Welcome to week six of our ongoing series covering the best hitters and pitchers of the previous week. Today’s iteration is all about the pitchers (and 2/3 Indians!). Two specific pitchers had impressive days, one on the mound and surprisingly one at the plate.
BEST HITTER: As usual there were several very good performances but this week no one really stood out from the rest of the pack at the top. But I do want to highlight Jason Kipnis’ week. He was good for the Indians in 2012 but he really took off the following season. Then last year he just fell off a cliff. So far this year he’s returned to form and last week he was his best hitting .583/.667/.875. It’s nice to see.
Honorable Mention: Jacob deGrom had quite the night on Saturday. I’m not talking about his pitching performance. The Mets starter went 3 for 3 at the plate and two of those hits came in the same inning! It’s not often a pitcher gets a hit in a game let alone multiple hits in the same inning. Here’s the crazy thing:
deGrom is the first pitcher in the majors to single twice in an inning since Adam Wainwright did it on 4-13-13 against…the Brewers.
— Todd Rosiak (@Todd_Rosiak) May 17, 2015
Poor Brewers.
MLB Leader:
AVG – Jason Kipnis (.583)
OBP – Jason Kipnis (.677)
SLG – Brad Miller (1.143)
wOBA – Bryce Harper (.686)
wRC+ – Brad Miller (.346)
HR – 4 players tied (4)
SB – Delino Deshields Jr/Jacoby Ellsbury (3)
fWAR – Bryce Harper (1.1)
CLEVELAND, OH – MAY 13: Starting pitcher Corey Kluber #28 of the Cleveland Indians pitches during the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Progressive Field on May 13, 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Corey Kluber
BEST PITCHER: Corey Kluber, Indians
Utter domination. Corey Kluber faced the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday and absolutely wrecked them. He threw 8 innings without allowing a walk or a run. He only allowed 1 hit. What’s most impressive is he struck out 18 of the 26 batters he faced. Check out the list of MLB leaders in pitching last week. He led in every category. Even the ones with players tied include Kluber. Last year’s Cy Young winner struggled out the gates this year but he really turned it on here and hopefully it means he’s finally turned a corner.
Honorable Mention: Not this week folks. I’m not going to highlight anyone else because Corey Kluber’s excellence deserves the only mention.
MLB Leaders:
K% – Corey Kluber (69.2%)
BB% – 11 players tied (0.0%)
AVG – Corey Kluber (0.40)
WHIP – Corey Kluber (0.13)
ERA – 7 players tied (0.00)
FIP – Corey Kluber (-0.97)
xFIP – Corey Kluber (-0.28)
fWAR – Corey Kluber (0.8)
Statistics courtesy of FanGraphs
