With one month in the books for the baseball season, we have had many disappointments in players and teams, a handful of surprises in players, and we have also seen multiple superstars get off to a slow start. One thing that is for sure is that we have two aces in the National League that will be battling for the NL Cy Young until seasons end. Whom do you believe I’m talking about you say? Is it Jose Fernandez and Andrew Cashner? Nope, I’m talking about Adam Wainwright of the St. Louis Cardinals and Johnny Cueto of the Cincinnati Reds.
Both Wainwright and Cueto have been devouring their opponents when they toe the rubber. Wainwright has been one of the best pitchers in all of baseball for many years now while Cueto is coming off an injury plagued 2013 season. During the 2014 season, both pitchers have been mowing down batters and rarely allow base runners to cross home plate.
How have they been doing this you ask? Simple. They have been keeping batters off balance. Wainwright throws his fastball 45% of the time while mixing in his curveball quit a bit, throwing it 29% of the time, and lets not forget about his change-up which he throws a merely 3% of the time. While Cueto throws his fastball 49% of the time, slider 14%, curveball 4%, and his change-up 16% of the time. As you can see, both aces rely on their fastballs to set batters up. Once they take a 0-1 count, which happens very often, the pitchers then mix in their other pitches very well to keep the hitters off balance. Wainwright and Cueto have done an amazing job of this all season and should continue to keep it up.
Now let’s take a look at their stats for each of their first six starts.
Adam Wainwright
Record: 5-1, 1.20 ERA, 42 SO, .157 OBA
- 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 9 SO
- 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO
- 7 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 8 SO
- 9 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 SO
- 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO
- 8 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO
Total: 45 IP, 24 H, 6 ER, 9 BB, 42 SO
Johnny Cueto
Record: 2-2. 1.15 ERA, 50 SO, .136 OBA
- 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO
- 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 SO
- 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 SO
- 9 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 12 SO
- 9 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO
- 8 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 11 SO
47 IP, 22 H, 6 ER, 14 BB, 50 SO
As you can see, both pitchers have been as dominant as they come. They both throw deep into games, saving the bullpen, they rarely walk batters, they don’t give up many hits, hardly allow an earned run, and have been striking out batters at a consistent rate. Wainwright has the upper hand in wins but the losses and no decisions Cueto has are because his bullpen blows the game or his offense wasn’t alive that night. Cueto is also winning in the strikeout category. The one thing that is very impressive about Cueto is his back to back complete games, giving up a total of 1 earned run in both games. While Wainwright has one complete game under his belt, 2 giving up only 2 hits. It will be very entertaining to watch both these aces battle for the Cy Young all season.
If I had to pick who is leading at this moment, it will have to be Johnny Cueto. He is 100% healthy and is simply the best pitcher in baseball at this moment. Whenever he is scheduled to pitch for the Reds, I suggest everyone to tune in and watch for yourself how dominating he is on the mound.