| Paul Merchan. 8th August, 2006 - 5:43 am
 When you think of the potential Cy Young Award winners in the American League, household names aren’t the only ones that pop into people’s minds anymore. Some candidates this season are Francisco Liriano, Justin Verlander and Jeremy Bonderman. Another surprise candidate this season has been Yankees’ sophomore sensation Chieng-Ming Wang, who in a rotation including Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina, has been the Yanks’ most reliable starter this season.
The Taiwanese right-hander has compiled a record of 13-4 with a 3.58 ERA going into his start against the White Sox on August 8. He’s not only won games, he’s dominated the opposition, pitching gems on many occasions this season. However, Wang has reached this high point in quiet fashion, almost unnoticed by the casual fan. This is because of his low-key style when it comes to getting outs.
While Liriano has 137 strikeouts and Bonderman has fanned 146, Wang has only retired 48 hitters by way of punchout this season. Rather, he usually retires hitters by way of the groundout, rarely even getting pop ups, fly outs or line drives. Its unspectacular, but it gets the job done. He does it with an impressive array of sinking pitches, with few fastballs in the mid 90s, that has stifled hitter after hitter this season. Its impressed the whole league this season.
“It seems like every time out that seems to be the topic of conversation, how much better he was than the previous time out. I don’t how much better he can get” said Derek Jeter in an interview published on MLB.com after Wang pitched a victory last month. His teammates seem to value his presence on the mound, although the outfielders probably get bored out of their minds.
Wang has done all this with a subdued charm and humble persona. He reflects what many Yankee-detractors always overlook when they criticize the team- that the Yankees farm system produces top quality into the majors in pinstripes. From Bernie Williams to Derek Jeter to Mariano Rivera to Wang to Robinson Cano to Melky Cabrera, the team they say is the best money can buy also seems to be the high up there in producing homegrown talent.
The Yankees are all about October and his postseason sample is still just one start, but Wang, who has excelled in international competition in the past, is so stoic when it comes to those things, that he will be such a strong asset come October, that Joe Torre should consider him to be the number one starter in a four man rotation. Many foreign-born pitchers have an edge that international play provides that translates into performance under fire in the big leagues, as we’ve seen in stellar postseason jobs by Orlando Hernandez, Jose Contreras, Pedro Martinez and Francisco Rodriguez. That would be just another reason for George Steinbrenner to lay off a little bit on the World Baseball Classic.
Perhaps more familiar faces like Roy Halladay or Johann Santana will grab the Cy Young this season, but no votes will go to a more peculiar candidate than Chieng-Ming Wang, whose prowess to induce the ground ball can make him more feared than a 99 mile-an-hour heater from the Rocket himself. He’ll never eclipse him in strikeouts, but given his these early signs, he could possibly reach him in success. |
