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MLB awards watch: AL Cy Young race

By William Schneiderhan

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - APRIL 10: Starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow #20 of the Tampa Bay Rays delivers the ball against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on April 10, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - APRIL 10: Starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow #20 of the Tampa Bay Rays delivers the ball against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on April 10, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
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CHICAGO, IL – APRIL 08: Blake Snell #4 of the Tampa Bay Rays pitches during a game against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on April 8, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL – APRIL 08: Blake Snell #4 of the Tampa Bay Rays pitches during a game against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on April 8, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

2. Blake Snell, LHP Tampa Bay Rays

2-1, 36 strikeouts (6th), 0.76 WHIP (1st), 0.7 WAR (19th), and 2.16 ERA (5th).

Blake Snell had a breakout year in 2018. He went 21-5, pitched to a 1.89 ERA and struck out 221 hitters on way to being named the American League Cy Young. This year, he is poised to build off of that.

Before landing on the injured list after fracturing his toe while attempting to move a fixture in his bathroom, Snell was tearing the league apart. As seen above, he had 36 strikeouts in 25 innings pitched, resulting in 12.96 strikeouts per-nine innings.

Snell‘s opponent’s batting average against is .176 and his 24.5 soft-contact percentage is eighth in the league. Hitters are struggling to barrel the lefty up, and if they do the ball isn’t being struck well enough to do much damage.

You would think that Snell must be emulating what he did last season, but his pitch usage disproves that thought. He is throwing his fastball 41.6 percent of the time, down nearly 10 percent from last season. In correlation, he has relied on his curveball much more, using it 32 percent of the time in 2019.

It’s scary to think that Snell dominated last season, and is doing so again this year, but now he is doing it in a different way. Oh yeah, and unlike Bauer and Berrios, Snell happens to pitch in a loaded division in hitter-friendly ballparks.

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