Verlander making case to be considered one of the best

So, in the last few weeks we have seen hitters and pitchers who started the season on a tear fall back down towards their career numbers. Players like Bartolo Colon have regressed, and the elite hitters and pitchers are moving back towards the echelons at the top of the game. On the hitting side of the plate, Josh Hamilton still dominates most offensive numbers, although David Wright, Paul Konerko and Andre Ethier are all players who are doing some of the finest slugging in the league. On the mound, pitchers like Clayton Kershaw, Felix Hernandez and Gio Gonzalez are cementing their spots atop the pitching stats, but the player in an absolute league of his own is Justin Verlander. Words fail to accurately describe the skill, mastery and brutality that Verlander is showing on the mound, and put simply he is the best player in baseball, and is quickly making a case for himself as one of the greatest to grace the game.

Verlander only joined the Major Leagues in 2006, and from the start he showed glimpses of the dominance that was to come. In his debut season, he went 17-9 with a 3.63 ERA and 124 strikeouts. In 2008 he suffered the only down year of his career, racking up a league-leading 18 losses. However, his resurgence from that was nothing short of remarkable, culminating in an MVP and Cy Young winning season in 2011, leading the league in almost every pitching category as well as throwing the second no-hitter of his career.

But the real reason Verlander is so dominant cannot be attributed to mere stats. Verlander's arsenal is, on paper, frightening. He possesses a fastball, change-up, curveball and slider. The slider is probably his least-used pitch, although in his recent 1-hit shutout of the Pirates, he used it far more frequently. It is particularly effective against right-handers, where it starts around the center of the zone before dropping away off the table. The curveball is one of the best in business. At around 80mph, Verlander not only gets hitters hacking away at the dirt but he can, and does, throw this curve for strikes. Against lefties and righties, Verlander is not afraid to start his breaking ball at eye-level and drop it into the zone for called strikes, and judging from the reaction of the hitters, it's not the kind of pitch you can deposit into the bleachers. His change-up is a 'circle change', making it's release point very similar to the fastball - in fact, it looks pretty much the same until it gets 30 feet from the plate.

But Verlander's champion pitch is, of course, the fastball. At the start of games, this pitch clocks in at around 94mph, and Verlander gets useful sinking, 2-seamer movement on it, generating groundball outs and locating it where he wants. But the most impressive part of this pitch is what he can do with it later in games. Around the 6th or 7th inning, this fastball will begin to challenge the speed gun, cranking up towards 97 or 98, and in big situations, breezing towards, and past 100 miles per hour. There are very few pitchers in the game who can hit triple digits, and absolutely none who can do it 130 pitches into a game, whilst painting the outside corner. Verlander's control of his fastball is insane, and when he wants to, he can simply blow hitters away, as he did in his last start, against Cleveland, striking out the side in the 8th inning with 102 mph fastballs. In my opinion, Verlander could easily throw at 104 or 105 - his 'gas' is so easy it beggars belief, his arm stays fluid, but the ball just flies out, and the way that he makes the game look so easy is the reason why he should (and will) be considered one of the best of all time - he is just 29 years old remember.

Right now, as fans, all we can do is sit back and enjoy the show. Because the 6"5 right hander, out of Richmond, Virginia is putting on a show.