NL Cy Young Award Rankings: Hamels, Kershaw, Gonzalez Shake Up Top 5

Putting together these National League Cy Young Award rankings is becoming a more difficult task each week. 

Looking over the pitching leaders in the NL over the past seven days has made it tough to whittle the candidates down to a list of the best five. This could easily be a top 10 list. So why not just expand the list to 10 contenders? Because five is a more definitive number. Just because. That's how we've been doing it, so why stop now?

But after reviewing last week's rankings, it became clear that the list had to be blown up. The early-season contenders are still pitching well, but several star pitchers are making a big-time push and couldn't be ignored. After lacking star power for the first few weeks, some familiar names are taking their rightful place as the best in baseball.

If you wanted some change, it's happening now. Here is an almost entirely new list of the top five candidates for the NL Cy Young Award.

Honorable Mention: Zack Greinke, Milwaukee Brewers

Yes, including an honorable mention is a bit of a cheat. But it was suggested in last week's comments and I liked the idea so much that I did it for this week's NL MVP rankings and am doing it here as well. I assure you it's a coincidence that both players are Milwaukee Brewers.

With 59 strikeouts in 56.2 innings, Zack Greinke ranks fifth in the NL. He's walking fewer than two batters per nine innings. His 2.0 WAR (Wins Above Replacement) says he's the second best pitcher in the majors behind Justin Verlander.

Yet Greinke has allowed 51 hits with opponents batting .241 against him. What's the deal here?

An FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) total of 1.74 and xFIP of 2.34 shows that Greinke is pitching even better than his 2.70 ERA would indicate. His BABIP (Batting Average on Balls in Play) of .325 is far above the league average of .291, demonstrating that a bunch of balls are dropping in, rather than being caught. 

The Brewers are one of the worst teams in the NL, and a key reason for that has been their poor defense. Fangraphs ranks Milwaukee among the bottom third in the MLB in Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating. Greinke is suffering because of that. 

5. Brandon Beachy, Atlanta Braves

After examining the NL pitching leaderboard closely, I'm not completely sure Brandon Beachy is one of the five best pitchers in the league and I wonder whether or not he'll be on this list by the end of the year. But his performance thus far warrants serious consideration.

Beachy pitched his worst game of the season on Tuesday versus the Cincinnati Reds. The surging Reds roughed Beachy up for four runs and six hits. Three of those hits were home runs, two of them by Brandon Phillips. 

Yet Beachy still pitched seven innings, keeping the Braves in the ballgame against one of the best teams in the NL. 

After all that, Beachy's 1.77 ERA still leads the majors. He's one of nine pitchers to throw 60 innings going into Thursday's slate of games. His 0.90 WHIP (walks and his per innings pitched) ranks second in the NL, as does an opponents' batting average of .183. 

Right now, those numbers say he's one of the best pitchers in the NL. 

4. Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies

With Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee in the Philadelphia Phillies' starting rotation, Cole Hamels will never be considered the team's ace. But he did what aces do Wednesday night against the Washington Nationals. 

Losers of four in a row and facing a sweep at home by the visiting Nats, the Phillies needed Hamels to halt their slide. He played the role of stopper wonderfully, throwing eight scoreless innings and holding the Nationals to four hits. Disregarding all the hype surrounding a rematch with Bryce Harper, Hamels pitched his best game of the season when his team truly needed it.

Eight strikeouts against the Nats brought his season total to 66. That ranks second in the league. If he makes at least 30 starts—and there's no reason to believe he won't—his current ratio of 9.5 Ks per nine innings would be the highest of his career.

Additionally, Hamels' 2.17 ERA is the sixth-lowest among his NL peers. His 1.8 WAR places him as the third best pitcher in the senior circuit, ahead of teammate Halladay.

Much has been made about whether or not Hamels will re-sign with the Phillies or become a free agent at the end of the year. If Philadelphia continues to struggle and doesn't see a path to contention, trading him is certainly possible. Regardless of what happens, he's set to be an extremely rich man after this season. 

3. Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers

After an inconsistent start to the season, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner looks to have found his comfort zone.

Clayton Kershaw hasn't allowed a run in his past two outings for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He's pitched 16 scoreless innings, allowing 10 hits and three walks with 10 strikeouts. In the start prior to that, Kershaw gave up only two runs over eight innings.

With that streak, Kershaw's ERA has dropped to 1.90, the second lowest among major league starting pitchers. His 0.88 WHIP is currently the best in baseball, even better than the 0.98 WHIP that led the majors last year. Opponents are batting .193 against Kershaw, the third lowest among NL hurlers. 

There are a couple of curiosities among Kershaw's numbers: He's not striking out as many batters right now, punching out 51 in 61.2 innings. Remember, he led the league in strikeouts last year as part of his pitching Triple Crown. If he maintains his current ratio of 7.4 Ks per nine innings, it would be the lowest of his career.

An xFIP of 3.10 demonstrates he's still pitching at an elite level, yet that 1.90 ERA indicates that he's getting help from a Dodgers defense that Fangraphs ranks as the top in the sport. 

Does that mean Kershaw is pitching more to contact and letting his fielders take care of him as he works more efficiently through ballgames? That's something worth keeping track of in the weeks and months to come.

2. Stephen Strasburg, Washington Nationals

For the first time since we began doing these NL Cy Young Award rankings here at Horsehide Chronicles, we have a new front-runner.

Maybe it's unfair to knock Stephen Strasburg from the No. 1 spot. Though his smooth ride has hit a bit of bump over his past two starts, it's not like he was blown up in either of those games.

But the concern with Strasburg all season has been whether or not the Washington Nationals would impose an innings limit on him. General manager Mike Rizzo correctly refuses to put a number on it, preferring to see how Strasburg progresses through the season. 

However, Strasburg showed a bit of wear in his start last Sunday and manager Davey Johnson pulled him after five innings with what the Washington Post's Adam Kilgore reported was a tired arm. But Strasburg insists the issue wasn't significant, attributing it to overwork between starts, and he's expected to make his next scheduled start on Saturday. 

Even after pitching nine total innings in his past two outings and allowing seven runs (five earned), Strasburg's numbers still rate highly on the NL pitching leaderboard. His 64 strikeouts rank fifth in the majors and his 1.8 WAR places him third among NL starting pitchers.

But there's one pitcher that's throwing even better, and he's one of Strasburg's teammates. 

1. Gio Gonzalez, Washington Nationals

The major league leader in strikeouts should be on a list of NL Cy Young Award candidates, don't you think?

Not having Gio Gonzalez among the top five contenders until this point was probably a terrible oversight. So we'll make up for it by putting him at No. 1. Is that overcompensating?

Gonzalez has struck out nine or more batters in each of his past three starts. That gives him 69 for the season, one ahead of Justin Verlander and Felix Hernandez going into Thursday's play.

Getting traded to the National League has been a wonderful career move for Gonzalez. His 11.4 Ks per nine innings is also the best ratio in baseball. Consequently, he's allowing only 5.3 hits per nine, which leads the majors.

His 1.98 ERA is the fourth lowest among all starting pitchers, and opponents are batting a major league low .167 against him. 

Perhaps best of all, Gonzalez is walking fewer batters than he has throughout his career. High walk totals have always been the one red mark on his résumé, but if Gonzalez maintains his current ratio of 3.6 walks per nine innings, it will be the lowest figure for him in that category.

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