Five stats that stand out: Kevin Gausman

For Gausman, let’s begin with the simplest part of explaining his season. His ERA of 4.04 isn’t supported by the peripherals, though even they disagree with one another on how good Gausman should be. Fielding-independent pitching (FIP), which uses walks, strikeouts, and home runs to assign a pitcher an ERA based on what they control, is 4.35. His xFIP, which uses a league-average home run rate instead of the pitcher’s actual home run rate, is 3.83. And Gausman’s DRA, which is a new stat by Baseball Prospectus that goes deep in stripping out all external factors to a pitcher’s performance, is 3.72. All told, the stats seem to indicate that Gausman’s peripherals, with his 9.05 strikeouts per nine innings and low walk rate, can support a good pitcher. It’s clear, though, that home runs are an issue. [Sources: FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus] (Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)