Bar Jacob deGrom, who’s had an absolutely ridiculous season, Blake Snell has been MLB’s best pitcher this season. He just lowered his ERA to 1.90 after 6 2/3 innings in Toronto against the Blue Jays, adding 11 strikeouts in another dominant performance. The win was his 21st this season, breaking a franchise record set by David Price in 2002. Snell had more wins than anyone else in the league despite pitching only 175 2/3 innings because of spending time on the DL with a sore shoulder. Snell also pitches for a team which wasn’t even supposed to be in playoff contention and has only one other pitcher with 10+ wins (Ryan Yarbrough – 15).
Can Snell become the first starter with less than 200 innings pitched to win AL Cy Young?
Coming into Sunday, Blake Snell ranked sixth in the American League in strikeouts per nine innings for qualified starters with 10.65, and trailed only Chris Sale in pitcher’s Wins Above Replacement.
“I think he’s pretty much cemented his case that he belongs not just in the conversation, but right at the top of the [Cy Young] list,” Rays manager Kevin Cash
Snell is among the favorites to win the Cy Young award given to the league’s best pitcher, a year after finishing with a 4.04 ERA. The incredible turnaround is due to Snell’s improved command (3.1 walks per nine compared to 4.1 last season) and lower WHIP.
If he were to win the coveted award, Blake Snell would be the first AL starter to do so without logging 200 innings in a non-strike shortened season. His main rivals for the award (Chris Sale and Trevor Bauer) will finish under the 200-inning mark as well. Justin Verlander and Corey Kluber are the only other AL pitchers who have thrown more than 200 innings and have sub-3.00 ERAs.
Blake Snell – breakout star of 2018
Snell’s Tampa Bay Rays are currently 6.5 games behind Oakland and still have theoretical hopes of making the playoffs, although it would take a historically bad run from the Athletics to make it happen. Not making the playoffs won’t take anything away from Blake Snell, who’s had a spectacular season and is the breakout star of 2018.
