- Cole is the first Yankee to win the award since Roger Clemons did so in 2001
- Snell is now one of only seven players to win the award in both the AL and the NL
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New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole was named the unanimous American League Cy Young Award winner on Wednesday.
It is the first time in his 11-year career that Cole was named Cy Young winner. He came close to winning the award several times during his career, before receiving all 30 votes this time around.
The ace right-hander finished the season with 15 wins, four losses, and a 2.63 ERA in 209 innings to lead the league in innings, as well. He became the sixth Yankees pitcher to win a Cy Young and first since Roger Clemens in 2001.
On the other hand, Blake Snell was named the winner of the National League Cy Young Award after leading the majors in ERA for the San Diego Padres.
Snell, was the AL Cy Young Award recipient in 2018 while pitching with Tampa Bay. He joined Gaylord Perry, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Clemens, Roy Halladay, and Max Scherzer as the only pitchers to win in both leagues.
Yankees ace Gerrit Cole was named unanimous American League Cy Young award winner
Padres starter Blake Snell was also named the National League Cy Young award winner
The free-agent lefty was picked first on 28 of 30 ballots. San Francisco Giants right-hander Logan Webb finished second and Zac Gallen of the NL champion Arizona Diamondbacks was third.
Shaking off a dreadful start to the season, Snell went 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA and 234 strikeouts in 180 innings over 32 outings for a disappointing Padres team that finished 82-80 despite baseball’s third-highest payroll.
He was 1-6 with a 5.40 ERA after losing to Boston on May 19, then dominated the rest of the way despite topping the majors with 99 walks this year.
Harnessing his 95-96 mph heater and overpowering curve, Snell won eight of his last nine decisions and did not allow a run in five of his final six starts – including the last three.
Snell gave up only 5.75 hits per nine innings, by far the best mark in the majors. All those stingy numbers while he was on the mound were more than enough to beat out Webb (11-13, 3.25 ERA) and Gallen (17-9, 3.47), who each logged at least 210 innings. Both got one first-place vote.
The four previous San Diego pitchers to win the Cy Young Award were Randy Jones (1976), Perry (1978), reliever Mark Davis (1989) and Jake Peavy (2007).
Minnesota Twins right-hander Sonny Gray was the runner-up with 20 second-place votes, and Kevin Gausman of the Toronto Blue Jays finished third in the American League race.
