Zac Gallen has been dominating in the month of August in what he hopes ends with his first ever pitcher of the month award. Gallen is proving pitching coach Brent Strom right when he said that Zac has the talent to win the Cy Young award. He's also showing that the Arizona Diamondbacks were wise in trading Jazz Chisholm for their current ace Zac Gallen. Let's dive into the stats to see just how good Zac Gallen has been.
Zac Gallen is on his way to winning Pitcher of the Month for the National League with the Arizona Diamondbacks in August
On the season, Zac Gallen has thrown 132.2 innings (career high) over 23 starts in which he is 9-2. He has only walked a minuscule 35 batters while striking out 132. He does lead the league in 12 HBP but has managed to work around them. His ERA is a strong 2.78 with a 3.26 FIP and 147 ERA+. Zac's given up only 93 hits and 41 earned runs. Gallen's provided the team 3.2 WAR and 2.1 Wins Above Average.
Zac has limited walks to a career-low 6.7% with a career-low in line drive% at 21.1%. Batters are hitting just .195/.267/.582 against him. Statcast shows that he has lowered the exit velocity on his pitches by over 1.1 mph from 2021 to only 88.1. The expected batting average is only .223 against Gallen which is impressive.
So, how great has Zac Gallen been in August?
In August, Zac Gallen has started 4 games so far with the likely chance he starts at least 1-2 more. In those four starts, Gallen is 4-0 against the Guardians, Pirates, Rockies, and Giants. Zac has thrown 27 innings (an average of 6.2 innings a start) and has allowed only 3 runs. He has walked 6 and given up 15 hits. The most impressive part is that he has struck out 31 batters. Opposing hitters are hitting only .167/.227/.200 against him. His ERA is a magnificent 1.00 and his FIP is only 1.60. He's having a dominant month.
Gallen has faced weaker competition in August aside from the Guardians, but he did make a start in Colorado which is always causing issues for pitchers. He lowered his ERA from 3.31 on August 2nd to 2.78. It's true that Gallen is on an absolute tear on the mound.
His next start is against the Kansas City Royals on the road on Wednesday afternoon. Be sure to tune in as he tries to get to 10 wins and lower his ERA even more. While it's unlikely that a Diamondbacks pitcher wins pitcher of the month two months in a row, you can't deny that Gallen isn't deserving of it so far.