Free agent left-hander Blake Snell has been named the National League Cy Young Award winner for 2023, per an announcement from the Baseball Writers Association of America. Logan Webb of the Giants finished second in the voting while Zac Gallen of the Diamondbacks finished third.
Snell, 31 next month, has now earned a Cy Young award for the second time in his career. The first trophy was in the American League, with Snell winning as a member of the Rays in 2018. He is just the seventh pitcher to win the award in both leagues, joining Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martínez, Max Scherzer, Gaylord Perry and Roy Halladay.
The left-handed Snell hasn’t been the most consistent pitcher in his career, with both his health and performance wobbling over the years, but his two award-winning campaigns have been excellent. His first trophy came after posting an earned run average of 1.89 with the Rays and this second piece of hardware was earned by posting a 2.25 for the Padres this year. His most recent campaign saw him walk 13.3% of batters faced but he danced around those by striking out 31.5% of his opponents and keeping the ball on the ground at a 44.4% clip. He probably had some help from the baseball gods as his .256 batting average on balls in play and 86.7% strand rate were both on the lucky side of average, but his punchouts and grounders surely helped him somewhat as well.
Outside of those two campaigns, the results have been far more mixed. He got to 180 innings pitched in his award-winning campaigns but hasn’t reached 130 in any other season. He also hasn’t posted an ERA lower than 3.24 in any of them.
Of course, that doesn’t matter for the Cy Young voting. It’s a single-season award and his year-to-year consistency is not something for the voters to consider. Snell’s voting wasn’t quite unanimous but he got 28 of the 30 first-place votes. But his overall track record will be of concern to the clubs considering signing him as a free agent. Pitchers with multiple Cy Youngs don’t hit free agency every day but it’s also incredibly rare for a pitcher to put so many runners on base without allowing them to score. Regardless of those concerns, MLBTR predicted Snell to land a contract of $200MM over seven years and he’s already garnering plenty of interest.
Webb had a 3.25 ERA in 216 innings for the Giants this year, which got him one of the first-place votes and 17 for second. Gallen had a 3.47 ERA in his 210 innings, which led to one first-place vote and three for second. In the full voting, which can be seen here, votes also went to Spencer Strider, Justin Steele, Zack Wheeler, Kodai Senga and Corbin Burnes.
Quite timely on Mr. Snell’s part!
PLAYER 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH 5TH TOT
Blake Snell, SD 28 2 — — — 204
Logan Webb, SF 1 17 1 2 4 86
Zac Gallen, AZ 1 3 11 5 6 68
Spencer Strider, ATL — 6 9 5 3 64
Justin Steele, CHI — 1 2 8 6 32
Zack Wheeler, PHL — — 4 5 6 28
Kodai Senga, NYM — — 3 3 — 15
Corbin Burnes, MIL — 1 — 2 5 13
HOF post! Grats Snell. Thanks again Lou! Happy almost Thanksgiving
Imagine that, a career year going into free agency
And yet teams never learn from history
In his walk year too. And I do mean base on balls.
Hey, he just suddenly came down with a bad case of ADHD and needed some temporary treatment.
2018 says wake the eff up
2018 was better.
Well deserved! Snell signs a new contract with SD as SP and 3 innings of color TV commentary every game he’s not pitching.
At this point he should just join Donny Cookies and Mud in the booth when he’s not on the bump!
He is going to sign a huge deal with someone like LA or the Mets. I predict LA
Well deserved award, but I feel like Snell is destined to be Corey Kluber 2.0 and be a below average pitcher from here on out. I hope my Tigers don’t sign him with the money earmarked from Cabrera coming off the books.
The only way I’ll believe in Snell’s future is if Dombrowski signs him to help the Phillies get over the top.
Congratulations on the second one! Now come east !
Just in time to pull a Carlos rodon after getting paid
Cy Young awards won in their career:
Blake Snell 2
Carlos Rodon 0
No comparison
Didn’t realize it but CR never got to 180 innings even 1 time (Snell criticized for low innings as a result of walks). CR has more injury history. CR has 0 CY.
Look at CR’s 2022 FA contract and just add 10% and that is the starting floor and it goes up based on demand.
Where is Luis Patino?
Ooooh that Snell! Can’t you Snell that Snell?
Lots old guys here! (Including me, so don’t take offense!)
I’m 29 is that old?
No. I’m 71 is that old? Let’s talk…
Nah, in fact you still have about a decade and a half to run for president if you want.
LOL, I checked on that, I received my certification of stupidity so I’m all ready to run!
