Are these real pitchers

[LennG]

I have been following Davis DeGrom's year with the Mets. He is having, what many would call a Cy Young year. He has the best ERA in MLB and has not given up more than 3 earned runs in something like his last 25 starts. Pretty fantastic, or is it.

I understand that baseball has changed since my day, but I was thinking today after hearing about DeGrom's outing last night. He pitched 6 innings and gave up one earned run. Great, but why did he only pitch 6 innings? Again, I understand how things are done in today's game, but does only pitching 6 innings and giving up only one earned run really make him a great pitcher?
In today's baseball, most pitchers are 6 inning pitchers and then can overwhelm you to that point. But, IMVHO that is cheating the stats. When you compare DeGrom's stats with pitchers of today, it's amazing, but when you compare them with, say some of the all time greats, he IS sort of cheating the stats. The later innings is when real pitchers earned their keep, when hitters finally figured out what the darn guy has been throwing. Not in today's baseball.

How would a guy like DeGrom stack up in relation to any 'older' pitchers, or even guys like Clemens and his generation? Does only pitching 6 innings each outing make you a Cy Young winner?
Just curious how others see this.

[Ed Vette]

I agree. <Look at this complete games list and that says it all.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/CG_leagues.shtml

[jimv]

THANKS for posting it, Lenny   That's been going through my mind all year.  I agree with you - deGrom doesn't deserver the Cy Young.  His problem is that he THROWS TOO MANY PITCHES!  Since the theory today is that you don't throw more than 100 pitches, it's almost impossible for him to more than six innings.  (He actually did complete ONE game this year.)  And, Ed, complete games has become a forgotten stat.  NOBODY is expected to pitch a complete game anymore.

The days of the great Carl Hubbell pitching a complete game 18 inning 1 - 0 win are far, far, gone.  And, BTW, Tex Carlton matched him pitch for pitch in taking the complete game loss.

[LennG]

I agree with both of you. BUT, if this is today's baseball and they have to award a Cy Young award to some one, aren't they ALL 6 inning pitchers and then off to the bullpen?
If you were voting for the award, and you had to chose between tow pitchers, both with about the same innings pitched, DeGrom has a much better ERA, but he is 8-8. The other guy while not in DeGrom's league as far as ERA, but has a 20-5 record. Where does your vote go?
DeGrom clearly is the most dominating pitcher right now, but the other guy has helped his team so much more.

[BlueInMyVeins]

Davis DeGrom

Um Jacob?

And wins are a team stat.  It's literally the worst metric to judge a pitcher on when trying to find "the best".  How has the other guy helped his team so much more?  That makes no sense.  Being stuck on a bad team doesn't diminish a guys individual performance.  The Nationals don't score more runs for Scherzer because they like him more than the Mets like deGrom.

deGrom has been the best pitcher in baseball this year and should be the Cy Young.  Win loss record is meaningless.

[jimv]

OK.  But, since we seem to have a "six inning pitcher" being the norm, I'll go with deGrom as the Cy Young winner IF he maintains til the end of the season.

[LennG]

Um Jacob?

And wins are a team stat.  It's literally the worst metric to judge a pitcher on when trying to find "the best".  How has the other guy helped his team so much more?  That makes no sense.  Being stuck on a bad team doesn't diminish a guys individual performance.  The Nationals don't score more runs for Scherzer because they like him more than the Mets like deGrom.

deGrom has been the best pitcher in baseball this year and should be the Cy Young.  Win loss record is meaningless.

Sorry about the mistake
But you could have been a bit more polite about it.

[LennG]

OK.  But, since we seem to have a "six inning pitcher" being the norm, I'll go with deGrom as the Cy Young winner IF he maintains til the end of the season.

I agree Jim, this should be DeGrom's year. Let's hope the voters think that an 8-8 pitcher  will win. It would be the first time EVER, that a pitcher with less than 13 wins has won this award.