Hudson has by far been the Braves best pitcher this year
Gondee just wrote that in the Braves vs Marlins preview:
No way Hudson has been the best pitcher. Hudson has been the luckiest. Let's see some stats between Hudson and Tommy Hanson:
Hudson's FIP, xFIP and tRA: 4.36, 4.45, 4.58.
Hanson's FIP, xFIP and tRA: 3.24, 3.67, 2.97
Hudson's pitching runs above average according to statcorner.com: 0.3
Hanson's pitching runs above average according to statcorner.com: 10.0
According to Fangraphs:
Hudson's Runs above replacement (RAR) and WAR: 6.5, 0.7
Hanson's Runs above replacement (RAR) and WAR: 11.7, 1.3
Hudson's K/BB: 1.13
Hanson's K/BB: 3.87
And here are the key statistics:
Hudson's BABIP and LOB%: .213, 86.5%.
Hanson's BABIP and LOB%: .344, 71.4%
Hudson ERA is not sustainable. He is stranding too many runners, having an absurdly low BABIP and if he doesn't start K ing more batters and walking less he is due for a HUGE regression.
Hanson had one bad luck start against Arizona in which every blooper falled for a hit and an horrible call from the official scorer declaring a hit the fly Nate Mclouth lost in the lights. And just one bad start against Cincinatti. Those 2 starts make Hanson's ERA look bad; but Hanson is BY FAR, the Braves best pitcher and one of the 30 best starters in the majors.