Cleveland Indians: Top 5 players from the first half of 2018

Corey Kluber

It would be tough for Corey Kluber to top his second Cy Young award-winning season that he had last year. Yet still, Corey Kluber is having yet another remarkable season. He already has 12 wins and is easily on pace to top his career-high 18 wins.

His strikeout numbers are just slightly below par, but that’s an attribute to how great Kluber was last year. He missed nearly the entire month of May in 2017 and still ended the season with 265 strikeouts.

As the Cleveland Indians have proven to be second-half teams throughout their history, it’s safe to see we have yet to see Kluber’s best in 2018. Still, he has a 2.76 ERA and has pitched a whopping 133.2 innings.

Kluber has had one weakness this year and it’s been the long-ball. He’s allowed 19 homers after allowing just 21 last year. So why isn’t his ERA higher? Well, he mainly only allows solo homers. He has a WHIP of 0.91 and has the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in baseball. He even went over a month without allowing a walk!

Corey Kluber is still the ace of this team, and he’ll likely be in the mix for his third Cy Young award. Kluber recently received an injection in his leg after he said his mechanics were being affected. So as we go into to the break, let’s hope this slight setback doesn’t alter his already remarkable 2018 season.