Why Stephen Strasburg Is Stealing Cy Young Favorite Gio Gonzalez's Spotlight

Stephen Strasburg is back from Tommy John surgery, and finally has a chance to live up to the hype for the Washington Nationals.  After being named the Opening Day starter, he has done just that. 

Strasburg is currently 5-1 with a 2.64 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 58.0 innings pitched.  He has a 1.10 WHIP and opposing batters are hitting .223 against him with four home runs. 

But Strasburg is not even the best pitcher on the Nationals staff. 

That distinction belongs to Gio Gonzalez.  The 26-year-old southpaw is now 7-1 with a 2.04 ERA and a league-leading 79 strikeouts, nine better than his precocious teammate.  Gonzalez is also better than Strasburg with a 0.94 WHIP and a .156 batting average against him. 

A closer look at Gonzalez's statistics shows why he has been arguably the best pitcher in the National League this season.  Gonzalez has surrendered a mere 33 hits this season, which equates to 4.8 hits per nine innings, tied for best in the league.  And only one of those hits has left the ballpark.  He also leads the league with 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings. 

And his record should be even better than it is.  His only loss of the season occurred while going seven innings against the Dodgers in Los Angeles on April 29th.  He gave up three hits and two runs while walking five and striking out seven. 

His only no-decision of the season was a brilliant performance on April 12th in DC against the Cincinnati Reds, that should have been rewarded with a win.  Gonzalez struck out seven and surrendered only two hits during seven innings of shutout baseball. 

So how in the name of Sandy Koufax has no one paid attention to Gonzalez and his amazing season? 

There is one simple explanation: Gonzalez plays on the same team as Strasburg. 

Baseball fans, players and journalists alike have been clamoring for more Strasburg ever since he was drafted in 2009.  Strasburg received an over-saturation of media coverage while he was playing in the minor leagues.  Even an above-average performance in the major leagues would receive disproportionate publicity. 

So it should come as no surprise that he is the central focus of the media covering the Washington Nationals during what has been a very good season for the phenom thus far. 

But this obsession with Strasburg has been detrimental to Gonzalez and the amount of attention he rightly deserves.  Gonzalez has played more seasons in the major leagues, has more career wins than Strasburg has career starts, was named an All-Star in 2011 and was a first-round pick in his own right.  Most importantly, he is pitching like the ace of this staff, even though he didn't start for the Nationals on Opening Day. 

What else does Gonzalez need to do?

To escape Strasburg's shadow, Gonzalez may need to win the NL Cy Young award.  Only then would he have the spotlight all to himself.