New York — Zack Greinke won the American League Cy Young Award on Tuesday, beating out Felix Hernandez after a spectacular season short on wins but long on domination.
Greinke went 16-8 with a 2.16 ERA for the Kansas City Royals. Hernandez went 19-5 with a 2.49 ERA for the Seattle Mariners.
Greinke received 25 first-place votes and three seconds for 134 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Hernandez drew two firsts, 23 seconds and one third for 80 points.
Detroit's Justin Verlander was third with the remaining first-place vote and nine thirds for 14 points. He was followed by the Yankees' CC Sabathia with 13 points and Toronto's Roy Halladay with 11 points.
The NL winner will be announced Thursday.
Greinke's ERA was the lowest in the AL since Pedro Martinez's 1.74 ERA in 2000 and his 242 strikeouts were second in the league behind Verlander.
It was quite a turnaround for the 26-year-old right-hander, who was the sixth overall pick in the 2002 amateur draft but led the AL in losses in 2005 when he went 5-17.
He left spring training in February 2006 and went home to Florida with what later was diagnosed as a social anxiety disorder. He started working out in the minors about six weeks later and returned to the majors in late September.
Greinke was 7-7 the following year and 13-10 in 2008 before his breakout season.
His victory total matched that of Arizona's Brandon Webb three years ago for the fewest by a starting pitcher to win a Cy Young Award in a non-shortened season and was the fewest by an AL starter to win in a full-length season.
Kansas City, which tied for last place in the AL Central at 65-97, scored just 13 runs in his eight losses and 21 runs in his nine no-decisions. He failed to get a victory in six starts in which he allowed one run or none.
He was particularly sharp at the start and finish, going 5-0 with a 0.50 ERA in April and 5-0 with a 1.29 ERA in his last eight starts. He didn't allow any runs in his first three starts and any earned runs in his first four, and his 0.84 ERA through 10 starts was the first below 1.00 in the major leagues since Juan Marichal's 0.55 in 1966.
He struck out 15 over eight innings against Cleveland on Aug. 25, then followed five days later by pitching a one-hitter at Seattle. After Kenji Johjima's soft second-inning single, Greinke retired his final 22 batters.
Greinke, who agreed to a $38 million, four-year contract last winter, receives a $100,000 bonus for winning.
The first-place votes for Hernandez came from Chris Assenheimer of The Chronicle-Telegram in Elyria, Ohio, and Mark Feinsand of the Daily News In New York. Verlander's first-place vote was cast by Steve Kornacki of Booth Newspapers in Michigan.
Comments
LJWorld.com doesn’t necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.
puzzler (anonymous) says…
Go Zack!! Go Royals!!
srj (anonymous) says…
A voter on the Cy Young said online..
"Consider that in his losses and no-decisions Greinke went 0-8 in 17 starts despite posting a 3.34 ERA that would have ranked fourth in the league ahead of CC Sabathia at 3.37 and Justin Verlander at 3.45. He lost twice when giving up one run and got stuck with no-decisions six times when he allowed two or fewer runs, including once when he tossed seven shutout innings. Give him better teammates and Greinke wins 20 games, but that doesn't change how well he pitched."
Wallythewalrus (anonymous) says…
Woo Hoo!
mike_blur (Mike Blur) says…
First of many for Zack. He's only 26.
parrothead8 (anonymous) says…
Give Greinke better fielders behind him and he wins more games as well. The KC organization better start drafting and developing prime talents (AND teaching them to be better fielders), because nobody is coming here as a free agent.
Ricky_Vaughn (anonymous) says…
Where's that clown of a reporter that said he wouldn't vote for him now?
Open wide...it's time to eat some crow...
Ricky_Vaughn (anonymous) says…
@ parrot
Nobody wins championships with defense in baseball.
