Jered Weaver has been absolutely dominant this year. He currently owns a 15-1 record. Not to mention a 2.13 and a 0.92 WHIP, all of which are best in the majors. So why does nobody ever talk about him as the best pitcher in the league? It's not as if this is his first good year. He has been a really good pitcher for quite a few years now. He has just never really got that reputation as being one of the best in the league and I don't understand why.
Justin Verlander has been considered the best pitcher in the league for the past couple seasons. He did win the Cy Young and the MVP in the AL last year with amazing numbers. He hasn't quite had as good a year this year, but he is still pitching very strong with very little run support in his outings. Verlander throws over 100-mph, sometimes late in games as well. He never seems to wear down very much. He continues to get stronger as the game continues. A great trait for a great pitcher to possess.
There are other pitchers to throw onto the list of best pitcher in baseball: King Felix, Doc Halladay, Clayton Kershaw, David Price. All of whom should be somewhere in the conversation, but at this point in all baseball the best pitcher is Jered Weaver. I think it has to do with the fact that he isn't blessed with overwhelming power pitches. He deceives batters with his delivery and his pitches. He throws over 90 mph very rarely and yet still strikes out a good number of batters every year. It is all in the command for Weaver much like it was for guys like Greg Maddux.
A 15-1 record is pretty impressive, but if you take into consideration how bad the Angels were in the beginning of the season his record to me seems even more impressive. Apart from the one outing in Texas where he got rocked for 8 runs in 3 1/3rd innings, which was on May 13th, the Angels have won every game that he has started. Even in his no decisions this year the Angels are a combined 17-3 in his starts this season. He did miss a portion of the season with some injuries, which makes his record even that much more amazing.
Jered Weaver might never be considered the best pitcher in baseball and I can tell you one reason why. He plays for the Angels who play all their home games around 10 pm ET. Nobody in the East, apart from those people with sleeping issues and diehard Angel fans, get to see him pitch at all during the year. If they do see him pitch it is because he is pitching against their favorite team which means they probably only see him once a season. The East Coast effect has made some decent pitcher seem better than they actually are. I am not here to throw any of them under the bus however.
I think it is time for everybody to admit that Jered Weaver is the best pitcher in baseball. I expect him to win the Cy Young this season rather easily, barring some major collapse on his or the Angels part. The Angels need him to be dominant to make a deep playoff run and Weaver is going to do just that. Hopefully with some help from Zack Greinke and CJ Wilson. Halo fans need not worry about the exposure that Weaver gets, he knows that he is special and he is going to continue to be special for a few more years.
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