Justin Verlander a finalist for the AL Cy Young Award after career high in K’s.
Verlander AL finalist with Snell, Kluber; Bregman not among top three for MVP
After finishing his 2018 regular season with a 2.52 ERA and a career-high 290 strikeouts, Astros starter Justin Verlander threw out one more pitch in an attempt to leave a strong impression on voters of the American League Cy Young Award.
Verlander sensed he might have to make his own case as the most deserving candidate. In an era of baseball that prefers removing starting pitchers before their third cycle through an opposing batting order, Verlander pointed to the exceptional workload he carried.
His 214 innings pitched were not just a point of personal pride. Verlander argued that in not awarding him the Cy Young, voters would be giving unprecedented value to pitchers less durable and less used than he was. Only one Cy Young-winning starter completed fewer than 200 innings. Clayton Kershaw threw 198⅓ innings when he won in 2014.
Verlander would not precisely identify the biggest threat to his receiving the second Cy Young Award of his career, but it was clear he was alluding to the 1.89 ERA and 221 strikeouts in 1802⁄3 innings of Tampa Bay’s Blake Snell.
On Monday, the Baseball Writers Association of America named Verlander, Snell and Indians ace Corey Kluber as finalists for the AL award. It is the fifth time in his 14year career that Verlander has made the top three in Cy Young Award voting. The winner will be named Nov. 14.
Snell earned 21 wins and Kluber 20, making them the only pitchers in the majors with 20 victories, but voters increasingly are diminishing the value of a statistic often out of a starting pitcher’s control.
Although Snell led AL pitchers with 7.5 WAR, according to Baseball Reference, Verlander, at 35, bested the 25-year-old lefthander in K/9 (11 for Snell and 12.2 for Verlander) and BB/9 (3.19 and 1.56) while going 16-9.
A stellar final three months of the season vaulted Alex Bregman into the class of superstars, but the Astros third baseman didn’t break into the top three AL Most Valuable Player candidates. Named as finalists Monday were Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts, Angels outfielder Mike Trout and Indians infielder Jose Ramirez. Betts and Trout had the highest WAR ratings, according to Baseball Reference, and Bregman ranked eighth.
As for National League MVP, the finalists are Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado, Cubs infielder Javier Baez and Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich. The NL’s Cy Young finalists are the Mets’ Jacob deGrom, the Phillies’ Aaron Nola and the Nationals’ Max Scherzer.
American League Rookie of the Year finalists are third baseman Miguel Andujar of the Yankees, pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani of the Angels and second baseman Gleyber Torres of the Yankees. Finalists for top NL rookie are outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves, pitcher Walker Buehler of the Dodgers and outfielder Juan Soto of the Nationals.
Manager of the Year finalists in the AL are the Rays’ Kevin Cash, the Red Sox’s Alex Cora and the Athletics’ Bob Melvin. NL finalists are the Rockies’ Bud Black, the Brewers’ Craig Counsell and the Braves’ Brian Snitker.