The winners of hotly contested Cy Young Award battles in the American League and National League were revealed Wednesday, as the Chicago Cubs’ Jake Arrieta and the Houston Astros’ Dallas Keuchel took home the honors as the best pitchers in 2015.
Voting was expected to be tight in both leagues, and the final point totals showed that that held true:
The National League race was the main event, with three titans in Arrieta, Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw all deserving. Ultimately, Arrieta became the Cubs’ first Cy Young winner since Greg Maddux in 1992.
Arrieta didn’t have the best season from start to finish, but his closing act in 2015 was one of the best Major League Baseball has ever seen, per MLB Communications:
Keuchel joined Mike Scott (1986) and Roger Clemens (2004) as the only pitchers in Astros history to win a Cy Young Award. He had a comfortable edge over David Price in first-place votes to secure the honor.
ESPN Stats & Info highlighted some of the reasons why Houston’s star left-hander came out on top:
The statistical separation between Keuchel and Price was close, even going into advanced metrics. Per FanGraphs, Price had a slim edge in WAR (6.4) thanks to a slightly better strikeout rate (9.19 to 8.38) and walk rate (1.92 to 1.98), but Keuchel’s edge in home run rate (0.66 to 0.69) and expected fielding independent ERA (2.75 to 3.24) helped put him over the top.
Sticking with stats for Arrieta and Keuchel, per Daren Willman of BaseballSavant.com, exit velocity this season was a huge indicator of overall success:
Always humble in victory, Keuchel said on the MLB Network broadcast (via MLB Network PR) he wasn’t anticipating this moment:
Sticking with his humility, Keuchel was quick to give credit to the players around him, per MLB Network PR:
That’s an underrated component with the Cy Young Award. Even though there are metrics now to show us how good or bad a pitcher is, getting help from the defense is always going to be integral because one or two runs saved here and there can dramatically change an ERA.
While Keuchel was great on his own at generating strikeouts with 216, he was a ground-ball-heavy pitcher (61.7 percent), and the Astros finished fourth in baseball with 30 defensive runs saved.
This season also marked the culmination of what has been a dramatic turnaround for Keuchel and to a greater extent Arrieta, as noted by ESPN.com’s David Schoenfield:
That struggle to put everything together was something Arrieta talked about after he received the NL Cy Young, per MLB Network PR:
Keuchel gradually evolved into one of MLB’s best pitchers, posting a 5.15 ERA in 2013 before breaking out with a 2.93 mark in 2014 and his Cy Young season this year.
Alex Speier of the Boston Globe also provided some words of advice to teams in the future after Keuchel captured the award:
It is hard to find anyone else like Keuchel because he dominates despite throwing a fastball that averaged 89.6 mph this season. It’s a testament to his command, movement and pitch sequencing that he put up the numbers he did in 2015.
Going back to last year, when the Cleveland Indians’ Corey Kluber won the AL Cy Young, and now with Keuchel and Arrieta getting their day in the sun, things can change rapidly in Major League Baseball. Some of next year’s best pitchers may not be on your radar right now, but there is ample evidence they are coming.
Stats courtesy of FanGraphs.
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