Major League baseball announced the finalist for all of it's major awards yesterday afternoon, and one Atlanta Brave made the cut. Unsurprisingly, it was Chris Sale who received his nomination for the NL Cy Young award.
Sale will battle it out against NL East rival Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies, and rookie sensation Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The last Atlanta Brave to win the NL Cy Young award was Hall of Famer Tom Glavine in 1998.
Your 2024 @officialBBWAA NL Cy Young Award finalists:
— MLB (@MLB) November 12, 2024
Chris Sale
Paul Skenes
Zack Wheeler pic.twitter.com/AYmSCW6Azm
Sale strong favorite for his first Cy Young award
Sale is the presumed favorite to take home the award when it's announced on November 20. Skenes will likely finish third after posting an impressive 1.96 ERA, 2.44 FIP, 170 K's, and 4.3 fWAR during his rookie campaign. The 2023 number one overall pick only tossed 133 innings due to his midseason call-up, but should he post more seasons like his first he's sure to take home a Cy Young at some point in his career.
Wheeler posted yet another stellar season out in Philadelphia with a 16-7 record, 2.57 ERA, 3.13 FIP, and 224 K's in his 200 innings of work. However, it's likely Wheeler will earn his second runner-up finish for the Cy Young award barring some abysmal voting results.
Sale's first season with the Braves couldn't have went much better as he earned the first NL Triple Crown since Clayton Kershaw did so in 2011. Sale also led all of baseball in fWAR (6.4) and FIP (2.09). Sale finished in the top six of AL Cy Young voting each year from 2012-2018. However, his highest finish was runner-up in 2017 with Boston.
Schwellenbach not named a NL Rookie of the Year finalist
While Sale was an obvious choice to earn a nomination, the Braves had a couple other players with a case for award finalist. The most reasonable of which was rookie phenom pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach. The 24 year-old RHP had a magical rookie season throwing 123 innings to the tune of a 3.35 ERA, 3.36 FIP, and 2.6 fWAR.
Any other year Schwellenbach would certainly be a candidate to take home the award. However, this season the National League ROY finalist are three budding superstars all of which who are more deserving of the nomination. We already talked about Skenes (the likely winner), but a couple of Jackson's showcased their youthful talent as well.
Firstly, Jackson Chourio entered 2024 as the second ranked prospect in all of baseball. He would go on to post a 20/20 season at the age of 20. Chourio finished the season with a 117 wRC+, and 3.9 fWAR for the Brew Crew, firmly establishing himself as a cornerstone for the franchise.
The final NL ROY finalist is outfielder Jackson Merrill of the San Diego Padres. Merrill was consistently great all year for San Diego slashing .292/.326/.500 in his rookie campaign. He finished the year with 5.3 fWAR which ranked in the top 15 in all of baseball.
Braves trade for Nick Allen in deal with the A's
In case you missed it, the Braves made their second trade of the offseason late yesterday afternoon. This one didn't have nearly the name power the first one did however. Nick Allen was the name coming from the A's organization to the Braves.
Allen is a former top-five prospect with the A's and should serve as middle infield depth for Atlanta. It remains to be seen if he'll get a legitimate chance to make the big league club come Spring Training.