Former Saint Mary’s pitcher Corbin Burnes was named the National League Cy Young winner on Wednesday, edging one-time Giants first-round pick Zack Wheeler in the closest vote in the history of the NL award.
Burnes, 27, led the NL with a 2.43 ERA this season with the Milwaukee Brewers. He received 12 first-place votes and 14 second-place votes in the vote by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He finished with 151 points, 10 more than the Philadelphia Phillies’ Wheeler, who also received 12 first-place votes but had five fewer second-place votes. Max Scherzer, who finished the season with the Dodgers after a mid-season trade from Washington, was third.
The Giants’ Kevin Gausman was sixth.
Burnes was the Brewers’ fourth-round pick in the 2016 draft after going 9-2 with a 2.48 ERA as a junior with the Gaels.
In his fourth season in the majors, Burnes also led the league in strikeouts per nine innings, ERA-plus, strikeout-to-walk ratio, and home runs allowed per nine innings pitched. His record this season was 11-5, and he struck out 234 batters with just 34 walks in 167 innings.
At one point this season, Burnes stuck out a record 58 batters without a walk. He also struck out 10 straight batters on August 11 against the Chicago Cubs.
Wheeler, 31, was the Giants’ first-round draft pick in 2009, but never pitched in the majors with San Francisco. He was traded to the Mets in July 2011 for veteran outfielder Carlos Beltran.
Wheeler went 14-10 with a 2.78 ERA with the Phillies this season. He led the league with 247 strikeouts and his 7.6 WAR was best among NL pitchers.
Here’s a look at the vote totals for the National League Cy Young Award:
Player 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Total
Corbin Burnes, Brewers 12 14 3 1 – 151
Zack Wheeler, Phillies 12 9 4 4 1 141
Max Scherzer, Nationals/Dodgers 6 5 13 6 – 113
Walker Buehler, Dodgers – 2 9 17 1 70
Brandon Woodruff, Brewers – – – 2 17 21
Kevin Gausman, Giants – – 1 – 4 7
Adam Wainwright, Cardinals – – – – 3 3
Julio Urias, Dodgers – – – – 3 3
Jacob deGrom, Mets – – – – 1 1
Total points on a 7-4-3-2-1 basis
Source: www.mercurynews.com