Will Zac Gallen Win NL April Pitcher of the Month?

The Diamondbacks Ace is in a tight race with some other excellent pitchers

Last year Zac Gallen won the August pitcher of the month award, as he racked up an incredible 44.1 scoreless innings streak, the best in franchise history. That propelled him to fifth in the Cy Young voting, and there was some debate at the time whether or not he should have finished in the top three. Whether he was snubbed  or not, being left off a number of ballots certainly helped motivate Gallen to get even better. 

Gallen has put together four fantastic starts in a row this month, and is currently working on a new scoreless streak of 28 innings and counting. Already in rarified air, Gallen is seeking and reaching new heights. Gallen is one of only four pitchers to have multiple streaks of four plus games of six scoreless innings or more. The other three are Walter Johnson, Luis Tiant, and Clayton Kershaw. All four pitchers have two such streaks. 

Gallen utilized three great pitches last year, his 94 MPH fastball, his curve and cutter to dominate hitters. He threw his changeup, but it wasn't quite up to the quality of his other plus plus pitches. As he and his manager detailed last night, now his changeup is right up there with his other pitches, making him even more dominant than last year. 

This year's April Pitcher of the Month race could be an early window into how voters are perceiving the D-backs ace and whether he is on track to receive even greater recognition.  While there are more than just four starters off to great starts on the season, the four current front runners in my view are Gallen, Spencer Strider of the Braves, Justin Steele of the Cubs, and Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers.   So how does Gallen stack up?

Basic Stats

Steele has an incredibly low ERA, and leads the NL in that category. Gallen leads the NL in strikeouts but Strider will likely pass him. Gallens strikeout to walk ratio is unmatched however. Over his last four games he's walked just 1 batter while striking out 41. 

Peripheral Stats

Strider has the best FIP, which stands for fielding independent pitching. It uses just walks, strikeouts and home runs to determine the effectiveness of the pitcher, with the philosophy that those are the things the pitcher has the most control over, while hits on balls on play are more random. This reflects the dominance of the pitchers in question beyond just the results. Gallen is right behind Strider however whereas Steele and Kershaw lag behind in these peripherals.

 Batting Against

 This is another view that shows that Strider and Gallen have been the most dominant.  Steele has the lowest BABIP, which is likely not sustainable. 

WAR

Not to be left out, here is the WAR picture. Baseball Reference WAR starting point is RA/9, or runs allowed per nine, including unearned runs. It then makes adjustments for strength of competition, league average context and ballparks pitched in, or Park factor,  as well as the defense behind the pitcher.  Fangraphs WAR is based on FIP peripherals, not actual runs allowed. It makes no adjustments for defense or ball in play results,  but league and park context are included. 

Steele, Strider and Kershaw are all expected to pitch this weekend, so you'll want to pay attention to their results over the next few days. A bad start by any one of them could push them out of the competition, but another great start could push any of them up in the eyes of the voters. Another dominant start by Strider, who had a perfect game through six and a no-hitter through 7.1 innings last time out, could earn him the honors. Stay tuned

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