The race for the National League Cy Young has several pitchers vying for the award instead of a clear favorite.
San Francisco Giants’ Carlos Rodon leads MLB in pitching Wins Above Replacement (WAR), with 5.1; while Aaron Nola, Max Fried, and Zack Wheeler may also be in the mix with strong finishes.
The two most likely pitchers to compete for the award, however, are Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara and Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Tony Gonsolin.
The former leads the league in innings pitched with 176.2, and has a brilliant 2.19 ERA.
Gonsolin has been a godsend for the Dodgers, amid a year full of injuries, and has a 2.10 ERA in 128.1 frames.
Dodgers insider Blake Harris compared the two star hurlers in several statistical categories to try and come up with a favorite.
“Tony Gonsolin vs. Sandy Alcantara W: Gonsolin *; ERA: Gonsolin *; IP: Alcantara *; ERA+: Gonsolin *; WHIP: Gonsolin *; FIP: Alcantara; BB/9: Alcantara; K/9: Gonsolin; H/9: Gonsolin *: *Leads NL,” Harris tweeted.
Tony Gonsolin vs. Sandy Alcantara
W: Gonsolin *
ERA: Gonsolin *
IP: Alcantara *
ERA+: Gonsolin *
WHIP: Gonsolin *
FIP: Alcantara
BB/9: Alcantara
K/9: Gonsolin
H/9: Gonsolin **Leads NL
— Blake Harris (@BlakeHarrisTBLA) August 25, 2022
Gonsolin Has A Legitimate Cy Young Case, But So Does Alcantara
In that comparison, Gonsolin wins 6-3.
Does that mean he is the favorite to win the Cy Young award?
Not necessarily.
If voters lean towards WAR, a stat that becomes more important every year, they might go with Rodon or, more likely, with Alcantara, considering he has a 4.7 WAR.
Gonsolin has pitched fewer innings, yes, but the gap is too large: he has 2.5 WAR.
In any case, Gonsolin remains a strong candidate to take home the recognition because he has been brilliant in the run-prevention department.
The race is still wide open, and each pitcher should still have between five and seven turns in the rotation.
A lot can happen in those games, and the race will likely go down to the wire.
Last year, looking at the Cy Young, I looked at a dozen categories for pitchers and got the rankings of one through five in each. Buehler and Scherzer should have been no worse than 2-3. And they were. 3-4. I went a bit further and included the top six in each category. They should have been 1-2. My feelings on this were that a few sportswriters didn’t want Scherzer to win another Cy. And Buehler was maybe not as dominate his last couple starts. Yes, I am a Dodger fan. But If I can see these things; I would hope the sportswriters would see them also.
Sportswriters are notorious for not watching West coast games. Hope it’s not a sorry mistake again.