In mid-November, unanimously, Gerrit Cole won the AL Cy Young award. After finishing 2nd in the AL Cy Young voting twice, Cole eventually got his first Cy Young award. At the same time, in the National League, Blake Snell received 28 of the 30 first-place votes to win the second Cy Young award in his career.
Cole had a fantastic season. He made 33 starts and threw 209 innings. In 2023, Cole owned a 2.63 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP. In the meantime, Blake Snell made 32 starts for the Padres, posting a 2.25 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP over 180 innings.
However, taking a closer look at these 2 pitchers’ stats. There’s something interesting.
During the regular season, these 2 pitchers each punched out 200+ batters. Opponents only batted .181 against Blake Snell and batting average against Cole was only .206. They did show dominance on the mound. Nonetheless, there’s a major difference. Gerrit Cole gave up 48 walks in 2023. But Blake Snell allowed 99 walks, the most among all MLB pitchers.
While seeing Snell’s stats in 2023, I was just wondering about those Cy Young award winners’ stats. Are there any other pitchers who gave up many walks and won the Cy Young award?
To understand a little bit more, I went to check on the great baseball reference website.
Looking at the Cy Young award winners from 2010 to 2023, of course, we know that the 2020 season was a shortened season; it’s not common to see a pitcher finish a season with 60+ walks and win the Cy Young award. Nevertheless, it happened.
Firstly, in 2010, Felix Hernandez won the AL Cy Young award. He made 34 starts for the Mariners, tossing 249.2 innings. King Felix owned a 2.27 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. He gave up 70 walks and, in that season, his BB/9 was 2.52.
Additionally, Blake Snell won the AL Cy Young award in 2018. He posted a 1.89 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP over 180.2 innings. Nonetheless, he gave up 64 walks and his BB/9 was 3.19.
Finally, Snell’s BB/9 was over 4 in 2023 and that’s actually quite high. From 2010 to 2023, only 4 Cy Young award winners had a BB/9 over 2.50. Felix Hernandez had a 2.52 BB/9 in 2010 and David Price’s BB/9 was 2.52 in 2012. Furthermore, Snell’s BB/9 was over 3 in 2018. And he is the only Cy Young winner who finished the season with a BB/9 over 4 over these 14 seasons.
Giving up free passes doesn’t seem to be a good idea for most pitchers. However, this season, Blake Snell just showed a very interesting way of pitching. Batters might be able to get on base, nonetheless, he can solve the problem. Snell gave up 99 walks, but he only allowed 47 runs (45 earned). At the same time, Michael Kopech is the other pitcher who allowed 90+ BBs in 2023, he gave up 80 runs (78 earned). We can see the huge difference and when runners are on base, Snell had a BAA of .174, which is lowest among qualified pitchers.
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