The Snell of it surrounds you.
So this means he gets a bigger and better contract than Rodon right?
Strider led league in Wins, K’s, FiP had a lower WHIP than Snell but guess ERA and walks are the categories that count here
I wonder if this is the fewest innings/start of any CY winner
No. Relievers have won it. Mark Davis of SD Padres lore threw 92 2/3 IP when he won it in 1989. Not the lowest, just an example.
I laugh at all of you guys commenting on how deep he does or does not go in a game. You do realize that none of the top pitchers in the league, including the others who were up against him, pitched any more than one full inning more than he did. I believe Webb was the furthest ahead of him at 2/3 of an inning more, so basically only 2 outs more per game.
A guy walks 5 hitters a game and only throws 180 IP in 32 starts, and that’s a Cy Young these days. Man I got old and crusty.
ERA reigns supreme
The ERA on the extra innings pitched by Webb over Snell was 8.25. That’s not valuable. Every team’s bullpen had a lower ERA than that. And Gallen’s was even worse. It should have been Snell and it should have been unanimous.
How do you calculate the ERA on the “extra” innings pitched? Do you just grab an arbitrary number of innings that Webb pitched above Snell and then find the ERA during that time period?
9 * (Earned runs allowed by Webb – earned runs allowed by Snell) all divided by (innings pitched by Webb – innings pitched by Snell)
And we know Won-Lost records aren’t as meaningful anymore, but given that Webb got THE LOWEST RUN SUPPORT of any Major league pitcher [3.09 in 33 starts; next was Carlos Rondon 3.07 but in only 14 starts], he could easily—and I watched those games—have been 18-8.
Glad the voters picked him at least as the runner up. With more wins and his great WHIP [1.074] and the most innings pitched of any Major Leaguer, thre guy is a stud.
Pitcher wins and losses don’t matter in any context.
LOL You aren’t a data scientist are you? I hope not.
You are assuming a constant rate of earned runs over additional innings pitched. This isn’t a method to extract a meaningful understanding of the additional value contributed by Webb’s extra 36 innings pitched. That’s 4 complete games worth of starts, 6 extra 6 innings pitched, or more liked 20+ times that Webb pitched an extra 1-3 innings per game.
It’s how much extra slack the Padres’ bullpen had to pick up for the innings Webb pitched that Snell didn’t pitch and how good they had to be in those innings. Every team’s bullpen can pitch 36 innings with ERA’s under 8.25.
After his first nine starts he completely dominated. He had three months with an ERA just over half a run.
Yeah that is pretty darn dominant
But those 9 starts still count??? ♂️
“Count” for what??
Who cares about his stats when you exclude 9 starts….
I think they were just pointing out a lengthy stretch of extreme dominance over the course of the season. He did win the CY afterall..Twice now.
Again… who cares about a stretch of games…. It’s an award for the whole season…. Dude you gotta log off your comments are just way too low IQ
Seriously u OK? I honestly feel bad but I know you are a young pup just looking for attention. But yeah Snell was insanely dominant for a nice stretch. That is how it works…And he won the CY…Fresh air will help you a lot my friend seriously.
1.32 ERA after mid-May
But..but…The guy arguing with me said that didn’t matter??? That only the “whole season” should be considered hahaha Whatever that means…
Had him on my fantasy team and traded him away in May as he never could get a win w/ SD’s poor bullpen. I may have given up on him too soon, but the guy I traded him to, also dropped him. Guess it shows that fantasy league value has no bearings on this vote for Cy Young as I don’t believe Snell is worthy (but wtf do I know )
Snell should just not pitch April – mid-May. He’s terrible every early season, then CY after May
That sounds like a thin league. I used to be pretty hardcore into fantasy sports and I didn’t realize until I quit how much it sucked the joy out of sports as a spectator.
His price just went up.
Lol no GM is basing salary off awards. This comment section is insane
Snell’s agent just smiled like the grinch
Alex Grinch? ‘cause he’s not smiling today.
7th pitcher to win the CY in both leagues…Gaylord Perry, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay and Max Scherzer are the others…That is quite a group to be part of!
Snell is nowhere near the pitcher of any of those guys.
Your statement says a lot more about the state of modern pitching than anything else. The days of dominant starting pitching are long gone.
Lol As I said, heck of a group to be a part of.. one way or another..
You make me wanna pop in my “Nolan Ryan Feel The Heat” VHS!! That is prime stuff in case anyone here has never seen it.
