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Kershaw’s Innings Pitched Shouldn’t Be Focus Of MVP Discussion

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Innings Pitched



Nitkowski makes a good argument about Anibal Sanchez, who led the American League in both ERA and FIP in 2013, finished fourth in American League Cy Young voting. He claims it was the lack of innings pitched that doomed the Tigers’ righty.

However, you can’t help but notice the fact that Max Scherzer, who took home the honor, was the only 20-game winner in baseball that year. While wins shouldn’t matter in deciding pitcher performance, they still do.

Nitkowski also brings up the fact that pitchers don’t play every day, which is a bit misleading, given that when you look closely at the numbers, a pitcher’s playing time matches up well with a hitter’s.

He states, correctly, that Kershaw will have played in just 17% of the Dodgers’ games in 2014 if he pitches 200 innings. That’s true, but Kershaw has far more impact over the games he starts than the hitters who face him.

On average, Kershaw faces 27.5 batters per start. Position players average roughly four plate appearances per start. Over the course of this season, even after missing over a month, Kershaw has faced 633 batters. The NL player with the most plate appearances this year is Hunter Pence, with 618. Sure, you can account for defense, though Kershaw has been worth nearly half a run with the glove and at the plate.

Next Page: Can Kershaw Win MVP?

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