Figured this was a decent quick-and-dirty way Jon Niese’s success in context. These are all the guys under 24 with an ERA+ over 100 that qualify for the ERA title. Not sure why WHIP isn’t on the table. Also, Mat Latos is awesome.
| Rk | Player | ERA+ | Age | Tm | W | L | IP | BB | SO | ERA | HR | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trevor Cahill | 163 | 22 | OAK | 12 | 5 | 140.2 | 42 | 81 | 2.50 | 11 | .195 | .262 | .297 |
| 2 | Mat Latos | 156 | 22 | SDP | 12 | 5 | 135.2 | 39 | 134 | 2.32 | 13 | .192 | .254 | .306 |
| 3 | Felix Hernandez | 154 | 24 | SEA | 8 | 10 | 189.0 | 52 | 172 | 2.62 | 13 | .231 | .288 | .336 |
| 4 | Jaime Garcia | 149 | 23 | STL | 10 | 5 | 126.1 | 51 | 99 | 2.71 | 6 | .241 | .315 | .317 |
| 5 | David Price | 147 | 24 | TBR | 15 | 5 | 151.2 | 64 | 141 | 2.85 | 10 | .227 | .310 | .345 |
| 6 | Yovani Gallardo | 133 | 24 | MIL | 11 | 5 | 139.1 | 55 | 154 | 2.97 | 6 | .237 | .311 | .335 |
| 7 | Johnny Cueto | 124 | 24 | CIN | 11 | 3 | 141.1 | 44 | 102 | 3.38 | 12 | .252 | .318 | .392 |
| 8 | Clayton Kershaw | 122 | 22 | LAD | 10 | 7 | 150.1 | 64 | 157 | 3.17 | 9 | .223 | .310 | .326 |
| 9 | Jonathon Niese | 119 | 23 | NYM | 7 | 5 | 133.0 | 42 | 105 | 3.38 | 14 | .262 | .325 | .394 |
| 10 | Tommy Hanson | 118 | 23 | ATL | 8 | 8 | 148.0 | 43 | 137 | 3.41 | 8 | .249 | .316 | .348 |
| 11 | Gio Gonzalez | 117 | 24 | OAK | 10 | 8 | 147.0 | 66 | 121 | 3.49 | 10 | .233 | .317 | .332 |
| 12 | Mike Leake | 111 | 22 | CIN | 8 | 4 | 135.2 | 47 | 86 | 3.78 | 17 | .281 | .342 | .430 |
| 13 | Brett Cecil | 102 | 23 | TOR | 9 | 6 | 125.0 | 39 | 89 | 3.96 | 13 | .239 | .295 | .387 |
| 14 | Phil Hughes | 101 | 24 | NYY | 14 | 5 | 134.2 | 38 | 110 | 3.94 | 17 | .250 | .300 | .395 |
Tedquarters 
Ya know, I thought our pitchers had a raw deal with the low era and poor run support, leading to a poor W-L record.
But then I look to Seattle. Felix Hernandez has a 2.62 ERA and is 8-10. He has also pitched 189 innings over 26 games, which is roughly 7 and 1/3 innings per start. So, on average, he gets into the 8th inning. It’s not like he’s Maining himself by throwing 120 pitches, allowing 2 runs through 5 innings and calling it a day.
He’ll be a Yankee in 4 years. Dammit.
now is ERA+ calculated?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ERA%2B
Easy way to think of it is like SAT scores, IQ, or QB rating — it’s scaled so that 100 is average. So an ERA+ of 120 means you’re 20-percent better than average. It’s park- and league-adjusted, but it’s not based on batted-ball rates or anything like that, like xFIP or tRA, so it’s a measure of past performance and not necessarily an indicator of future performance.