NL Cy Young Award: Why the Hardware Should Go to Clayton Kershaw

Clayton Kershaw is the National League's best starting pitcher in 2011, and he should be the clear-cut favorite to win the Cy Young Award.

We all knew Kershaw had the potential to become one of the league's premier pitchers, but no one saw it coming this early in his career. At just 23 years old and in his third full season in MLB, Kershaw has already established himself as one of the best lefties, and pitchers, in all of baseball.

However, critics have argued that Kershaw isn't worthy of such a prestigious award, because there are other worthy candidates with winning teams.

I don't believe this argument is valid, as the award should go to the league's best pitcher—not the league's best pitcher who's on the best team. 

With that being said, here's why Kershaw should be crowned the 2011 National League Cy Young Award winner.

1st in Wins, 2nd in Quality Starts

Kershaw leads the league with 21 wins. Some may argue that the amount of wins a pitcher has is a misleading statistic, since a pitcher sometimes has no control over the matter.

A more relevant statistic would be quality starts, and Kershaw has 25 of those, which is one shy of the league lead.

There is only one other pitcher in the NL who has over 20 wins—Ian Kennedy of the Arizona Diamondbacks—and Kershaw has better numbers than Kennedy across the board. 

1st in Strikeouts, 2nd in K/9

Another statistic that voters look at is strikeouts, and Kershaw has plenty of those.

With 248, Kershaw leads the NL in strikeouts, and is second in the league with a K/9 ratio of 9.57.

Some may believe that strikeouts don't tell the whole story because a pitcher can have subpar control but still accumulate a ton of strikeouts.

That isn't the case with Kershaw, who has only walked 54 batters this year. While that might not be considered a ridiculously low amount of walks for a starting pitcher, his 4.59 K/BB ratio—third-best in the NL—certainly makes up for it.

1st in ERA, 1st in WHIP

WHIP and ERA are in likelihood the two stats that voters examine first in Cy Young voting

As it turns out, Kershaw leads the NL in both. His ERA currently sits at 2.28, and his WHIP is just a shade under one at 0.98.

Leading the league in either of these categories is impressive—leading the league in both is simply astounding.

The last pitcher in the NL to do this was Jake Peavy in 2007. Coincidentally, Peavy also won the Cy Young Award that season.

Practically Tied for the Lead in Innings Pitched

When I say practically, I mean Roy Halladay has pitched 233.2 innings, while Kershaw has only pitched 233.1.

In fact, that 0.1 innings turned out to be only a one pitch difference. Halladay threw 3,468 pitches this season, while Kershaw threw 3,469.

Even though that is a lot of mileage for a 23-year-old lefty, it's still quite impressive that Kershaw's effectiveness didn't depreciate towards the end of the season.

In fact, Kershaw saved his best for last, by posting a 4-0 record with a 1.30 ERA. That's what you call making a strong case for the Cy Young Award.

Other Pitchers Have Won the Award on Worse Teams

It's the argument that all of Kershaw's critics are presenting: the Cy Young Award shouldn't go to a pitcher on a non-contending team.

There is no reasoning behind this claim, as many pitchers have won the Cy Young on a non-playoff team. In fact, the last NL pitcher to win the Cy Young and play on a playoff team was Chris Carpenter with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2005.

Since then, every Cy Young winner has pitched for a team that hasn't finished higher than third in its division.

However, Kershaw's biggest obstacle might be his own teammate, Matt Kemp. The Dodgers outfielder is having a fantastic season, and making a strong case to win the NL MVP. He is currently batting .324 with 38 home runs, 124 RBI and 40 stolen bases.

I think it's safe to say that Kemp is the run-away winner for the award. However, some say that the Cy Young and MVP awards shouldn't both come from the Dodgers, since they are third in the NL West..

Whether this is a valid argument is another story. However, it could very well affect Kershaw's chances of winning the award he so much deserves.

Kershaw's Biggest Competition: Roy Halladay

The NL Cy Young Award will more than likely be a two-man race between Roy Halladay and Clayton Kershaw.

Let's take a look at how each pitcher's statistics compare:

Statistics	Kershaw	Halladay
Wins/losses	21-5	19-6
Quality Starts	25	25
Shutouts	2	1
Complete Games	5	8
ERA	2.28	2.35
WHIP	0.98	1.04
Strikeouts	248	220
Walks	54	35
Innings pitched	233.1	233.2

As you can see, Kershaw has far superior numbers to Halladay across the board. The Philadelphia Phillies' Cliff Lee could also be in the mix for the award, but he is certainly an afterthought when looking at the two leading candidates.

Kershaw has been the best pitcher in the NL during 2011, and he deserves to be adequately rewarded for his success.