Top National League Pitchers in May

Major League Baseball has started its second month of the regular season. Some teams have surprised early on such as Milwaukee leading the NL Central and the Miami Marlins sitting at .500.

Pitching, as it always has been, is vitally important if a team wants to reach the postseason and have a shot at the World Series.

The following is a list of National League pitchers that have been successful and unsuccessful in May. All of the pitchers have 10 starts or more and at least one during the month of May in each of the past three seasons.

Good May Hurlers

Matt Cain is 13-4 in May the past 3 seasons and 10-0 in his past 10 games pitched in May. For his career with San Francisco, Cain is 93-91 but his ERA is just 3.37 and opposing hitters have only a .227 average against him, suggesting he is better than his numbers indicate.

Gio Gonzalez is 12-3 for his career in May. The southpaw for Washington has a lack of control with most of his pitches to make hitters a bit uncomfortable facing him. Over his entire career, he always has fewer hits than innings pitched.

Zack Greinke is 11-4 in May for the past three seasons and is one of the best right-handers in baseball. His control and accuracy is phenomenal and can hit a strike with any of his different pitches. He is one of the best or the best No. 2 pitchers in baseball. If not for Clayton Kershaw, he likely would be the Dodgers ace.

Cincinnati hurler Mike Leake is 8-4 in May the past three seasons. This season has not started as well as last season having given up 6 home runs to date. However, as the weather warms up, his control will fine tune and he should be strong the rest of the way.

Ryan Vogelsong is 11-5 in May during the past three seasons. As the fourth or fifth starter in the San Francisco rotation, people are just waiting for Vogelsong to fail, but he has not. He started slow this season, but had a very strong appearance his late time out against Cleveland.

Bad May Hurlers

Matt Garza is just 3-7 over the past three seasons in May. The Milwaukee hurler has never played well during May

Edwin Jackson is 4-11 in May. He has pitched for nine teams and on a strong staff would not pitch many innings as a starter, but with the Cubs, he has no choice.

Kyle Lohse is 5-12 in May, but this season in April has started 4-1. He has 40 strikeouts in 40 innings pitches and is allowing opposing hitters to hit just .207. However, in May his team has lost his past 8 starts.

Juan Nicasio is 4-8 in May. The Colorado right-hander has started this season poorly and things could get worse if the past is any indication.

May is when the temperatures begin to rise and pitchers have innings behind them and can go further into games. For some their season continues on a high or turns to the positive, while for others it just keeps getting worse.