The Major League Baseball regular season is three months old and the answer to the following question of who is the best pitcher in baseball at the moment could be quite surprising. The answer is Cincinnati Reds southpaw Andrew Abbott of Lynchburg, Virginia.
Inside the numbers
Abbott is tied for eighth at the moment in the Major Leagues with seven wins. However, he has a better earned run average of 1.79 than the two pitchers at nine wins and the five pitchers at eight wins. Abbott’s ERA is better than Max Fried, Hunter Brown, Paul Skenes, and Tarik Skubal, who also have had great starts.
Abbott also has only lost one start all season (a 9-1 loss to the red hot Milwaukee Brewers on June 4 where he gave up five earned runs in six innings). He also has had a spectacular WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 0.96, and has an opponent batting average of .190, 10 points below the Mendoza Line.
What has been the most impressive so far has been Abbott’s consistency. In 11 of 13 starts, Abbott has given up one earned run or less. We briefly discussed Abbott’s struggles against the Brewers. The only other time Abbott gave up more than one run in a game came on April 25 in an 8-7 Reds win over the Colorado Rockies, where he gave up four earned runs in four innings. Despite the Rockies’s offensive woes, Abbott gets a pass here as Coors Field in Denver is a hitter’s friendly ball park.
Abbott’s best start
Abbott’s best start on the mound this season came on June 10. In a 1-0 Reds win over the Cleveland Guardians, Abbott threw a complete game three-hit shutout, where he had five strikeouts and one walk. Abbott also proved his durability, as he threw 110 pitches of which 77 were strikes.
Abbott’s latest start
On Sunday, Abbott only gave up one earned run in seven innings in a 4-1 Reds win over the St. Louis Cardinals. With the win, the Cardinals improved to a record of 40 wins and 38 losses, and are three games back of the Milwaukee Brewers for a wildcard spot.
