Just like in the American League, there are plenty of top-of-the-line arms in the National League. Names like Jacob Degrom, Max Scherzer, and now even Blake Snell are all destined to try to lead their clubs to a World Series in 2021, and as I have mentioned before, pitching is huge when October baseball rolls around. As much as I may enjoy talking about some of the guys listed previously, there are plenty of guys who do not get enough credit for their impressive performances on the mound. While there are plenty of names to pick from, I am going to narrow it down to the three most underrated NL Cy Young picks for the 2021 season:
1. Kyle Hendricks
If you look up the definition of “underrated” in the dictionary, Kyle Hendricks’s face should pop up. For his entire career, Kyle Hendricks has been a very solid pitcher, and a lot of people do not even realize how good he has been. Hendricks has a career ERA of 3.12, and you could argue that he has not had a bad season since he started his career back in 2014. His worst ERA in a season was 3.95, and his worst WHIP was 1.189. Those are his WORST, may I remind you. In 2016 Hendricks finished 3rd in Cy Young voting, and even more recently last year, he finished 9th in the Cy Young voting. With the trade of Yu Darvish to the Padres, Hendricks will certainly take the role of the Cubs ace, and he certainly deserves that honor. Although the Cubs may not be a super-competitive team this year, I’d be willing to put money on Hendricks having another superb season, maybe even making a run for Cy Young.
2. Brandon Woodruff
For the first two seasons of his career, Brandon Woodruff was not turning in any heads. Despite pitching well in 2018, it was not enough for him to be seen as a dark horse Cy Young candidate. However, in 2019 and 2020, Woodruff has been an excellent pitcher and seems like the ace for the Brewers rotation for the foreseeable future. In 2019 he put up a 3.62 ERA with a 1.142 WHIP and an 11-3 record. Woodruff was also selected to the all-star game in 2019, and you can argue that he would have been in 2020 had there been an all-star game. Speaking of 2020, Woodruff finished with a 3.05 ERA and a WHIP under one at 0.991. Along with being very solid on the mound, Woodruff hit a home run off of Clayton Kershaw in the NLCS in 2018, and not everyone gets to say that.
3. Julio Urias
This was a very tough pick for me, but Julio Urias has a lot of potential going forward. He had a ton of potential coming up as a 19-year-old in 2016 but really found his groove in 2019. He finished with a WHIP at 1.079 paired alongside a very impressive 2.49 ERA. In 2020 he followed up with another solid year, as he finished with a WHIP at 1.145 and an ERA at 3.27. Not only can Urias pitch well during the regular season, but he has also pitched exceptionally well in the postseason for the Dodgers and was a huge factor in their championship title. In 6 games, he held a 1.17 ERA, a 0.65 ERA and punched out 29 batters. On a team with Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, and now Trevor Bauer, it is easy to like a guy like Urias to be overlooked, but if he continues to perform like this, I assure you he won’t be overlooked for long.
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