MLB Awards Watch: Top 5 AL Cy Young candidates thru April
5. Andrew Miller – 8/8 SVO, 0.00 ERA, 20 K
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
The tall, lean southpaw deserves legitimate consideration at this point. After the New York Yankees started the regular season with a rather hush situation in the bullpen concerning their closer, Andrew Miller is showing manager Joe Girardi and everyone else that a committee in the ninth inning simply is not necessary.
Many thought Dellin Betances would own the closing job after his outstanding breakout campaign in 2014. But Betances is back to doing what he did best as a setup man for David Robertson in 2014, which is setting up Miller for saves in 2015.
The Yankees are paying Miller upper-tier money for a reliever at $9 million per season, so it only makes sense to allow him the chance to dominate hitters in the ninth and groom the 27-year-old Betances some more with eighth inning duties.
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Not since 2003 when Eric Gagne took home the hardware has a relief pitcher won the award. In that season for Gagne, the Dodgers closer had as many saves (8) as Miller has now in the month of April, but did so in 13 appearances and 14.1 IP. Miller has only pitched 10 innings in April but all his other statistics look eerily similar to Gagne’s 2003 pace.
The Dodgers’ closer also had yet to allow an earned run, had a K/9 of 15.1, a K:BB ratio of 8.00 and a WHIP of 0.63. Miller’s K/9 of 15.88, a K:BB ratio of 5.00 and a WHIP of 0.62 are all generally inline with Gagne’s. Perhaps where Miller separates himself from Gagne’s historic April of 2003 year is in the oppositions inability to hit him. Gagne had a BAA of .125 in April of 2003. Miller’s so far sits at .081.
Of course, the likelihood of the BBWAA giving a relief pitcher a Cy Young has a lot to do with what starters have done that same year. When Gagne won, he did so quite easily over the player with the second most votes, Giants starter Jason Schmidt. Schmidt finished 2003 with a 17-5 record, a 2.34 ERA and 208 strikeouts. Those are by no means shabby numbers, but Miller has some stiffer competition early in 2015.
Make no mistake though — Miller’s name is in the conversation for this award. He is arguably the Yankees’ best player, both hitters and pitchers included, in 2015. Right now, his WAR of 0.8 is bested by only left fielder Brett Gardner (0.9) on the Yankees’ roster. That’s saying something for having only logged 11.1 innings of work so far in the month.
Next: Sonny Gray