Justin Verlander’s 2011 season went magically. The overpowering righty went 24-5 and won the AL Cy Young as well as the AL MVP.

Verlander posted absurd numbers: 2.40 ERA, 250 K, 8.3 WAR, 0.92 WHIP. He prevented 58 more runs than a normal pitcher would have and batters hit .192 against him. Following a year such as Verlander’s 2011, it is inevitable that fans will feel a let down after a season from the baseball gods. Through 20 starts Verlander is 11-5. While his wins are down, that statistic does not tell the story.

Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP)

Fangraphs tracks this cool stat called FIP. The idea is to take the other eight guys on the field out of the equation when figuring a pitchers ERA. In 2011, Verlander’s FIP was 2.99. This season he improved to 2.93. This may not seem like much but a pitcher of Verlander’s quality only has so much room to improve by.

ERA-

This is the runs prevented statistic. Last year Verlander had an ERA- of 58 in 34 starts. This year he already has -59 in 20 starts.

LOB%

Stranding runners is a must for every pitcher. Last season, Verlander stranded a staggering 80.3% of runners. This year his number is down a bit to 76.1%. That number is still solid and better than his career average of 73.5%

Batting Average on Balls in Play (BABIP)

Last season opponents hit .236 when putting the ball in play against Verlander. He had about one better hop last year than this year. His number in 2012: .238. Of course, this number can be taken with the FIP, which suggests improvement on Verlanders part and perhaps a bit of a defensive downgrade by Detroit this season. The story is a coinflip in WHIP as well; in both seasons it was 0.92.

K/9

An ace must have the ability to punch people out. Verlander’s K/9 went down from 8.96 to 8.60 in 2012. This could relate to the fact that Verlander’s velocity is down about 1 MPH on each of his four pitches.

WAR

The tool for Wins Above Replacement suggests that Verlander is better this season. His WAR/start was .244 last season. In 2012 his WAR/start is .255.

When things didn’t take a strong start for Detroit this season, a few rumblings about Verlander not getting it done came out. These complaints are unfounded and it appears Verlander is at his MVP level of last season, if not slightly above it.

The Big Guy