Blake Snell, Jacob deGrom Named Cy Young Award Winners
Mets righthander Jacob deGrom and Rays ace Blake Snell were named the NL and AL Cy Young Award winners, respectively, on Wednesday.
DeGrom, 30, notched his first Cy Young Award despite recording just 10–9 as a starter. DeGrom received 29 first-place votes over the Nationals' Max Scherzer, who received one. John Maffei of the San Diego Union-Tribune was the only writer to place Scherzer ahead of deGrom on their ballot. Aaron Nola finished in third.
The Mets ace had an MLB-best 1.70 ERA, the sixth lowest among qualifying pitchers since the league lowered the mound in 1969. His .277 slugging percentage allowed was .055 better than Scherzer's (.332) and .034 better than Nola's (.311). DeGrom's win is the first time ever that a starter has won the Cy Young while only having recorded 10 victories.
Snell also won his first Cy Young Award, earning 17 first-place votes en route to securing the honor. Justin Verlander came in second for a record-tying third time with 13 first-place votes, while defending champion Corey Kluber received none.
Snell emerged as one of the league's most elite starters despite pitching in the MLB's most contested division. The 25-year-old left-hander led the league with 21 wins and ranked first in the AL in ERA (1.89), ERA+ (219) and hits per nine innings (5.6). Snell allowed just two or fewer runs in 27 of his 31 starts, winning nine straight down the stretch with a 1.03 ERA in that span.
Snell joined David Price (2012) as the second Rays player to ever win an AL Cy Young, while DeGrom is the first Met to win since R.A. Dickey in 2012.