Congrats to Logan Webb for the CYA-2 finish. Pretty impressive. He should win a Cy Young at least once in his career. In lots of ways he was the most valuable pitcher in the NL this year, just didn’t have the wins and ERA to lock it down. Absolute workhorse though.
Voters finally seem to be moving away from using wins as a factor but Snell was simply better than Webb this year. He keeps it up and he’ll win it eventually.
Yes. Nice surprise, but well deserved recognition. The way a largely unheralded, 26yo Webb has stepped up into the Boss role has been impressive.
NATIONAL LEAGUE RESULTS
Sandy Alcantara, MIA: 30 (first-place votes) – 210 points
Max Fried, ATL: 10 (2nd), 7 (3rd), 5 (4th), 1 (5th) – 72 points
Julio Urías, LAD: 7 (2nd), 9 (3rd), 5 (4th), 1 (5th) – 66 points
Aaron Nola, PHI: 5 (2nd), 6 (3rd), 4 (4th), 2 (5th) – 48 points
Zac Gallen, ARI: 3 (2nd), 5 (3rd), 6 (4th), 6 (5th) – 45 points
Carlos Rodón, SF: 3 (2nd), 1 (3rd), 4 (4th), 7 (5th) – 30 points
Corbin Burnes, MIL: 1 (2nd), 2 (3rd), 1 (4th), 8 (5th) – 20 points
Yu Darvish, SD: 3 (4th), 1 (5th) – 7 points
Edwin Díaz, NYM: 1 (2nd), 2 (5th) – 6 points
Kyle Wright, ATL: 1 (4th), 1 (5th) – 3 points
Logan Webb, SF: 1 (4th) – 2 points
Ryan Helsley, STL: 1 (5th) – 1 point
AMERICAN LEAGUE RESULTS
Justin Verlander, HOU: 30 (first-place votes) – 210 points
Dylan Cease, CWS: 14 (2nd), 10 (3rd), 5 (4th), 1 (5th) – 97 points
Alek Manoah, TOR: 7 (2nd), 13 (3rd), 10 (4th) – 87 points
Shohei Ohtani, LAA: 9 (2nd), 7 (3rd), 12 (4th), 1 (5th) – 82 points
Framber Valdez, HOU: 1 (4th), 12 (5th) – 14 points
Shane McClanahan, TB: 1 (4th), 8 (5th) – 10 points
Shane Bieber, CLE: 1 (4th), 3 (5th) – 5 points
Nestor Cortes, NYY: 3 (5th) – 3 points
Gerrit Cole, NYY: 1 (5th) – 1 point
Kevin Gausman, TOR: 1 (5th) – 1 point
This last year bro
thanks
Hey dude! Did you know the Earth is round!? Crazy stuff!
Julio Urias wife beatered his wife and nearly won. Huh. Married men, take note.
You been in a long sleep?
Urias got votes? Lol The nerve of some people..
Evaluating the pitcher on what they can control, based on FIP and kwERA, Strider was robbed of the CY this year.
Snell’s bOFA was much better tho!
Lol….. Ok, move along. Snell 1.5 runs less era, Strider 1.5 more run support. That’s a 3 run swing. Snell wins 20+ games easily on the Braves.
His peripherals, BABIP against demonstrates Snell was the recipient of some good fortune. I mean he lead the league in walks. He also head in Hits per 9. If he could have made it into the 6th inning a little more frequently than maybe he WOULD have lead in Hits allowed. The correct choice was Logan Web.
@VermonsterSD
When it comes to representative indicators for pitcher performance, Earned Run Average (ERA) is often mentioned. However, ERA is influenced by fielders’ defense, so the concept of Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) emerged, evaluating pitchers based on three items not involving fielders: home runs allowed, walks, and strikeouts. Although it may seem limited to assess pitchers with just these three items, FIP is said to explain 70% of a pitcher’s runs allowed.
When it comes to team defense, Fangraphs ranks SDP 7th overall and ATL 22nd overall.
Snell’s FIP sits at 3.44, meaning his defense helped him lower that ERA. Strider on the other hand had a FIP of 2.85, meaning he pitched better than his ERA suggests due to a weaker defense.
Now, what I prefer to use to evaluate pitchers is GBkwERA that takes into consideration the groundballs that often result in outs.
GBkwERA = kwERA*(-3.518 * GB％^2+2.344*GB％+.629)
For Snell, his GB% is 43.7% and kwERA is 3.22. Plugging the numbers in he gets a 3.16 GBkwERA which is quite good.
