The Seattle Mariners’ right handed pitcher, Felix Hernandez, has won the American League Cy Young Award in a landslide victory despite his lack of wins for the season.
Hernandez took 21 of the 28 first place votes to beat out Tampa Bay’s David Price and the Yankees’ C.C. Sabathia for the win even though he only had 13 victories last season. This makes him the recipient of the award with the fewest victories ever in a nonstrike season. His record sits at 13-12, but voters looked at more than a winning record when handing out the award. In all other areas Hernandez had phenomenal numbers.
The pitcher had a 2.27 earned run average. He logged in 249 and 2/3 innings and was able to strike out 237. Over the season Hernandez allows less than 7 hits per inning during the game.
The baseball community as a whole tends to disagree with the way voting is being considered. During a players’ choice vote, Price was chosen as the American League favorite.
However, voters feel that the award is for best pitcher. Many felt that when you look at all of the categories of pitching Hernandez dominated the field as pitcher. He only lacked in the wins which voters feel is the one thing a pitcher cannot control.
