Quote:To be fair, Sanchez is sporting a .229 BABIP right now that is unsustainable, which is a big reason his WHIP is so phenomenal right now. Also, his HR/FB% is 0. Those are two important numbers and are likely to revert back to his mean (.298 BABIP and 7.8 HR/FB%) and raise his hits per inning.

 

Last year, Scherzer game up 152 hits in 214 innings.

Sanchez gave up 156 hits in 182 innings.

 

Scherzer has given up 0.758 hits per inning the past two seasons combined.

Sanchez has given up .801 hits per inning the past two seasons combined.

 

I do agree that Sanchez is criminally underrated. He would be the #1 pitcher on a lot of teams. I just don't think he is better than the 2013 AL Cy Young winner.

 

Thanks for the statistical breakdown.   

 

Along the lines what you mentioned,  chances are Anibal Sanchez won't keep up his current stellar pace and Max Scherzer will exceed his current numbers from the first 2 months + of the season.    A case can be made for either pitcher ( we can respective disagree on which is the best option ) but one thing I certainly agree with you on is both are better options at this time than Justin Verlander.    Unless Verlander can make adjustments along the way and come close to the pitcher he was a couple of seasons ago,   the Tigers are going to regret giving Verlander a record setting contract for a pitcher.  To the point that Verlander's contract is going to make it much more difficult to retain Scherzer.  

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