Blake Snell became a two-time Cy Young Award winner on Wednesday when the San Diego Padres left-hander was named the National League’s top pitcher, it was announced on MLB Network.
Snell received 28 first-place votes and 204 total points in balloting by 30 Baseball Writers’ Association of America voters. He is the seventh pitcher to win the award in both leagues.
Logan Webb of the San Francisco Giants received one first-place vote and finished second with 86 points. Zac Gallen of the Arizona Diamondbacks was third with 68 points, receiving the last first-place vote. Webb received 17 second-place votes to Gallen’s three.
Snell, 30, led the major leagues with a stellar 2.25 ERA while going 14-9 in 32 starts for the Padres. He held opponents to a .181 batting average and struck out a career-high 234 batters.
Snell won the American League Cy Young Award in 2018 when he went 21-5 with a 1.89 ERA. He struck out 221 in 180 2/3 innings that season.
“It means the work I’m putting in is paying off. It’s working and I’ve got to keep chasing it,” Snell said on MLB Network. “Being able to win another one is a pretty amazing thing.”
Snell is the fifth member of the Padres to win the award and the first since Jake Peavy in 2007. The team’s other winners are Randy Jones (1976), Gaylord Perry (1978) and Mark Davis (1989).
Snell started 1-6 this past season before winning 13 of his final 16 decisions.
“Once you get in a rhythm and a groove, you can take it as far as you want,” Snell said of his strong second half. “But it’s all about talking to yourself and what you’re learning from every start.”
The other pitches to win the Cy Young in both leagues are Perry, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay and Max Scherzer.
Webb, 26, went 11-13 with a 3.25 ERA in 33 starts for the Giants. He led the majors with 216 innings pitched and had a superb 1.07 WHIP.
Gallen, 28, went 17-9 with a 3.47 ERA in 34 starts as ace of the Diamondbacks, who surprisingly reached the World Series. He fanned 220 batters.
Gallen enjoyed a strong first half and was named NL starting pitcher for the All-Star Game. After starting off 9-2 with a 2.84 ERA through 16 starts, he went 8-7 with a 4.03 ERA for the remainder of the season.
Right-hander Spencer Strider of the Atlanta Braves was fourth with 64 points. He led the majors with 281 strikeouts. Chicago Cubs left-hander Justin Steele was fifth with 32 points.
–Field Level Media