New York (AFP) – New York Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom and Tampa Bay Rays left-hander Blake Snell were named Major League Baseball’s best pitchers on Wednesday, winning the Cy Young Awards.
In a media panel vote, deGrom outshined National League East division rivals Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals and Aaron Nola of the Philadelphia Phillies while Snell bested Cleveland’s Corey Kluber and Houston’s Justin Verlander for the American League prize.
Both were first-time Cy Young Award winners.
Despite only managing a 10-9 record, deGrom had a 1.70 earned-run average, the lowest in the major leagues this season and sixth-lowest since baseball mounds were lowered to their current height in 1969.
And he did it for a lackluster Mets squad that went 77-85 and while throwing 217 innings, the second-most worked this year in the major leagues.
DeGrom had the fewest wins of any Cy Young Award-winning starter but had 29 of 30 first-place votes.
But the stellar run prevention statistic and his overall body of work was enough to give him the nod over three-time Cy Young Award winner Scherzer, who had 300 strikeouts this season, and Nola, who enjoyed a breakout campaign with a 17-6 record, a 2.37 ERA (a distant second in the NL to deGrom) and 224 strikeouts.
Snell had 180 2/3 innings pitched, the fewest innings pitched by any Cy Young winner in a season not shortened by a labor dispute, but was the only 21-game winner in the major leagues.
The 25-year-old southpaw kept opposing batters to a .178 average and his 1.89 earned-run average was second only to deGrom in the majors. He allowed two runs or less in 27 of 31 starts and one or less in 21.
Against the five American League playoff teams — Tampa Bay was seven games behind Oakland for the last playoff berth — Snell went 9-2 with a 2.00 ERA.
Snell got 17 first-place votes to 13 for Verlander, a 2011 Cy Young winner with Detroit.