The Sy Young tracker will be a monthly article highlighting pitchers that are in the conversation for winning the Cy young award. Although I’ll try to provide a perspective for when the votes are going to be cast (hopefully w’ll have voting on awards this year), there is no claim of objectivity here. Different people interpret stats and performances their own way, and this is what I see to be the field of Cy Young candidates so far:
National League
1. Phil Hughes (7-0 , 2.04 ERA) – Atlanta Braves : National league has been dominated by Atlanta pitchers and Hughes leads the cause. He has the most wins in the league and no losses. In fact, of the 10 games he has taken the mound, Atlanta has only lost one, in which he threw 4.2 shut out innings. the thing that will most likely send him lower in the list is that he’s averaging only 5.7 innings per start, courtesy of low stamina.
2. Kris Medlen (2.66 ERA, 0.7 BB/9IP) – Atlanta Braves : At this rate, Medlen is projected to have a 7.1 WAR, which equals his 2013 Cy Young winning season. His strikeout rate is the same as last season. What’s changed is that on average he’s allowed half as many home runs and one third as many walks, which puts him at a whopping 11.80 K/BB, twice better than anyone else in the national league.
3. Tony Cingrani (2.50 ERA, 72 Ks, 3-5) – Cincinnati Reds : It’s hard to find any pitcher enjoying less run support than Cingrani (1.18 per game). To realize how little the Reds’ offense has helped him, We have to look at his 3 wins, where he’s had to shut out opponents over 7,8,8 innings respectively. In other words, Tony Cingrani has 0.00 ERA over 22 Innings in the games he has won.
4. Jon Niese (1.93 ERA, 6-1) – New York Mets : Although some of his success may be attributed to playing in a pitcher’s park and having the Mets’ great defense behind him, Niese has still done enough to attract the attention of Cy Young voters. his BABIP is .201, down from .307 the previous season. Although it’s hard to imagine it staying that way.
5. Craig Kimbrel (0.36 ERA, 0 blown saves) – Atlanta Braves : It’s never easy comparing relievers to starters, but Kimbrel forces his way onto this list by giving up only 1 run in 22 appearances (he still got the save in that game). If he keeps it up, I can easily see him climbing up the ranking.
honourable mentions: Henderson Alvarez (MIA), Johnny Cueto (CIN) , Chad Billingsley (CHC)
American League
1. Stephen Strasburg (1.67 ERA, 102 Ks, 1.26 BB/9IP) – Seattle Mariners : Coming into the season, his most formidable opponent to win the award looked to be teammate Felix Hernandez, and with the king being a lowly shadow of himself, Strasburg is cruising to add the AL Cy Young award to his resume. He leads the league in ERA (1.67), Innings Pitched (86.0), Ks (102), WAR (3.8), FIP (2.03), WHIP (0.86) and K/BB (8.50). The WAR and FIP stats are especially telling. this year’s Strasburg would have been the best AL pitcher in any ballpark.
2. Yu Darvish (2.53 ERA, 5-1) – Texas Rangers : One of the hardest things to do in baseball is pitching in Rangers ballpark. Yet over the course of 6 home starts Darvish has put together a 2.54 ERA. All of his 11 appearances have been quality starts, an honor he shares with no one in the majors. Rangers are leading a weak western division and Darvish is the main reason why.
3. Zack McAllister (2.39 ERA, 7-2) – Cleveland Indians : McAllister has more than doubled his ERA+ from last year. and the key to his Cy young numbers are consistency. From his 11 starts, He has earned more than 2 runs only once, a 5-2 loss to rejuvenated Royals. He doesn’t give up home runs and makes good use of his varied arsenal of pitches. If the tribe want to be in the playoff picture, they need him to keep it up.
4. Kevin Gausman (2.94 ERA, 8-1) – Baltimore Orioles : Gausman’s been one the most pleasant surprises in the league this year, and at only 24 years, he’s showing a potential that could make him one of the most sought after pitchers in the game. 7.3 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and 0.5 HR/9 make him a plus pitcher across the field, while not being necessarily superb in any category, at least not yet.
Honourable Mentions: R.A Dickey (TOR), Brett Anderson (OAK), Drew Smyly (DET)
this concludes this edition of Sy Young Tracker. Please make your opinion heard in the comments.
MMB Nation 
Outstanding article Sy. It has been hard for us here in Cincy to watch the dismal run support Cingrani has gotten but it makes him seem even more amazing in what he has been able to accomplish. And Cueto appreciates the mention.
On a side note, I see you mentioned ballpark factors in a few different spots; what did you use to take those into effect, were you using era+ or were you just mentioning it in spots based on the common knowledge of certain parks tendencies, ie Arlington, etc.? Just curious.
Thanks Bryan. about the ballparks, I factored in the modifiers the game provides in the settings page. For instance the hit modifier for Petco is .880 while it’s 1.073 in Arlington.
Love it! Sad to see no Phillies on the list.
btw, I deleted your double comment Bryan.
A few of us will remember the Braves signing Hughes in his Tommy John surgery season, in the hopes of the reaping the rewards in his 2nd season. Well they’re raking it in now.
Good stuff Sy.