Strider's ERA is suffering from some inconsistent performances
Spencer Strider's ERA is the highest among the six finalists. We all remember the eight runs he allowed to the Mets in the first four-man booth game against Justin Verlander. He followed that up with a five-run outing against the Tigers in Detroit.
Strider has given up five or more earned runs in five of his 28 starts (18% of his starts) this season. For the sake of comparison, Justin Steele has had just two such starts this season. In those two starts, he allowed only five runs, no more.
Here's a breakdown of quality start percentage for the top six names in the race.
Name | GS | QS | QS % |
|---|---|---|---|
Justin Steele | 27 | 20 | 74% |
Blake Snell | 29 | 17 | 59% |
Zac Gallen | 30 | 18 | 60% |
Logan Webb | 30 | 21 | 70% |
Zack Wheeler | 29 | 19 | 66% |
Spencer Strider | 28 | 16 | 57% |
Consistently giving your team a chance to win is an important factor. Granted, Strider does have 16 wins but he also gets more run support than any pitcher on this list with an insane 6.4 runs per start. Thanks Michael Harris II!
Outside of Blake Snell's ridiculous 5.1 walks per nine, Strider has the highest BB9 at 2.9. The next closest is 1.9. That's a pretty steep drop. Strider has the worst homers per nine rate of any pitcher on the list, as well. He is the only pitcher with a HR9 over 1.0.
Spencer Strider leads the league in strikeouts and that is cool. Strikeouts don't give you bonus points if you aren't preventing runs or pitching as many innings as the other guys.
Strider's WAR might tell a different story. Click "next" to see why WAR can be misleading in the Cy Young Voting.