MLB Opening Day 2016: Top 5 early Cy Young picks

SP. Astros. Dallas Keuchel. 3. player. 135.
Here’s the other Cy Young Award winner from 2015: Dallas Keuchel from the American League. The 28-year-old left-hander for the Astros didn’t have quite the same season as Arrieta, but many would argue that the American League is much tougher on pitchers than the National League — probably because of the presence of the designated hitter.
Still, the young pitcher helped the Astros, like the Cubs, escape the bottom of the league standings and head to the playoffs thanks to his consistent play all season long as the No. 1 guy on a staff of young studs.
Through the first month of the 2015 season, he posted an ERA below one and had a 3-0 record with 22 strikeouts in just six starts. That’s when everyone really started taking him seriously.
The year before, he did post a 2.93 ERA, but when it’s the first season in a career in which a player has serious success, you need to know it’s not a fluke by seeing what he does the next year. He followed it up by finishing the 2015 campaign with an even better 2.48 ERA with a 20-8 record.
Keuchel is really emerging as a premier pitcher in this league despite starting just 100 games in his four-year career.
Next: 2. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers