Atlanta Braves: Composition of a Cy Young Award Winner (Part 1)
By Seth Carter
2019 Cy Young Winners
We know a pitcher needs to be dominant for the majority of a season. To win the Cy Young, there is no time for a bad stretch.
Julio Teheran had stretches in 2019 with the Braves where he looked like the best pitcher in baseball, then he had stretches where you didn’t want to look at him. There’s no time for streakiness on the way to ace-hood.
2019 Cy Young Winners
NL- Jacob deGrom
31.7 K% // 5.5 BB% // .205 AVG // .97 WHIP
Spray Chart
PULL – 38.6%, Center – 33.1%, Opp – 28.3%
Batted Ball Type
Groundball- 44.4% // Flyball- 34.6% // Line drive- 21.1%
Batted Ball %
Soft – 21.9%, Med – 48.2%, Hard – 29.9%
HR/9 – .84 // K/9- 11.25 // HR/FB- 11.2%
BABIP – .282
AL – Justin Verlander
35.4 K% // 5.0 BB% // .171 AVG // .8 WHIP
Spray Chart
PULL – 44.4%, Center – 35.3%, Opp – 20.3%
Batted Ball Type
Groundball- 35.9% // Flyball- 45.2% // Line drive- 18.9%
Batted Ball %
Soft – 17.1%, Med – 41.2%, Hard – 41.8%
HR/9 – 1.45 // K/9- 12.11 // HR/FB- 16.0%
BABIP – .218
These two guys both had k-rates that exceeded 30% and walked less than 6.0% of the batters they faced. Good things are going to happen when you combine those two things.
These pitchers are hard to compare to the rest of the league. The strikeout rates are extraordinary.
Verlander was hit very hard… when he was hit. Last year Verlander was third in total home runs allowed and 17th in hard-hit rate (among starting pitchers with a minimum of 110 innings pitched) with 41.8% of his batted balls being considered hard-hit.