MLB Baseball Sports Fan Blog

This year is the first year in a long time that starting pitchers are dominating more than hitters. ERA’s are so low this year for many pitchers, which made it very hard to pick a top five. A lot of people probably know who number one is going to be, but the other four can be anyone’s guess.

5. Clay Buchholz, Boston Red Sox: Buchholz emerged this year for the Red Sox as their top-starting pitcher. Buchholz is helping the Red Sox make a run at the first place and best record in baseball, Yankees. No one would have thought Buchholz would be leading his team in wins and ERA. Buchholz is 10-4 so far this season with a 2.44 ERA. These are remarkable numbers because Buchholz plays in the toughest division in baseball, the AL East. The Red Sox are currently one game behind the Yankees and have the third best record in baseball. If Buchholz continues to pitch the same way for the rest of the season, along with Jon Lester and John Lackey, The Red Sox are going to be very hard to beat. The Red Sox still have to play the Rays and Yankees for 19 more games combined, which means their division is still up in the air.

4. Adam Wainwright, St.Louis Cardinals: After having a solid season last year, Wainwright is proving this year that it wasn’t a fluke. Wainwright picked up 19 wins last season with a 2.63 ERA and 212 strikeouts. Wainwright almost won the NL Cy Young Award last season and this year he is proving to be a candidate once again. Wainwright is 11-5 with a 2.34 ERA and 114 strikeouts, which is good for the fifth most in baseball, only six behind the leader Yovani Gallardo. Wainwright is on pace to have over 20 wins this season and 230 strikeouts, which would both be career highs. Thanks to Wainwright and help from Chris Carpenter and the rookie Jaime Garcia, the Cardinals are in first place, but only a half game ahead of the tough Reds. If the Reds keep up the way they are playing, the Cardinals will have to battle them all year long for first. I do not see the Reds being successful all year long, in the past they have started off strong and then fell apart in the second half, I expect the same thing to happen this year. I would be surprised if the Cardinals don’t win the division.

3. Josh Johnson, Florida Marlins: Johnson is turning out to be a solid starter for the Marlins. I don’t know what it is with the Marlins, but they do produce some of the best pitchers every year. The problem with the Marlins is the pitchers are too good and wind up getting traded because they are rarely in contention or they become free agents and leave because the Marlins can’t offer them as much money as other teams. Last year Johnson, who was only 25 at the time, proved that he is a great pitcher. Johnson went 15-5 with an ERA of 3.23 and 191 strikeouts. This year Johnson is looking even better with an 8-3 record, 1.83 ERA, which is tied for the best ERA in baseball, and on top of that he has 107 strikeouts. Johnson’s stats are impressive and he would probably have a better win/loss record if he were playing for a winning team. With the Marlins currently in fourth place in their division and seven and a half games out of first, they don’t really have much of a chance of any future success this season. The Marlins are in the second weakest division and they are still in fourth place. Johnson may be another one of those Marlin produced pitchers that will be saying goodbye once his free agent season comes by.

2. David Price, Tampa Bay Rays: At the age of 25, Price is proving to be the Rays ace. Two years ago when Price entered the league at the end of the 2008 season, the Rays were expecting him to be their future ace. Price shined in the ALCS as the Rays closer beating the Red Sox. Last year Price moved into the rotation and had just an all right season going 10-7 with a 4.42 ERA. This year Price is now what the Rays expected two years ago. This year Price is the ace. Price is 11-3 with a 2.44 ERA and 84 strikeouts. Price just need a little time to develop and is now helping the Rays stay in contention in the tough AL East. The Rays were the best team in baseball for the first two and a half months of the season. They fell back a little bit, giving the lead to the Yankees and also letting the Red sox pass them. I think the Rays just need a rest and they will get that in a few weeks when the all-star break rolls around. The Rays are still very much in the race for first, they are only three games back and have the fourth best record in baseball. Like I said with the Red Sox, the Rays still have a lot of games against the Red Sox and Yankees which will determine who is the best team not just in the division but, probably in all of baseball.

1. Ubaldo Jimenez, Colorado Rockies: By now everyone knows who Jimenez is, but before this season he was just another average pitcher. Jimenez started his first full season in 2008 and was just 12-12 with an ERA of 3.99, nothing spectacular except for his strikeout number which was 172. Last year Jimenez again was right around the .500 mark with a record of 15-12 and a 3.47 ERA, so he improved a little, his strikeouts were still up there, with 198. This year all of a sudden Jimenez is out of control! Jiminez almost has more wins then his career high of 15 last season. Jimenez is 14-1 with a 1.83 ERA and 102 strikeouts. If Jimenez doesn’t play the rest of the season, he probably would still win the Cy Young Award. Jimenez is on pace for 30 wins and 220 strikeouts. If Jimenez can keep this pace up all season, it will go down as one of the best pitching performances of all time. There hasn’t been a pitcher who has had 30 or more wins in a season since Denny McClain did it in 1968 when he went 31-6. Jimenez will win the Cy Young Award this year, if he doesn’t he will have to have one of the biggest collapses of all time. (mlb.com)

By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network