Michael Wacha Should Be on Everyone's Early NL Cy Young Short List

It's hard to recall someone coming from college baseball to a major league diamond as quickly and with as much success as Michael Wacha.

He's turned heads over the last several years and certainly got the attention of hitting instructors around the league. But now, with a record of 5-0 and a 2.09 ERA that ranks seventh in the National League, Wacha is doing more than turning heads. He's got everyone looking.

Now that he's grouped with stars like Zack Greinke and James Shields as the only undefeated NL starting pitchers with at least five wins to this point in the season, it only strengthens his case for future accolades.

In 2012, he was a junior at Texas A&M, helping the team through its Big 12-to-SEC transition. In 2013, he faced Clayton Kershaw twice in NLDS games where the pitching shined on both sides. Both times, Wacha came away the winner.

He's not just a prodigy on paper anymore. Wacha has proven to be a consistent pitcher. You certainly don't want to think that anyone is outside of the Bill DeWitt chessboard of team betterment and placed into the category of "untradeable," but it's hard to imagine a better value coming to St. Louis if Wacha were to leave.

After all, it was the compensation pick from the Los Angeles Angels for trading Albert Pujols away that got the Cardinals Wacha to begin with. He was already a deal.

In January 2014, Adam Wainwright was so big on Wacha that he said he was likely to be in the Cy Young conversation for the season if he could play like he did against Kershaw in the playoffs. Alas, Wacha couldn't muster a winning record and had a moderate 3.20 ERA last season.

But after matching his previous year's win total in just six starts in 2015, it's clear that the potential that Wainwright saw in Wacha in 2014 is being seen by everyone now. With tough breaking balls and a slider that will make your swing look amateur, he's already looking like a maybe-not-so-dark-horse NL Cy Young candidate.

Coming off the heels of a historic win for the Cleveland Indians over St. Louis in which Indians starting pitcher Corey Kluber recorded 18 strikeouts in eight innings of work, Wacha is being handed the ball in a series-deciding situation.

He'll be looking for his sixth win of the young season and hoping to separate himself as arguably the best pitcher in the National League and one of the best in baseball.

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