Power hitting and starting pitching is the name of the game these days. If the Royals can't get a heavy dose of both, they're not going to win anything anytime soon. I hate to admit that because I'm probably one of their biggest fans.
thebcman (anonymous) says…
Congratulations Zack !!! You deserved it. You rock !!! I only hope you stick around these parts for a few more years.
parrothead8 (anonymous) says…
@Ricky Vaughan
Yes, I know a team has to score runs, but to say the game is all about power hitting and starting pitching is false.
If it were true, the good-field, no-hit Jack Wilson wouldn't have just gotten a 2-year, $10M deal from the Mariners, Chone Figgins wouldn't be one of the most sought after free agents this offseason, closers wouldn't be making $10M+ per year, and left-handed middle relievers wouldn't be worth their weight in gold.
You know how the Rays went from worst to first in the AL East in 2008? Check out their defensive statistics in 2007 and 2008.
Adam Dunn hit 40 HRs and got 100+ RBI for five straight seasons from 2004-08. He entered 2009 as a free agent at age 29. Teams should have been salivating, yet he couldn't get more than a 2-year deal from the Nationals. You know why? It's because he is statistically the worst defensive outfielder in baseball over the last three years. His fielding has cost his team more runs over the last three years than any other outfielder in baseball.
Yes, the fans value power hitters because chicks dig the long ball. But any general manager, manager, scout, or player in the majors will tell you that you build your team first around pitching and defense.
Sulla (anonymous) says…
@Ricky_Vaughn: That clown of a reporter wouldn't have the initials 'CW', now would it??? Thanks for the reminder because I remember how he trashed Greinke and thought Verlander is the next thing to a pitching god this past season when all the stats were in Zack's favor. LMAO!!
newmedia (anonymous) says…
Congratulations to Zack !! Lord knows he made the best of a bad situation. I just hope the team improves enough that he will stay with the Royals when that time comes.
Nice to see that common sense trumped politics in this instance. Don't see much of that anymore...
Ricky_Vaughn (anonymous) says…
@ parrot
See the 2008-2009 Phillies...
See how the Rays fared this year...
Chone Figgins OBP: .395...
Jack Wilson? Neither the Pirates or the Mariners have won anything with Jack Wilson.
Just how did the Bankees do it this year? Big Tex, A-Rod, Sabathia, Burnett...I'm just saying.
I know you've got to play a little defense and have a little relief and I definitely think closers are important.
But punch and judy hitting teams that play defense don't win squat.
Ricky_Vaughn (anonymous) says…
With regard to Adam Dunn...
Perhaps he shouldn't be an outfielder...he played a lot of 1B for the Nats this year. In any case, I still think if you knock in more runs than you let in, you are a productive player. I wish the Royals had Adam Dunn...even in the outfield.
parrothead8 (anonymous) says…
Sure, I'd love to have Adam Dunn on the Royals. And true, "punch and judy hitting teams that play defense don't win squat." World Series champions are usually great offensive teams. But you completely discounted defense in your post.
What about the Phillies in 08-09? In 2008 they had the 8th-best team fielding percentage in baseball and the 9th-highest scoring offense, and they won the World Series. In 2009 they had the 4th-best team fielding percentage and the 4th-highest scoring offense, and they made it to the World Series again.
The Yankees were a top 10 fielding team this year. If the Yankees had been a horrible defensive team this year, they probably wouldn't have won the Series. Why do you think they offered Tex so much money? It's because he's the total package, and not just a great bat. He's one of the best-fielding first basemen in the game, a HUGE upgrade over who they've had at first for the last several years, and he saves his pitchers a lot of runs.
Perhaps you didn't fully understand my original post. Someone above me posted a quote from a baseball writer who mentioned Greinke's lack of run support. All I did was say that improved defense also helps to win games. If Greinke had a decent defense behind him instead of the third-worst defense in baseball last season, perhaps he wins 18-19 games instead of 16.
Ricky_Vaughn (anonymous) says…
I agree it helps, but I think it's foolish if you build your team around defense.