Top five pitchers of the season - 2012 Major League Baseball - Part 2
In the first part, we talked about how good Justin Verlander is with his sliders and fastballs and gave him the first place on the list of top five pitchers in Major League Baseball today.
2. Washington Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg
Washington Nationals’ starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg is another gifted player, who always seems to amaze his critics. At just 24-years-old, Strasburg has already reached the peak of his career. Despite missing the entire 2011 season due to a severe injury,
Strasburg looks set to register his name in the books of Hall of Famers.
Looking at his career stats, it is easy to see why he was the No. 1 pick for the 2009 Major League Baseball draft. Not only is he an extremely talented pitcher, Strasburg has a unique ability to raise his game-play in pressure situations.
"He definitely lives up to the hype. He has great stuff. He commands all his pitches and hits his spots,” All-Star Andre Ethier said of Strasburg.
"His makeup is outstanding. He's a gentleman, he's humble, and he's handled every request we've made of him. He doesn’t look like he’s making a whole lot of effort — 96 mph on the knees, on the corner,” Nationals manager Davey Johnson.
The guy is having another excellent season and it will not be wrong to say that he has played a key role in Nationals’ run to the top of National League East standings.
Using his dangerous fastballs, he has already racked up 160 strike-outs with an impressive 2.97 ERA over 127 innings pitched. His WHIP of 1.13 and win-loss record of 12-5 is also pretty close to Verlander’s, which explains why he has been placed second on
this list.
Strasburg is a traditional baseball pitcher, who mixes his fastballs and curveballs to confuse the hitters. His strategy works on the plate almost every time and it will be interesting to see if he can continue his marvelous throwing form this season to
lead Washington to the World Series title glory.
3. Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw
Just like Strasburg, Clayton Kershaw is a strike-out machine. His consistent performances this season helped fuel Dodger’s run to the top of National League West Division standings. Kershaw had posted incredible numbers last season. Securing 21 wins in 2011,
he won the Cy Young Award. He also led the league in WHIP, ERA and strike-outs past season to assert dominance over NL’s hitters.
Reaching 97 mph, Kershaw’s fastball is considered to be one of the most dangerous in MLB. He also has two varieties of curveballs, which keeps the batters guessing almost all the time.
However, what separates him from rest of the pitchers is his ability to play long seasons, without missing too many games. The Texas native has gone over 200 innings pitched in each of his last two seasons and he has already pitched 156 innings in 2012.
His ERA of 2.88, WHIP of 1.04 and 150 strike-outs and a decent 9-6 record gives him third place on the list of top of five pitchers. Considering he is still in his early 20’s, the sky is truly the limit for this flamboyant left hander.
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