Walker Buehler's Latest Gem for Dodgers Proves He's the Best Young Pitcher in Baseball

Stars are meant to be in Hollywood, so it's appropriate that Walker Buehler is shining for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

His outing on Saturday night against the San Diego Padres is just another example of how Buehler is transforming into baseball's best young pitcher.

Buehler, 25, tossed a complete game while giving up only one run on just five hits. Perhaps even more incredible was his 15 strikeouts against zero walks.

Many young pitchers with great stuff typically strike out a lot of batters, but also have trouble walking batters. In just his second full season in the majors, the Vanderbilt alum has struck out 152 batters while walking only 20 in 131.1 innings. That's a tremendous 7.60 strikeouts-to-walk ratio.

Saturday was the fourth time this season that Buehler had a double-digit strikeouts game, and the fifth time in his career. Even more remarkable is that he joins Pedro Martinez and Dwight Gooden as the only pitchers in MLB history to have multiple starts with 15 strikeouts and 0 walks in the same season.

Buehler has even already proven he can handle, if not thrive, in big-game situations. He dominated the Boston Red Sox in Game 3 of the 2018 World Series, going seven innings and allowing just two hits against the eventual Champions.

Not all young pitchers who have good regular seasons carry their success into the playoffs. Just look at Luis Severino of the New York Yankees. No moment is too big for Buehler, and that's rare among young players.

Many have criticized the Dodgers for not giving up their top prospects at the trade deadline to acquire a lockdown reliever. However, their refusal to overpay in trades is why their success has lasted several years. They could have traded Buehler when he was just a top prospect, but instead kept him and are now reaping the benefits of a young ace on a cheap contract.