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November 16, 2017Press release from the Cleveland Indians
Right-handed pitcher Corey Kluber has been named the 2017 American League Cy Young Award recipient following tonight’s announcement by the Baseball Writers Association of America on MLB Network. Kluber, 31, authored one of the most prolific pitching campaigns in club history, posting the lowest ERA (2.25 ERA) in Major League Baseball, becoming the first Indians pitcher since Mike Garcia (2.36) in 1949 to lead MLB in the category. In addition to leading the American League in ERA, he also led the A.L. or shared the league lead in wins (18), shutouts (3), complete games (5), strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.36) and posted the lowest ERA+ (202), WHIP (.869), hits per 9.0IP (6.2), walks per 9 IP (1.6) and batting average/on-base pct./slugging pct. allowed (.193/.321/.235).
His 2017 season took off after a four-week stint on the D.L. (lower back) in May, going 15-2 with a 1.62 ERA from June 1-thru the end of the season, covering his last 23 starts (166.1IP, 103H, 30ER, 23BB, 224SO, .175 avg). The Dallas, Texas native enjoyed personal winning streaks of five and six games over the span as the club went 13-1 over his final 14 starts. He also earned his second consecutive All-Star nod and was named A.L. Pitcher of the Month in June, August and September.
Kluber is the 19th winner of multiple Cy Young Awards since its inception in 1956, the first in the history of the Indians franchise, as he has now finished in the top 3 in the A.L. Cy Young voting in 3 of the last 4 seasons (also 2016; 3rd).
Some other statistical and historic highlights from his 2017 campaign
- Notched 1000th strikeout on June 14 in his 148th career game, fastest mark in club history and seventh pitcher in MLB history to record 1,000 strikeouts by their 150th career appearance.
- Struck out 10-plus batters in five consecutive starts from June 14-July 4, a new club record (Bob Feller, 4, 1938-39)…Also tied his own club record again with five more consecutive double-digit strikeout starts, July 15-August 8.
- Recorded eight-or-more strikeouts in 14 straight starts from June 1 through August 13, becoming one of just three pitchers in MLB history to record a streak of 14-or-more starts with 8-plus strikeouts, joining Randy Johnson (3x) and Pedro Martinez (2x).
- Is one of three pitchers in club history to record 200+ strikeouts in four consecutive seasons (Bob Feller, 1938-1941 and Sam McDowell, 1965-1970)…His 1.79 ERA in the second half was the lowest in the Major Leagues (min 80 IP)… Since 1913, he owns 2 of the 6 lowest second half ERAs in club history in addition to his second half of the 2014 season (1.73).
- Recorded 15 double-digit strikeout games, tied for 2nd in all of MLB (Chris Sale 18) and the second highest single-season total in club history…His 265 strikeouts were the 7th-highest single-season total in club history as he has now entered into the top 10 in club history in career strikeouts (7th, 1201).
- His .869 WHIP and 202 adjusted ERA+ were second-lowest marks in club history next to Addie Joss’ historic 1908 season (.806, 204)…His 6.23 hits/9 IP allowed was the 8th-lowest single-season mark in club history, the lowest since Tiant (5.295) & McDowell (6.056) in 1968.
INDIANS CY YOUNG AWARD WINNERS
- Gaylord Perry (1972), 24-16, 1.92
- CC Sabathia (2007), 19-7, 3.21
- Cliff Lee (2008), 22-3, 2.54
- Corey Kluber (2014), 18-9, 2.44
- Corey Kluber (2017), 18-4, 2.25
21 Comments
Carlos Carrasco finished fourth in the AL Cy Young Award voting (as predicted previously by WFNY that he would be a Top 5 finisher).
I saw Castrovince mentioned that Kluber has escalators in his contract if he finishes 1st-3rd in voting. I wonder if Cookie has the same. Bummer if so.
:/
Would be a real shame if we saved a few regular season bullets from the two next season. Maybe we can change the escalators to playoff IP.
As long as the rest of the team gets the memo too. Game 3 was winnable and Game 4 was gifted.
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man , Gaylord Perry was 24-16 … 40 decisions … you’ll never see that again.
Jason Vargas 18-11 & Rick Porcello 11-17 wound up with the most decisions in MLB in 2017. Both under 30.
Mickey Callaway has already said he is going to push the Mets towards the next phase of advancing bullpens to more innings other than for elite starters.
Bold prediction for next year: Cookie finally finishes off a no-hitter and wins the Cy Young.
…and pitches in more playoff games than Trevor Bauer.
hi MG … and to show you how much things have changed , the MLB record for decisions in 1 season is 75 … Pud Galvin was 49-26 for the Buffalo Bisons in 1883. pretty much pitching every other game , if not more than that.
Kluber nearing HOF material, modern era.
Baseball only keeps the pitches thrown per game back to 1988. Would be curious to know thatfrom Perry in 72. He still had pitchers hitting and on the 4-man rotation.
I didn’t know Maynard Keenan was a baseball fan…
hi SCRIPTY … in that 1972 season he threw 29 complete games & pitched 342 innings … he had one game where he pitched 12 innings & faced 46 batters … there was no pitch count on this game , but let’s say he threw an average of 3 pitches to those 46 batters … that’s already 138 pitches … so , you know it was probably much more than 138 pitches.
yeah I am sure the workload was crazy, I would just like to have seen it in numbers. no doubt things were different. he pitched on bouth sides of the mound height change, to pitchers and DHs.
I think some fans who misinterpret the modern game would be well off to watch late 60s to early 80s baseball and learn what was better and what was worse.
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Interesting. Bob Feller always was critical of guys not throwing enough all year. He felt that they could throw far more innings (like he did) if they threw all year round. I would like to see a kinetic analysis of all of this some time.
Reading the current scientific based articles on the arm, the main factor in injury is # of reps at max exertion. Now, there’s a lot of ways players can get to that, some of which is conditioning , some is pitching style, some is based on some body parts being too strong for others.
But specialty based youth athletics vs old school country strong will always be a topic for debate. Even somebody like Bauer woudl say, if long toss doesn’t work for you – don’t do it. There’s no universal program. I think yeah we could hae some current guys thrive in a 4-man rotation and just as many would wash out. But finding 5-7 starters for a 30-team league is just going to be a challenge regardless.
Thanks for the thoughtful response
Trying to be happy about this. Still too bitter about the postseason choking. Can’t deal with the Tribe yet.
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