CLAYTON KERSHAW

   In the 2017 Major League baseball season, Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals was 3rd in wins, 2nd in E.R.A., 1st in bases on balls, yet he received 96% of the vote for the Cy Young Award as the best pitcher in the National League.  The only category that seemed to matter most to the voters was Scherzer's lead in strikeouts, and his lead in most innings pitched was by a scant .1 of an inning!
   It appears to me that the voters had to find something---anything!---to have a reason to give the Cy Young to Scherzer instead of to Clayton Kershaw.
   For the record, Kershaw was the best pitcher in the National League in 2017.  He won 18 games, lost only 4 times, and won his 5th E.R.A. Title with a mark of 2.31.
   Kershaw won 18 games, Zack Greinke of the Diamondbacks won 17, and Scherzer slid in third with 16 wins.
   Scherzer was the third best pitcher in the National League, but finished first in Cy Young voting.
   Was the Cy Young vote in 2017 a conspiracy to keep Clayton Kershaw from winning his fourth Cy Young before the age of thirty?
   By the way:  seven more pitchers in the National League received votes for the Cy Young Award---and they were worse than Scherzer.
   In other words, the Cy Young election committee was willing to give votes to bottom feeders instead of to Clayton Kershaw.

THE RYAN EXPRESS

   According to ESPN's All-Time #MLB Rank, these are the top ten right-handed pitchers in Major League history:

10.  Bob Feller
  9.  Satchel Paige
  8.  Tom Seaver
  7.  Christy Mathewson
  6.  Bob Gibson
  5.  Roger Clemens
  4.  Cy Young
  3.  Greg Maddux
  2.  Pedro Martinez
  1.  Walter Johnson

   But what about The Ryan Express?  Why is he not on the top ten?
   The Ryan Express is none other than Nolan Ryan.  He pitched for 27 seasons in Major League baseball.  He never had an arm problem, a shoulder problem, or an elbow problem.  All he did was go to the mound and take his turn on pitching day.
   In 27 seasons, Ryan won 324 games, posted a 3.19 career E.R.A., threw 61 shutouts, and struck out 300 or more batters in a season 6 times.
   Furthermore,
       Ryan threw 7 no-hitters---the most no-hitters in baseball history.
       Ryan threw 12 one-hitters---the most one-hitters in baseball history.
       Ryan struck out 5,714 batters---the most strikeouts in baseball history.
   Ryan, however, never won a Cy Young Award, never won a Gold Glove, and never played for a team that went to the World Series other than the New York Mets in 1969.
   But even with all of Ryan's historic statistics, he is not counted as worthy to be on ESPN's top ten right-handed pitchers.  Did ESPN make an honest mistake and overlook him, or did ESPN totally ignore him.  Or could it be that Nolan Ryan is in a league of his own?
   Nolan Ryan retired from baseball at the age of 46 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1999.

THE GREATEST LEFTIES

   After writing a story about Sandy Koufax last week, today I learned something new, which is ESPN's All-Time #MLB Rank of the greatest left-handed pitchers in baseball history.

10.  Madison Bumgarner

  9.  Tom Glavine

  8.  Carl Hubbell

  7.  Whitey Ford

  6.  Lefty Grove

  5.  Steve Carlton

  4.  Warren Spahn

  3.  Clayton Kershaw

  2.  Randy Johnson

  1.  Sandy Koufax

STRIKEOUTS

  If a Major League baseball player is to have a career batting average of .300 or greater, he must also have a career strikeout rate of less than 100 strikeouts per season.
  If your kid, for example, has a low batting average, check his strikeouts.

   If he can't hit the ball,

   he can't get a hit;

   and if he can't get a hit

   he can't raise his batting average.

 The same is true for Major Leaguers.

  Some of the greatest hitters for average and homerun sluggers in the Baseball Hall of Fame struck out less than 100 times in each season throughout their long careers.  The short list includes Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Pete Rose, Chipper Jones, George Brett, Rod Carew, and Tony Gwynn.   The great ones understand the value of striking out less.
   At the end of each Major League season, only about a dozen players or less in each league will finish the year with a batting average of .300 or more.  As for the others, check their strikeouts.
   If your kid, for example, maintains a low batting average, from T Ball through high school, don't expect college or Major League scouts to knock at his door.  If he is unable to fix his strikeouts now, he will not likely fix them later because he was never able to shake his bad habits.
   Scouts look for players that can hit the ball instead of those that drag their bats back to the dugout.
   Obviously, in order for a baseball player to improve his batting average, three things must happen:

      1.  Stop swinging and missing the ball.
      2.  Stop swinging at bad pitches (pitches out of the strike zone).
      3.  Stop taking strike three.

