It isn’t the same as the Braves’ Ronald Acuna Jr. winning rookie of the year or Brian Snitker receiving the manager of the year award, but pitcher Mike Foltynewicz had an impressive result in voting for the National League Cy Young Award, which recognizes the best pitcher in each league.
Foltynewicz finished eighth in the voting in the NL, which used 431 pitchers in 2018.
He received a fourth-place vote and a fifth-place vote from members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Ballots were cast by two writers representing each league city and submitted prior to postseason play.
Foltynewicz was 13-10 with a .285 ERA and 202 strikeouts in the 2018 regular season.
New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom easily won the NL award.
The right-hander won just 10 games, the fewest ever by a Cy Young-winning starter.
DeGrom easily beat out Washington's Max Scherzer, who was seeking a third straight Cy Young and fourth overall. DeGrom got 29 first-place votes and 207 points. Scherzer had the other first-place vote.
Blake Snell of the Tampa Bay Rays narrowly beat out past winners Justin Verlander and Corey Kluber for his first AL Cy Young after leading the majors with 21 victories.
In his first season after chopping off his distinctive long hair, deGrom cut down hitters from start to finish despite little help from teammates. He had a 1.70 ERA, the lowest in the NL since Zack Greinke's 1.66 mark in 2015. Yet the 30-year-old right-hander went 10-9, eclipsing the low bar among starters set by Seattle's Felix Hernandez when he took the award with 13 victories in 2010.
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