CHICAGO -- Is Carlos Rodón making a late push for the National League Cy Young Award?
Rodón's outing in the Giants’ 4-2 loss against the Cubs at Wrigley Field exhibited the strikeout prowess he’s established this season. His 11 punchouts across 5 1/3 innings on Friday pushed his season total to 212, which has helped him break a couple of franchise records.
“He’s been a workhorse for us all year long,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “They were able to foul off enough pitches to drive his pitch count up there. But otherwise I thought he looked great.”
With his 10th double-digit strikeout game of the year, Rodón now owns exclusive territory in the Giants’ record books. He holds the most games of 10-plus strikeouts in a season in franchise history (since 1893), passing Tim Lincecum (2008) and Jason Schmidt (2004), both of whom threw nine such games.
Rodón also passed Sam Jones (209 strikeouts, 1959) for the most punchouts in a player’s first season with the club in the San Francisco era.
“I think it’s pretty cool,” Rodón said. “It’s a cool little milestone. Just going to keep going and hopefully see how many we can get.”
Though his recent milestones have accumulated throughout the season, Rodón has started to catch fire on the mound especially of late. Since July 31, the All-Star left-hander has a 2.31 ERA with an MLB-leading 64 strikeouts across 46 2/3 innings. Even before his latest gem, his 11.54 K/9, 1.5 wins above replacement and 6.63 K/BB all ranked in the top 10 among qualified starters during that span entering Friday.
“Last year, I threw only [132 2/3] innings, and the year before, I hadn’t really thrown that much,” Rodón said. “Not throwing that many innings last year has led to this year being able to go a little longer. I feel pretty good. I’m a little surprised myself.”
Rodón’s recent stretch should help put him in the Cy Young conversation. After Friday’s outing, he owns a 2.93 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. His 212 punchouts are second in the NL behind Brewers right-hander Corbin Burnes.
In MLB.com’s recent Cy Young poll on Aug. 31, Rodón was just outside the top five NL vote-getters led by Marlins pitcher Sandy Alcantara, who received 42 of 43 first place votes. There’s no doubt that Alcantara has the numbers to back that up -- four complete games and a 2.43 ERA in 196 2/3 innings.
But no pitcher in the NL has a better fielding independent pitching than Rodón; The 29-year-old sported a 2.34 FIP -- which measures only what a pitcher can control: strikeouts, walks and home runs -- entering play on Friday. Analyzing other stats in which Rodón boasted high-ranking figures -- both his HR/9 (0.57) and his K-BB% (24.3) ranked third in the NL entering the day -- tells a similar story.
“It feels very much like a historic season,” Kapler said. “It looks like a guy who’s going to be dominant every time out. We sort of game plan around his dominance in a lot of ways. Carlos is starting in two days, so you may not need as much as of the bullpen, or you’re probably going to be in a competitive game when Carlos pitches. It’s a feeling that happens leading up to his starts.”
Strikeouts have been the key to it all. Rodón’s 10 double-digit strikeout games ranked first in the Majors, with Burnes and Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani at nine each. The lefty also ranked second in the NL fWAR (5.2).
“Carlos’s year really stands out in baseball,” Kapler said. “There’s a couple around the game that may be right there with [him], maybe not many that are way better.”
Rodón’s consistency all season has been there. With likely four starts remaining this year, he still has the chance to boost his resúmé for award season.
“It’d be cool,” Rodón said of winning the Cy Young. “That’s one of those things that’s out of my control. I just step on the mound and I throw the ball. I don’t get to choose. But there’s a lot of arms here that are throwing very well. So, I mean hopefully, we’ll see.”