2019 Beyond the Box Score Awards: Cy Young

This post continues the award series at Beyond the Box Score, highlighting our writing staff’s collective two picks for Cy Young. Patrick Brennan started things off yesterday with Rookie of the Year.

AL Cy Young: Gerrit Cole, Houston Astros

There is no incorrect vote for this award, as long as it’s one of the two Astros aces. Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander actually tied for the AL lead in pitching WARP with 7.9 each. Cole’s DRA was slightly lower (2.36-2.51) and he struck out more dudes (326-300). Verlander threw 10 ²⁄₃ more innings and faced 30 more batters. Cole was slightly better whilst on the mound, but the difference is cancelled out by Verlander’s higher workload.

Both Astros are equally deserving of this award, and they very likely become the fifth pair of teammates to finish first and second in the CY voting. Imagine how good they’d be if they had third place finisher Charlie Mort— oh, right.

Recency bias might play be a factor in the voting for this award— both the real version and the BtBS voting. The actual CY voters have to submit their ballot at the end of the regular season, before the playoffs begin. That means they do not get to consider Cole’s otherworldly postseason, in which he allowed just seven runs in 36 ²⁄₃ innings with 47 strikeouts. Verlander’s September 1 no-hitter might be fresher on their minds, though.

The opposite is true for the BtBS writers, who voted earlier this week. As such, we voted 6-2 in favor of Cole (no one voted for Morton), so he gets our award. Congratulations, Gerrit.

NL Cy Young: Jacob deGrom, New York Mets

With respect due to deGrom, there’s a caveat here. The BtBS writers limited ourselves to just the three announced finalists for the real life award: deGrom, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Max Scherzer. I know at least one writer would have voted for MLB DRA leader Stephen Strasburg if given the opportunity. Alas.

This was the only award all year in which all three candidates received at least one vote. deGrom took five out of eight, and is therefore our winner. Scherzer took two votes, and one VERY WRONG person selected Ryu. That writer will be subject to disciplinary action from the managing editor (unless he happens to be the managing editor, in which case nothing may happen at all).

With the 2018 CY already collecting dust on his mantle, deGrom posted another worthy season. He he finished second on the NL in ERA, FIP, DRA, and WARP, while leading the league in fWAR and strikeouts.

What’s Next

Matt Provenzano presents our MVP voting, if he’s finished punishing himself.

Daniel R. Epstein is an elementary special education teacher and president of the Somerset County Education Association. Tweets @depstein1983.