2010 Is the Year of the Pitcher For MLB

Ubaldo Jimenez has dominated the league, but he's far from the only pitcher to do so this year.

In most years, the energizing and electrifying MLB players are on offense. You tune in to see guys like Albert Pujols, David Ortiz, and Ryan Howard launching home runs into the stratosphere. Chicks dig the long ball, after all.

Sometimes, though, we look past offense and get a chance to see how impressive defense can be. ESPN’s Web Gems are a perfect example. Every night, baseball enthusiasts watch as fielders perform incredible feats of acrobatics to make seemingly impossible catches. It’s here that players like Troy Tulowitzki, Brandon Phillips, and Dustin Pedroia come out to shine.

It’s not often, however, that we truly appreciate good pitching. Part of that is because we don’t see them nearly as often as position players. Even an elite pitcher can only affect one out of every five games, and even then, it’s a little more difficult to see all the ways that they contribute to the game. Obviously, strikeouts are a significant way they help the team (if the other team isn’t hitting the ball, they’re certainly not scoring), but forcing groundouts and pop flies can be just as valuable, even if it’s less interesting.

But this year could change all of that. For the first time in a long time, all of the most celebrated players this year are pitchers, which is a rarity in a league dominated by allegations of steroid use. Take a moment and think about it. When you think of incredible accomplishments this year, which names come to mind? Guys like Ubaldo Jimenez, Roy Halladay, and Armando Galarraga, right? The only hitter that comes immediately to mind is Jason Heyward – a rookie – and even he was overshadowed yesterday by an even more exciting rookie, Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg.

There’s no two ways about it. 2010 has been the Year of the Pitcher in MLB. Think about the incredible things we’ve seen this year. If it weren’t for a gut-wrenching missed play in Detroit, Armando Galarraga would have been the third pitcher in less than a month to throw a perfect game. To put that into comparison, consider that since 1880, there have only been 20 perfect games in MLB history. That’s it. 2010 was the first year since 1880 that there was more than one, and we came inches away from seeing three. Three perfect games before June 2. That’s beyond unheard of.

Perhaps you’ve heard of the last guy to throw a perfect game. Roy Halladay made headlines when he was traded to the Phillies last winter. Philadelphia was already considered the best team in the NL, and adding another Cy Young-caliber pitcher to their rotation only solidified that line of thinking. Halladay certainly hasn’t disappointed. Even though the Phillies have found themselves mysteriously unable to produce runs, Halladay has kept them afloat. When he pitches, they only need to score one run to win the game. (In fact, Halladay won his perfect game by a score of 1-0.)

But as good as he’s been, he’s not the best pitcher in the league right now. In fact, he’s not even the best pitcher in the NL. Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez has been dominating the league to a degree that’s difficult to comprehend. I’ll do my best to break it down for you, though. Through 12 starts, Jimenez has posted a staggering 0.93 ERA. That means he’s allowing less than 1 run per every 9 innings pitched. So far this season, he’s only allowed 9 runs total, none of them unearned. That means if the Rockies score even a single run when he’s pitching, they probably win.

His league-leading 11-1 record is pretty impressive, sure, but it’s his WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) that really stands out to me. A great pitcher will be able to keep his WHIP close to 1.00, meaning he only allows one hit or walk per inning. It’s difficult to score if you only get a single baserunner per inning, right? Jimenez, however, is doing just a bit better than that. His WHIP currently stands at 0.93, meaning he allows fewer than one walk or hit per inning. That’s a big part of why he set a Rockies franchise record for most consecutive scoreless innings (33) recently.

I’m not going to make a secret of the fact that I’m a huge Rockies fan. I was a little kid living in Colorado Springs when they made their MLB debut and have loved them ever since. The Rockies blog that I read announces that it’s “Ubaldo Jimenez Day” every time he gets up to pitch, and declares that we can expect a win. With only one exception (curse you, Los Angeles Dodgers), they’ve always been right.

The thing, though, is that Jimenez is hardly the only one. The Phillies can think the same thing every time Halladay takes the mound. So can the Cardinals with Adam Wainwright, as well as the Giants with Matt Cain, and a host of others. Excellent pitching is taking the league by storm this year. It almost doesn’t matter which team you’re watching on any given day. You’re likely to see an incredible pitcher.

Enjoy it while you can. MLB could switch back to a hitter-driven league before you know it.