Yankees: The week was Kluber’s, but the month was Cole

Major League Baseball announced on Monday that New York Yankees pitchers Gerrit Cole and Corey Kluber were top of the American League in the month of April and in last week, respectively. The two are major reasons why the Yanks have managed to bring their record back to .500 after falling to 6-11.

To be more specific, Cole was the AL’s pitcher of the month, while Kluber was the AL’s player of the week.

Cole has been the most dominant pitcher in the American League this season, and that includes an impressive group of hurlers, with Tyler Glasnow, Lucas Giolito, Shane Bieber, and others also in the junior circuit.

Cole, who signed for the Yankees before the 2020 season, has a minuscule 1.43 ERA, 0.48 FIP and 1.77 xFIP while striking out 44.3 percent of the batters he faced to this point. For a starting pitcher, that number is awesome.

The right-hander has only walked 2.1 percent of the hitters he has faced so far, and comfortably leads Yankees’ pitchers in Fangraphs’ version of Wins Above Replacement, or fWAR, with 2.4. If he keeps pitching like this, he may very well surpass the 10-WAR mark, which is extremely impressive for a hurler.

Kluber rounding into form for the Yankees

Kluber, meanwhile, didn’t have a very good start of the season with the Yankees, and while he never allowed more than three earned runs in a start to this point, he did battle some command issued in the early going.

His last two starts have been encouraging, including an eight-inning, ten-strikeout scoreless performance against the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.

For the season, the Yankees’ free agent signing has managed to lower his ERA to 3.03, and although his 4.19 FIP indicates that he hasn’t been exactly dominant, he is definitely trending on the right direction.

Kluber had a fantastic week, with a 0.61 ERA in two start and 15 strikeouts.

Both men are expected to lead the Yankees’ rotation to the promised land this season, and if April is any indication, they are in very good hands.