Texas Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi is in the midst of a historically good season. He is not among the statistical best in baseball this season according to league leaderboards.
That may change soon.
A pitcher must throw at least one inning per team game played to qualify for league leaderboards. Eovaldi, who missed nearly a month with right posterior elbow inflammation in June and missed a July start with back tightness, has pitched 111 innings through the Rangers’ first 116 games. He is on pace for 171 innings — which would be enough to qualify for the end-of-year leaderboard — so long as he remains healthy and continues to pitch on a regular schedule.
Related:Texas Rangers RHP Nathan Eovaldi named AL Pitcher of the Month for July
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Eovaldi has averaged nearly six innings per start this season. If he averages six innings per start in his next four — which tentatively line up as Aug. 11 vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks, Aug. 17 at the Toronto Blue Jays, Aug. 22 vs. the Cleveland Guardians and Aug. 27 vs. the Los Angeles Angels — Eovaldi will log 135 innings through 135 games to qualify. Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal (2.18 ERA) is the AL’s current leader while Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes (1.96 ERA) leads all of baseball.
Baseball’s major awards, unlike the NBA’s, do not require players to meet a specific games played threshold. Eovaldi is and will remain eligible for the American League Cy Young award that’s voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America at the conclusion of the regular season.
His teammate Jacob deGrom finished ninth in the National League Cy Young race five years ago with the New York Mets despite the fact that he only pitched 92 innings that season due to injury. He was that good, and through two thirds of this season, Eovaldi has been too.
The 35-year-old has orchestrated one of the single best starts to a season in modern baseball history. His 1.38 ERA is the second-lowest through a player’s first 19 starts this century and he’s only the fourth player to do so since baseball integrated more than 70 years ago. The others? St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Bob Gibson (1.06 ERA in 1968), Boston Red Sox right-hander Luis Tiant (1.27 ERA in 1968) and Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Zack Greinke (1.30 ERA in 2015).
Eovaldi was named the AL Pitcher of the Month in April after he went 5-0 with a 0.59 ERA in five starts. It was just the 11th time a pitcher threw at least 25 innings over five or more starts with five wins and a sub-0.60 ERA in a single month this century.
He and Gibson are the only starters in the modern era, which began in 1901, to allow one or fewer runs in 13 starts of a 14-start span. His 269 ERA+ — a Baseball Reference statistic that adjusts a player’s ERA to the rest of the league in which “100″ is considered average — is by far the best of any pitcher who’s thrown 100 or more innings this season. Skenes, the NL Cy Young award favorite, ranks second with a 208 ERA+.
Boston Red Sox right-hander Pedro Martinez (291 ERA+ in his historic 2000 season) is the only full-time starter this century to post a mark better than Eovaldi in more than 100 innings.
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