Out of everyone who threw enough innings to qualify for the ERA title, no one finished with a lower average than Kyle Hendricks. And, heck, he led MLB by 31 points, which is the same as the difference between Chris Sale and Jerad Eickhoff. Hendricks might get rewarded with the National League Cy Young, but even if he doesn't, he has proven himself, a feather in the cap for everyone who has ever said it's better to be a pitcher than a thrower. If you go back to the Chicago Cubs getting Hendricks from the Texas Rangers in a trade for Ryan Dempster all the way back in 2012, it wasn't just one lopsided trade that helped the Cubs to build a championship rotation.
However, Hendricks' 2.13 ERA is worthy of closer examination. Whenever you see any extreme data point, you should ask yourself, how likely is this to repeat? There's no question that Hendricks has become a quality starter. There's no question he's one of the most valuable Cubs, and indeed, one of the more valuable starting pitchers. Yet Hendricks' season was at least partially the result of some extraordinary circumstances. In part, it was about Hendricks. In part, it was about everyone else around him. But it's almost impossible to imagine the same season happening again.
To start with some little stuff: Hendricks isn't a contact pitcher, but he's also not a high-strikeout guy. He struck out batters at a rate a couple points higher than average. He also walked batters at a rate a couple points lower than average. Put the rates together and you get K-BB percentage (or K-BB%). Hendricks finished last year at 17 percent, while the average was 13 percent. That makes Hendricks compare well to frequent comp Greg Maddux, but when Maddux ran a K-BB% of 15 percent between 1992-2001, the average was 7 percent. Baseball has changed -- strikeouts are everywhere. Hendricks has a long, long way to go if he wants to be a real Maddux 2.0.
Hendricks is good in part because he does get his strikeouts. He's boosted, as well, by the fact that he limits his free passes. But just in terms of K-BB percentage, Hendricks was the same as Julio Teheran and John Lackey. Hendricks thrived because of his timing, and because so many batted balls were turned into outs.