Who Will Win the NL CY Young Award This Season?
Published: Thursday, October 4, 2012
Updated: Thursday, October 4, 2012 18:10
R.A Dickey
Besides Johan Santana throwing the franchise’s first no-hitter back in June, Mets fans have not had much to celebrate in a while. R.A. Dickey intends to change that. The CY Young Award is the highest pitching award one could receive, and Dickey appears to be leading the race. The last Met to win the award was legend Dwight Gooden in 1985. The CY Young winner is rarely a guaranteed choice. With the likes of Gio Gonzalez, Matt Cain, and Johny Cueto, this race will be no different. However, the stats do not lie; R.A. Dickey should win the NL CY Young this year.
Dickey is among the top three in ERA, WHIP, and has the most strikeouts in the National League. As if you need any more evidence, he has the second most wins in the entire league at 20. Every knowledgeable fan can tell you that wins do not mean anything, but when that pitcher is on the Mets, it means a great deal. This is the exact same case of “King” Felix Hernandez who won it in 2010 with a measly record of 13-12. In fact, Dickey is responsible for roughly 28% of the Mets victories. Dickey is also second in the league in innings pitched.
With all things considered, R.A. Dickey is the clear favorite for CY Young. Mets fans rejoice.
-James Kirby ’15
Craig Kimbrel
Many argue that the CY Young should be awarded to starting pitchers only. However, this year an exception should be made due to the fact that one closer is having a year yet to be seen by anybody. No, this closer is not fireballer Aroldis Chapman of the Cincinnati Reds; this closer is Craig Kimbrel of the Atlanta Braves. With a fastball in the high 90s and an unhittable slider, he is on his way to equaling the success of closing greats Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman. Kimbrel, while pitching a miniscule ERA of 1.02, has struck out almost half the batters he has faced this year, leading to his astonishing strikeouts per nine innings rate of 16.5. No pitcher has ever come close to striking out the percentage of hitters that Kimbrel has, not to mention that Kimbrel’s batting average against, .123, is the lowest ever by any pitcher with a minimum of 50 innings pitched. One final stat that should sway voters is that Kimbrel’s WHIP is a ridiculously low 0.65, meaning he lets roughly one runner on base every two innings. He has only blown three saves this season, making him one of the most reliable and most shutdown closers not only in recent memory, but in major league history.
To paraphrase ESPN baseball analyst Jayson Stark, R.A. Dickey, Clayton Kershaw, Gio Gonzalez, and even Chapman are having great seasons, but none of them can be characterized as “unparalleled” or “historic.” These two words are just the words to describe Kimbrel’s season, and two reasons why he should be the NL CY Young winner for 2012.
-Joey Ciccarello ’16
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