If there is one thing that favors the pitching staff of the American League this year, it's their age. All six starters selected are under the age of 29 with Chris Sale, Sonny Gray, Dallas Keuchel and Chris Archer all under the age of 27.
But one young pitcher who was overlooked this year was Corey Kluber. Each of the four pitchers listed above, plus David Price, all deserve a spot in the rotation for the All-Star game as they take up five of the top-six spots in nERD. The last guy in the All-Star rotation happens to be Felix Hernandez. And like last year's Cy Young race, Kluber should be in over Hernandez.
| Top 10 by nERD | Team | W | L | K/9 | BB/9 | HR/9 | ERA | FIP | WAR | nERD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corey Kluber | Indians | 4 | 10 | 10.40 | 1.89 | 0.68 | 3.38 | 2.51 | 3.9 | 2.61 |
| Chris Sale* | White Sox | 8 | 4 | 11.84 | 1.73 | 0.75 | 2.72 | 2.21 | 4.1 | 2.52 |
| Chris Archer* | Rays | 9 | 6 | 10.87 | 2.22 | 0.81 | 2.74 | 2.65 | 3.2 | 2.43 |
| Dallas Keuchel* | Astros | 11 | 4 | 7.47 | 2.23 | 0.46 | 2.23 | 2.82 | 3.4 | 2.35 |
| David Price* | Tigers | 9 | 2 | 8.28 | 1.8 | 0.65 | 2.38 | 2.84 | 3.2 | 2.28 |
| Sonny Gray* | Athletics | 10 | 3 | 7.86 | 2.18 | 0.36 | 2.04 | 2.63 | 3.4 | 2.20 |
| Jeff Samardzija | White Sox | 6 | 4 | 7.32 | 1.65 | 0.86 | 4.02 | 3.41 | 2.4 | 2.18 |
| Clay Buchholz | Red Sox | 7 | 7 | 8.50 | 1.83 | 0.48 | 3.26 | 2.62 | 3.1 | 2.17 |
| Carlos Carrasco | Indians | 10 | 7 | 10.14 | 1.91 | 0.83 | 4.07 | 2.74 | 2.7 | 2.17 |
| Felix Hernandez* | Mariners | 11 | 5 | 8.59 | 2.68 | 0.77 | 2.84 | 3.27 | 2.2 | 2.10 |
There's more to the story than Kluber's win-loss record.
Kluber has better numbers the King Felix across the board, with a higher strikeout per nine rate (10.4) and lower walk (1.89) and home run (0.68) rates. His fWAR and nERD numbers are better than Hernandez's as well.
Kluber owns the highest nERD in all of baseball among pitchers, so despite the Indians' trouble this year, Kluber has been putting up good enough numbers that should have landed him a spot on the American League roster.