One bad start could completely derail a pitcher’s chances of winning an MLB Cy Young Award in 2020. Don’t count on that happening with these pitchers.
American League Cy Young- Cleveland Indians RHP Shane Bieber
Shane Bieber is a slam dunk pick for AL Cy Young. Bieber has been so good on the mound this season, he’s also very likely to find his name in the conversation for the MVP Award as well. However, in a shortened season where starting pitchers will a much smaller number of appearances, it may be even more difficult for a pitcher to take home MVP honors in 2020.
Through eight starts, Bieber is 6-0 with a 1.20 ERA, a 0.82 WHIP, and a .163 average against. More than 42% of all hitters he’s faced in 2020 have fallen victim to the strikeout, which comes out to more than 14 K/9 IP.
Five of Bieber’s eight starts have been scoreless outings of at least six innings and he’s given up just two earned runs over his last 25 innings of work. There’s no debate about this pick. The 25-year-old is an elite arm who has a very bright career ahead of him.
National League Cy Young- Chicago Cubs RHP Yu Darvish
Much like the AL ROTY Award, this pick was extremely difficult to make. The NL Cy Young Award race is a three-man race right now between Yu Darvish, Max Fried of the Atlanta Braves, and Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets.
deGrom has been his usual dominant self in 2020, striking out 58 batters and walking just nine in 41 innings of work. Opponents are hitting a measly .185 off him and deGrom is on pace for a third-straight season of posting a sub-1.00 WHIP (currently 0.90).
Fried has been the lone constant arm in Atlanta’s rotation, currently sitting at 6-0 on the year with a 1.60 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and a near 25% strikeout rate. Through 45 innings, he has yet to surrender a single home run. What makes that number even more impressive is that he’s dominated his way through some of the game’s top home run hitting lineups, such as the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies.
But then there’s Yu Darvish. Darvish is sitting at 6-1 with an NL-best1.47 ERA for Chicago, striking out 30.8% of hitters faced and walking just 4.7%. Darvish hasn’t posted a walk rate lower than 7.4% in any of his previous seven seasons in the major leagues.
Since allowing three runs in four innings in his first start of the season against Milwaukee, Darvish hasn’t allowed more than one run in any start and has given up a total of four runs over list last 39 innings pitched.
Each of these three pitchers will have approximately five more starts this year and each one will have to be nearly flawless to take home the Cy Young hardware.