Justin Verlander's Straight Dominance

A pitcher who consistently pitches more than 6 innings every start is quite rare...It does not seem like such a huge issue, but that kind of endurance as a starting pitcher does not happen. Verlander just made his 62nd consecutive start of 6+ inning pitched. Quite frankly, he usually goes 7+. This streak is only beaten by Steve Carlton (69) and Bob Gibson (78).  The fact is, is that he is also doing this while consistently allowing less than a baserunner per inning pitched during this streak. If he continues that trend of a WHIP < 1.0 for this season as well as 2011, he will be just the 7th pitcher since the 1920s to do this. 

What makes him so dominate. Well, besides his elite talent and mastery of his multiple pitches, Justin Verlander prepares more than any other to silence the biggest threats in the opposing team's lineup. Looking through Verlander's splits for different batting order positions you will see the trend. The 3-4-5 positions in the lineup are notorious for being stacked with a team's best slugger's. It goes without saying that if you can silence these bats as a pitcher - you will have a good chance of getting your team in position to win. Well, let's see how Verlander competes against these guys. 

Career:

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MVP, CY Young 2011:

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2012: 

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It is clear to see from the stats that throughout Verlander's career - he is continuing to become more dominant against the 3-4-5 hitter. He is even better in 2012 than during his amazing run of 2011. Currently this year the BA against JV from the 3-4-5 spot is .220-.161-.250 with OPS's of .676-.497-.718. He is literally taking the opposing team's heart of their lineup. While watching JV pitch you are watching a master in the making. 

Go JV!