MLB Awards Leaders At Season’s One-Third Mark

NL Cy Young: Stephen Strasburg (WSH)

The Cy Young award through a third of the season is very close between 2 teammates, Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer. Ultimately, it goes to Strasburg for having an ever so slightly better ERA, xFIP, and DRA in a couple more innings. It feels as if Strasburg has now been around forever, but he’s still only 30 and still just figuring it all out now. Strasburg has impressed, never not making it 2 times through the order and just about pitching 3 times through the order every game, and still holding batters to a .244 wOBA then. His 3 plus pitches have helped lead to a 3.19 ERA with a 2.93 xFIP and a 3.19 SIERA

Runners-Up: Max Scherzer (WSH), German Marquez (COL), Hyun-Jin Ryu (LAD)

As mentioned previously, Scherzer could just as easily be the pick here because of his superior K%-BB% and SIERA. Even at his age, it seems like Scherzer never declines. He’ll likely be among contenders by the end of the season too. Marquez is the latest surprising Rockies pitcher success story. He holds a 71 ERA- and his 2.5 bWAR is easily on pace to break his career high. Hyun-Jin Ryu had a great ERA in 2018, but a lack of innings stopped people from believing it was significant. Another 65.1 innings of sub-2 ERA is now starting to turn heads as Ryu is helping lead the Dodgers to a division lead.

AL Cy Young: Matthew Boyd (DET)

The American League Cy Young is an interesting award so far this season. Not only are there not many great candidates, but not many of them are who you would expect based on last season’s Cy Young race. Top among the surprises is Matthew Boyd, one of the few bright spots of Detroit’s season thanks to some changes in his game. Boyd is first among AL pitchers in fWAR by 0.4, has the 7th lowest ERA, the 3rd most innings, and the 9th best xFIP. He also ranks 7th in K% and hasn’t had any troubles with walking batters or allowing hard contact.

Runners-Up: Gerrit Cole (HOU), Lucas Giolito (CWS), Frankie Montas (OAK)

Cole is an interesting candidate because his ERA is actually 4.02. But his peripherals are impressive enough that it seems that his true level of play is deserved of consideration. He is striking out of 14 batters per 9 innings with a large workload, but 21.4% of flyballs going over the fence in Houston has hurt his performance on face value. Cole’s 3.10 DRA demonstrates how he’s pitched more accurately. Giolito, a former top prospect, has completely transformed his game and bounced back from a horrible season to be one of the best in the league so far. His ERA has dropped from 6.13 to 2.85, and his FIP has dropped from 5.56 to 2.85 as well. Frankie Montas has saved Oakland’s rotation so far, putting up a surprising 2.0 fWAR and 1.7 WARP thanks to a high-90s fastball and 17.9 K%-BB%.