CC Sabathia Flying Under Radar Despite Another Sensational Season

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Aug 4, 2010

Maybe it’s because he’s just one of many hurlers having a great year in 2010, "the year of the pitcher." Or, maybe it’s because Yankees fans have been focusing on Alex Rodriguez hitting his 600th home run.

Either way, nobody seems to notice that Yankees ace CC Sabathia is having yet another exceptional season in 2010.

Sabathia has been everything Bombers fans hoped he would be since arriving in the Bronx with a record (for a pitcher) seven-year, $161 million contract.

In 2009, the former AL Cy Young winner went 19-8 with a 3.37 ERA in the regular season, then went 3-1 with a 1.98 ERA in leading the Yanks to their first World Series title in nine years.

This year, Sabathia is doing more of the same. With a 13-5 record and 3.19 ERA, he’s on pace to put up even better numbers than his first season in New York. So why are people not noticing him?

It could have something to do with the fact that Sabathia is a little bit boring. He’s only on pace for about 187 strikeouts, down from 197 in 2009 and a whopping 251 in the central divisions of the AL and NL in 2008.

But Sabathia has also become more of a complete pitcher in 2010. His groundball-to-flyout ratio is 1.11, the best (higher the better) of his big league career and 31 points higher than his 0.80 ratio in 2009.

Sabathia is having another great season, but he’s sandwiched in between two other Yankees hurlers who are making bigger headlines.

At 38 years old, Andy Pettitte is having a jaw-dropping season with an 11-2 record and 2.88 ERA, surprising most skeptics who thought his run in the 2009 World Series was all he had left in the tank.

On the other end of the age spectrum, 24-year-old Phil Hughes is having a breakout season in his first full year as a starter. Hughes is 13-4 with a 3.96 ERA and was a leading AL Cy Young candidate for much of the first half of the season.

Pettitte, Hughes and Sabathia all made the AL All-Star team in July, but unlike his mates in the rotation, there was little commotion over Sabathia’s selection to the Midsummer Classic.

It was just another highlight to Sabathia’s brilliant career.

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