The Philadelphia Phillies top ace this season is Cole Hamels. That’s right, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee can’t yet claim that tag.

Halladay has been good, but not as effective overall as Hamels.

Lee has produced some better numbers, but has started fewer games. Plus, with all due respect to ‘run support’ arguments, he has five fewer wins than Hamels.

Pitching in what could be his final season in red pinstripes, the 28-year-old left-hander has easily been the Phillies best starter this season.

Better through competition

Last season, Philadelphia had four strong arms in their starting rotation. The famed ‘Four Aces’ of Hamels, Halladay, Lee and Roy Oswalt delivered on three-fourths of their hype. While Oswalt suffered through an injury-plagued season, the other three men performed as expected.

Los Angeles Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw was rightfully awarded the 2011 National League Cy Young Award. It was equally fitting that ‘Doc’ finished second in the voting, Lee was just behind him in third and that ‘Hollywood’ came in fifth.

Imagine having not one, but two, colleagues who are accomplished enough to rank higher than you on a list for pitching’s top prize. Positive competition often makes great people even better and that is exactly what has happened to Hamels during the past few years.

Clearly part of general manager Ruben Amaro, Junior’s overall pitching strategy, obtaining the best of the best has made all the rest that much better.

Maturity

While the Phillies returned to the World Series in 2009, Hamels didn’t have a great year. His 4.32 regular season ERA was the highest that has been recorded during his time in the major leagues. His 10-11 record was the first (and still only) sub-.500 performance of his professional career.

The 2008 National League Championship Series MVP and 2008 World Series MVP hardly created a follow-up postseason to remember. In 2009, Hamels posted a 7.20 ERA against the Colorado Rockies, a 6.52 ERA against the Dodgers and 10.38 ERA against the New York Yankees. A lack of both emotional and physical control, that was evident throughout the season, spilled into October and cast doubt upon his baseball character.

After working hard to improve his mental approach, he rebounded in 2010 and hasn’t looked back. He has followed a terrific 0.986 WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched) effort in 2011, with a 1.035 WHIP mark through mid-May of this year.

Let the future play out

Hamels might sign a new deal with the Phillies and then again he might not. As to what his future holds, no one truly knows.

In the meantime, if he continues to dominate hitters (including the Boston Red Sox in the series opener this weekend) he will increase the possibility that his own Cy Young Award voting support will increase this fall.

But, the best home grown pitching prospect to play for the Phillies in many decades probably isn’t focused on one individual award. Instead, it’s likely that thoughts of another Philadelphia World Series championship remains firmly at the front of his mind.

Sean O’Brien’s professional writing career began in 1990, when he first began working in the Philadelphia Phillies farm system. He was a freelance sports writer for five years and is currently a Featured Contributor for Yahoo! Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @SeanyOB and read his daily Sports Blog: Insight.

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