '14
  • Greg Maddux, 1994 and' 95
  • Sandy Koufax, 1963 and '64
  • Hal Newhouser, 1945 and '46

I would vote for Kershaw as NL MVP. As of today, I'd rank them this way:

  • 1. Clayton Kershaw
  • 2. Giancarlo Stanton
  • 3. Andrew McCutchen
  • 4. Jonathan Lucroy

Keep 'em coming, Clayton!

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