Rick Porcello: the right choice for the Cy Young

Pretty Ricky had a beautiful 2016 regular season.

Pretend he didn’t give up three home runs in one inning in the postseason for a second and just focus on his regular season contributions. That’s what got him the American League Cy Young Award this year, whether or not everyone is happy with the ruling.

In case you were wondering, Porcello went 22-4 (I know, wins and losses are stupid) with a 3.15 ERA in 33 regular season starts. And his 5.91 strikeouts to walk ratio was the best in baseball. Keep in mind he pitched half his games at one of Major League Baseball’s most hitter-friendly parks, Fenway Park.

There was some backlash on Twitter for everything including Justin Verlander’s squad, his fiance and brother, complaining that he should have won and doing it in about the most childish, desperate for attention ways possible. Not putting Kate Upton’s tweet on here because it was not appropriate and looking for attention, but here’s his brother, Ben’s.

OK. What if Porcello pitched half his games at Comerica park? Then he’d have the best ERA out of all these guys. Porcello also pitches to contact, so it’s not fair to say Verlander was more deserving based off K’s. Let’s be honest here, outs are outs. If Verlander wants to spent five or six pitches on a strikeout instead of three for a ground out, that’s his problem.

Clearly, the Red Sox found a good one in Rick either way though. Something must have been wrong for most of 2015 because when he came off the Disabled List, he posted a 3.14 ERA in eight starts. And that was the start of his legendary Boston career. So worth Yoenis Cespedes but then again, might have a bias against him for his suspect at best plate discipline and his occasional struggles in the field.

 

Back to blog