For Strider, his GB% (34.7%) is quite lower to Snell, and kwERA (1.89). Plugging the numbers in he gets a 2.45 GBkwERA.
For me, it’s clear who should have won the 2023 CY Young Award in the National League but I understand that sports writers still like that old, unreliable ERA that they’ve relied on for decades.
Still Snell 🙂
Great analysis. Strider robbed, voters and fans stuck in 1985
“sTiLl sNeLl”
If they were stuck in 1985 Strider won have won because “MuH wIn StAt !”
@thelegendaryharambe
Do you honestly believe ERA is the best evaluator of a pitcher?
The Cy Young is about what happened, not about what theoretically *should* have happened. It is the best evaluator of what happened. I’m not sure Snell can sustain that kind of ERA in 2024 with all the walks but I’d like to see him try.
Well deserved. Now he gets paid
Congrats, Gwynning!
7/$210m for Snell’s age 31 to 37 seasons? With just 2 seasons where he pitched more than 129 innings?
Whoever perpetrates this contract deserves what they get.
JackStrawb — Yeah, that’s a lot of dough. I think he’ll get less years and money. But he’ll do alright.
I’m a huge proponent of him winning the Cy Young this year, but not even remotely a fan of signing him. Only great years were his 2 contract years.
This guy has had one of the oddest careers, congrats to him though. Couldn’t have come at a better time probably went from accepting a qualified offer at the beginning of the season to $200 million.
I’m calling conspiracy. Manfred hates the Padres spending but gifts Snell the CY just in time for FA. Now we gotta pay more! Yooooo cracking the enigma ova’ here…
Just got my bet in for Soto for ’24 NL MVP. Let’s go my Man, Fred!
Does anyone else here think of “Snails” everytime they hear “Snell?”
Congrats to him. I find it an oddity that he has more Cy young’s than All star selections.
RIP Roy Halladay. That still has me stunned.
Don’t fly a plane while high. Good thing he didn’t take someone else with him like Oscar Taveras or Jose Fernandez.
“Snell’s voting wasn’t quite unanimous but he got 28 of the 30 first-place votes.” Since when is 28 of 30 first place votes not “unanimous?”
Uh when it’s not 30 ?
Well two people thought somebody else was more deserving, and voted for somebody other than Snell, so it wasn’t unanimous by any use of the term. It wasn’t close though, and that seems right.
Congratulations to Blake Snell on winning the Cy Young Award.
This award is given by Baseball Writers. It will always go to the best story. Historically the default narrative was about wins, but the modern default is run prevention. Blake Snell having the lowest ERA in the National League while giving up the most walks is easily the best story of 2023. This won him the Cy Young Award this year by a clear margin.
Does this make him the best pitcher in the National League this year? It depends on how you want to measure or acknowledge what is the best.
Sandy Alcantara was the story of the National League last year. He was very inconsistant this year, but still managed 3 complete games and another 8 starts of 7 innings or more before his injury stopped him. (That is an inning per start more than Snell) The Marlins are a team of very little offense which means they win very few games by a large margin, so by giving the bullpen 3 complete days off and several more “easy days” a case could still be made for him doing more than any other pitcher in the Majors to get his team into the post season.
The point I’m making is, it’s great that Snell won the NL Cy Young, but that doesn’t stop any of us from having a different favourite story of the season
Padres won’t be able to afford Snell after this. I think he will be moving up the 5 to Dodger Stadium for his home games.
Congrats to Snell, certainly a rough season and start to the off season for Pads fans. And let’s quit it with the “20 game winner should have won it” nonsense, folks. Yes Strider was dominant but let’s not forget the nightmare 2005 AL Cy voting. Snell deserves it. Grats Pads fans.
Padre fans will still get to see Snell often when he pitches for the Giants. CYA is only gonna make him more expensive, but SF has the cheese to get it done. Plus, Snell will get to play for Melvin again. Dunno. I guess that’s a good thing.
Congrats Snellzilla! Now go get your payday. In the AL…
How many multiple Cy Young winners are not in the Hall of Fame (or certain to be) aside from asterisk cases like Clemens?
Looks like Lincecum, Santana, Saberhagen, and McLain. More than I thought, and Santana is certainly fringe HoF. Oh, and DeGrom is on there too.
I guess a over 3.60.era is great nowadays probably get you 200 million too. And all the walks might get you 250 million Greg Maddox is like I coming back
A pitcher should have to have an ERA under 3.5 to even be eligible for the Cy Young ballot.
The Strider arguments here are funny