Thursday afternoon, at 2 p.m. ET, the Baseball Writers Association of America will announce its winner of the 2010 American League Cy Young Award. And though it's a tight race, the frontrunner may very well be Seattle's Felix Hernandez.
2010 A.L. Cy Young Award Could Be A First For Felix Hernandez
Hernandez's drawback is a familiar one - he won just 13 games all season long. However, he had the lowest run support of any pitcher in the league, a consequence of playing for the absolutely miserable Mariners. He led the league with a 2.27 ERA. He led the league with 249.2 innings. He led the league with 30 quality starts. He finished second in strikeouts, with 232. And he led the league with a .585 OPS against.
The two other pitchers likely to garner the most support are New York's CC Sabathia and Tampa Bay's David Price. Sabathia won a league-leading 21 games while posting a 3.18 ERA over 34 starts. Price, meanwhile, finished with 19 wins and a 2.72 ERA over 31 starts. If the voters simply can't see past Hernandez's low win total, then Sabathia and Price should benefit.
Outside of those three, there are a number of other pitchers who should show up somewhere on the ballots. Despite missing a few weeks in April, Cliff Lee ran a 3.18 ERA and a league-leading 10.3 K/BB over 28 starts. Boston's Clay Buchholz was second in ERA, at 2.33. Oakland's Trevor Cahill posted a 2.97 ERA. Anaheim's Jered Weaver had a 3.01 ERA and a league-leading 233 strikeouts. And Justin Verlander won 18 games with a 3.37 ERA for Detroit. All of these pitchers were effective, and are worthy of recognition.
But what matters is who finishes first, and one senses that it’s going to come down to Hernandez, Sabathia, and Price. And based on statements from a number of American League voters and non-voting journalists, Hernandez seems to have a slight edge.
Stay tuned to this StoryStream through the 2pm ET announcement. If Hernandez gets it, his 13 wins will be the lowest total for any starting pitcher in Cy Young history.
See More:
