2012 Pitchers of the Year

Baseball Blogger’s Alliance members vote for a variety of post-season awards. These are my choices for the Walter Johnson Award, given to the top pitchers in each league.

National League:

1. R.A. Dickey deserves to win the National League’s Cy Young Award in what promises to be a very close contest, . He qualified by pitching 233.2 innings, posting a 2.73 ERA, fashioning a 1.05 WHIP and accumulating numbers in a variety of other categories that either led the league or come close to doing so. But as good as these numbers are, they only tell part of the story.

Dickey’s raising his game to a level no one ever dreamed he would achieve is of greater significance. Entering the season, the Mets expected him to be dependable, not dominant. As April changed to May, it was starting to appear that he was getting better with each start. By June he had established himself as the team’s ace. He threw two consecutive one-hit shutouts that month. Then came his stretch of pitching  44 1/3 innings without permitting an earned run. He ultimately went 20-6 for a weak hitting, offensively-challenged team that limped to the finishing line with a 74-88 record. A final number provides irrefutable evidence of his newly attained status as an elite, top-tier pitcher; eleven of his wins came the day after a Mets loss.

There’s a list of other worthy candidates, however, and it includes Clayton Kershaw, of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Johnny Cueto, of the Cincinnati Reds and Gio Gonzalez, of the Washington Nationals. Unlike Dickey, however, they all had the luxury of pitching for teams with winning records.

2. Clayton Keshaw followed his 2011 Cy Young award-winning campaign with a performance that was almost as good. He went 14-9 with a 2.53 ERA and a 1.023 WHIP. However, his innings pitched, wins and strikeouts were down, while his WHIP and earned run average were up. In sum, Kershaw was still a tough customer, just not quite as dominating.

3. Johnny Cueto had the best season of his career, finishing 19-9 with a 2.78 ERA and a 1.171 WHIP.

4. Gio Gonzalez was one of the aces who helped propel the Nationals to the N.L. East Championship. His 21-8 record, 2.89 ERA and 1.129 WHIP

5. Matt Cain, of the San Francisco Giants, threw a perfect game and went 16-5, with a 2.79 ERA and a 1.040 WHIP.

American League:

1. Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers, is my choice for the A.L. Cy Young Award.  winner for the second year in a row. He finished 17-8, led the league in strikeouts (239) and innings pitched (238.1), was second in ERA (2.64), opponent’s batting average (.217) and WHIP (1.057).

2. David Price, Tampa Bay Rays. (20-5, 2.56 ERA, 1.100 WHIP).

3. Jared Weaver, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. (20-5, 2.81 ERA, 1.018 WHIP).

4. Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners. (13-9, 3.06 ERA, 1.142 WHIP.

5. C.C. Sebathia, New York Yankees (15-6, 3.38 ERA, 1.140 WHIP).