April National League Cy Young Award Winners

It is time to name the best pitchers in the month of April. I will start off with a few candidates for each league and narrow it down to the April Cy Young award winners for each league.

National League:

There are six solid starting pitcher candidates for the month of April.

Tim Hudson, Atlanta Braves - After a rough first season in the National League Tim Hudson has come into his own. So far this year he has compiled a 1.40 ERA, which is good for second in the National League. He is also undefeated tallying 3 wins in 6 starts. He has only allowed 29 hits in 45 innings and has more strikeouts (32) than walks (12) or hits (29). So far this year Hudson has been nothing short of spectacular.

Jason Marquis, Chicago Cubs - This was a very interesting pick up for the Cubs. A lot of scouts predicted that Marquis had the stuff to be a very good starting pitcher but he has never shown the stuff he is capable of in either of his stops in Atlanta or St. Louis. This year Marquis looks to be living up to his potential. He has compiled a 2.09 ERA which is good for sixth in the National League. He is also 4-1 in his six starts this season, and that is for a very underachieving offense. He also has fewer hits (27) than innings pitched (38.2) but has far fewer stirkeouts (19) than Hudson.

Rich Hill, Chicago Cubs - - Staying on the Cubs theme Rich Hill has been even better than his teammate Jason Marquis. Hill has a 1.77 ERA (fourth in the National League) and is 3-1 in 5 starts this season. Hill has only given up 20 hits in 35.2 innings pitched and has 29 stirkouts to 11 walks, almost a 3:1 ratio. Hill has probably been even more impressive because he has come out of nowhere to pick up the slack left by Kerry Wood and Mark Prior.

Brad Penny, Los Angeles Dodgers - Penny has become one of the best pitchers in the National League since the Dodgers aquired him from the Marlins. Penny is 3-0 in 6 starts and has picthed 38.1 innings so far this season giving up 33 hits. The problem with Penny is his strikeout to walk ratio. Penny has more walks (17) than strikeouts (15) and this is not Cy Young worthy work.