Chicago Cubs: Jose Quintana is a dark horse Cy Young candidate

A sleeping giant on the horizon

Jose Quintana began his 2017 campaign on the South Side and finished his season on the North Side. For the White Sox, Quintana started 18 games finishing with a 4.49 ERA. He held opposing hitters to a .244 average but found himself still hit hard.

Correspondingly, in the 14 starts Quintana made for the Cubs, he saw a significant positive swing.

To point out, Quintana’s ERA dropped to 3.74. Another critical point is that opposing hitters also hit just .227, a seventeen point drop. Important to realize Quintana saw almost every single other stat move positively. His strikeout rate increased from 24.6 percent to 28.3 percent. His walk rate dropped from 9.0 to 6.1 percent. Most importantly, his FIP decreased from 4.02 to 3.25 along with his xFIP move from below-average (4.13) to great (3.24), according to Fangraphs.

Heading into the 2018 season, Quintana has an excellent opportunity to cement himself as a front of the line starting pitcher.

It remained to be seen how this year’s rotation would shake out. Eighty percent of the rotation could be another teams “ace.” After the addition of Yu Darvish, a shift occurred in the rotation. Now, Quintana finds himself as the projected No.4 starter. He literally could not find himself in a better spot for success.

Not so fierce competition

Looking through the projected rotations of the remaining N.L. Central teams, it should be understood that the Cubs will win out every time, at least on paper. The Cubs also have the best No.4 starter out of any team in the division.

If someone made a point that the other No.4 starters within the division were projected as Miles Mikolas, Luis Castillo, Brent Suter, and Chad Kuhl, it would be crazy not to take Quintana every time.

Jose Quintana will also face weaker lineups in the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates, giving him an added advantage through the season.

With this in mind, Quintana should find himself at an advantage this season.

Projecting the possibility

It seems at times Jose Quintana is the forgotten son in what is a top three rotation in all of baseball. This season will ultimately give Cubs fans an opportunity to feel like they are getting to know Quintana as a pitcher.

Moreover, Quintana carries an exceptional level of durability, which again, is necessary for a Cy Young candidate. His four straight thirty-two start seasons are remarkable. In those seasons, Quintana also has WAR totals of 5.1, 4.7,4.7, and 3.9. He will be an impact player, barring any injury of course.

Next: Almora hurting his own chances with poor spring

As has been noted, ZiPS currently has Quintana projected at a sublime 14-7 and a 3.19 ERA. ZiPS expressly projects Quintana to post a 4.9 WAR and 3.17 FIP. At the same time, his HR/9 is calculated to decrease significantly as well.

Needless to say, as long as Quintana can stay healthy, there should be no reason as to why he can’t reach these heights. Indeed, if he can pitch at the level of where his projections lie, Quintana will indeed find himself in the conversation to take home his very first Cy Young award.