Houston Astros: Justin Verlander’s Cy Young finish is still impressive

Astros pitcher Justin Verlander didn’t take home the hardware for this year’s Cy Young award. But he still pieced together a memorable season few will forget.

Kate Upton scolded Cy Young Award voters two years ago for handing the prestigious pitching award to Rick Porcello instead of current Astros pitcher Justin Verlander. And she had made respectable points, as Verlander boasted superior numbers across several categories.

But this year, those points are no longer moot. This year’s winner, Rays southpaw Blake Snell, deserved the award more than any other pitcher, despite not playing for a playoff team.

Verlander, on the other hand, fell short for the third time in his long career. Yet, the race wasn’t seemingly as close as it was two years ago.

That’s not to say Verlander wasn’t deserving at all. The 35-year-old registered a career-high 290 strikeouts and nearly posted his best-ever ERA. He led the American League in WHIP. The seven-time All-Star pitcher also accrued the most quality starts in the league.

Unfortunately, Snell’s breakout campaign proved to be more impressive. The Rays starter was one of two pitchers – Jacob deGrom was the other – to sport an ERA below 2.00.

While wins shouldn’t be regarded as highly as they are, Snell put Tampa Bay in a position to win during every start. The young gun surrendered one or fewer runs in 21 of his starts. The only reason his quality start ratio was not high was his susceptibility to fatigue after five innings.

Nevertheless, considering how inconsistent the Rays’ offense was, it’s impressive for Snell to have 21 wins. Verlander has surpassed that number just once during his career, and he’s had much better offensive support.

Now the question remains whether the Astros pitcher can recreate arguably his best-ever season once again.

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Houston will rely on the ace to push them back into the playoffs for the third-straight season. Though he continues to age, he’s not expected to regress considerably by MLB projections, such as RotoChamp.

However, fans surely realize he won’t be this dominant until he retires off into the sunset. Yet there are still some signs that he could continue to flourish in Houston at least for one more season.

Verlander didn’t hurt himself throughout 2018, yielding just 37 walks in total. Only two players that tossed more than 200 innings allowed fewer walks – Miles Mikolas and Corey Kluber. Although, neither of the two racked up as high of a strikeout-to-walk ratio as Verlander.

Frankly, no one across the MLB came close to Verlander’s 7.84 ratio this past year.

But he also pitches well at Minute Maid Park, where approximately half his starts will be in 2019. Opposing hitters own a measly .198/.242/.366 triple-slash line against the Astros ace at that park.

And Houston’s offense will still provide a powerful punch in his support. Hinch’s crew ranked in the top six in runs scored each of the previous two seasons.

Now all Verlander must do is fight against father time and remain healthy so that he can register more than 25 to 30 starts once again. Even if he doesn’t match his numbers from 2018, he will still add to his legacy if his numbers remain respectable.

Also, it will just be one more season to add to his Hall of Fame career.