   

Heeeeere's Bryce!

   Is Bryce Harper the best baseball player in the world?

   If you will recall, Bryce Harper was the anointed cherub while he was still in high school at the age of sixteen, predicted to be the King of Swat, and filled with all the raw power of Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Barry Bonds, neatly packed and packaged into one rolly poly and sent forth on a Major League baseball field to play for the Washington Nationals at the age of nineteen.

   Harper was the National League's Rookie of the Year in 2012 as well as the National League's Most Valuable Player in 2015 when he belted 42 homeruns.   Since 2015, however, he has not led the National League in any hitting category. 

   Now in his seventh big league season, Harper has hit 183 homers, driven in 500 runs, and has a career batting average of .280.  

   In comparison, Manny Machado of the Dodgers---in the same seven-year period---has hit 166 homers with 481 RBIs, and has a career .281 batting average.  

   Now let's talk about Nolan Arenado of the Colorado Rockies.

   Arenado has been playing one year less than Harper and Machado, yet Arenado has hit 178 homers (5 less than Harper), 590 RBIs (90 more than Harper), and has a career .293 batting average (13 points higher than Harper).  

   Arenado has also won three Silver Slugger Awards while Harper and Machado have none.

   Defensively, Arenado has five Gold Gloves hanging from his belt while Machado has two Gold Gloves and Harper has none.

   Still, the sports media across America is on a frenzy in promoting Harper as the next $300 million baby---or perhaps he will go as high as $400 million---when his contract with the Nationals expires at the end of 2018.

   But with Machado's numbers about equal to Harper's, should Machado also expect to get $300 million when he becomes a free agent at the end of 2018?

   When we separate fact from fiction, however, should Nolan Arenado move to the top of the money tree since he is clearly the best baseball player in the National League?

SANDY KOUFAX

   Is Sandy Koufax the greatest pitcher in baseball history?
   In making a case for Koufax, let us consider his statistics in a career that lasted for only for twelve years.
   To begin, Koufax began his career with the Brooklyn Dodges in 1955 at the age of nineteen, and from 1955 to the end of 1960 he won 40 games.
   But from 1961 through 1966 he became the most dominant pitcher in the Major Leagues with 129 wins while striking out 1,713 batters and reaching a total of 40 career shutouts.  Those stats have never been achieved by any pitcher in six consecutive seasons, and the trophies he collected are truly astonishing!
 
   ---3 National League Pitching Titles
   ---The Sporting News Player of the Year 4 times
   ---National League Triple Crown 3 times
   ---3 Cy Young Awards
   ---5 E.R.A. Titles
   ---3 Strikeout Titles
   ---4 No-Hitters (including 1 perfect game)
   ---2 World Series Championships
   ---3 National League Pennants
   ---1 World Series Most Valuable Player
   ---1 National League Most Valuable Player
   ---1 World Series Strikeout Record

   In other words, Sandy Koufax had a Hall of Fame Career in six years, and his World Series Career 0.95 E.R.A. still stands to this day.
   After the 1966 season, Koufax retired from baseball because of arthritis in his throwing elbow, and he became the youngest player ever elected to the Hall of Fame at age 35.

The Five & Done Store

   Does the pitcher's mound in baseball today remind you of the 5 & Done Store?
   Five innings and a pitcher is done for the day.
   Go to the locker room, take a shower, go home, get a good night's sleep, and be sure to rest that tired and weary arm after throwing for five grueling innings.
   Come back tomorrow, hang around the dugout, play a game of Pepper or two, and be ready to go at it again in another five days, or once a week at most.
   Wow.
   Life is tough for pitchers in the big leagues these days.
   There was a time, however, when pitchers were expected to play the whole game, win or lose, to earn their paychecks just as the positional players earn their paychecks by playing the whole game.
   But not today, especially not for pitchers, who must be babied through the season just as toddlers are babied with diapers and tricycles.
   Some teams even prefer to ride relief pitchers to the mound in golf carts to keep them fresh and free from sweat.
   When little is expected, little is achieved.
   Since pitchers are not expected to achieve very much, they punch the timeclock and call it a day at the Five & Done Store.