HOUSTON, TX — Astros All-Star right-handed pitcher Justin Verlander has been named the 2019 American League Cy Young Award winner, as announced by the Baseball Writers Association of America tonight on MLB Network.
Verlander won the award by receiving 17 first place votes and 13 second place votes for 171 total points. Finishing in second place was 2019 Astros right-handed pitcher Gerrit Cole, while Rays right-hander and former Astro Charlie Morton finished in third place. The Astros are the third franchise in Major League history to have the top-two finishers in a Cy Young race, joining the Arizona Diamondbacks (Randy Johnson and runner-up Curt Schilling in 2001 and 2002) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (Mike Marshall and runner-up Andy Messersmith in 1974; Don Newcombe and runner-up Sal Magile in 1956).)
This marks the second-career Cy Young Award for Verlander, who also earned the AL Cy Young and AL MVP Awards in 2011 while with Detroit. It also marks his eighth top-five finish in the Cy Young voting, and his fifth time as a top-two finisher, as he was the AL Cy Young Award runner-up in 2012, 2016 and 2018. Verlander is the 20th pitcher in Major League history to win a Cy Young Award multiple times, and is the fourth Astros pitcher to win a Cy Young, joining right-handers Mike Scott (NL,1986) and Roger Clemens (NL, 2004), and left-hander Dallas Keuchel (AL, 2015).
Verlander had a dominant season in 2019, leading the Majors in wins (21), opponent batting average (.172), WHIP (0.80) and innings pitched (223.0) while ranking second in strikeouts (300). Among AL pitchers, he ranked first in strikeout to walk ratio (7.14) and tied for first in quality starts (26), while his 2.58 ERA, 300 strikeouts, 12.11 strikeouts per 9.0 innings ratio, and .579 opponent OPS all ranked second only to Cole (2.50 ERA, 326 SO, 13.82 SO/9, .579 OPS).
Verlander started the 2019 All-Star Game at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio, becoming the 33rd pitcher in MLB history to make multiple All-Star Game starts. It marked his eighth-career All-Star nomination (2007, 2009-13, 2018-19), making him one of 22 pitchers in MLB history to be named to eight All-Star teams, a list that includes 19 Hall of Famers.
In addition to putting up elite season-long numbers, Verlander accomplished a number of historic milestones during the season. On Sept. 1 at Toronto, Verlander recorded his third-career no-hitter, making him the fifth pitcher all-time to toss three no-hitters, joining Nolan Ryan (7), Sandy Koufax (4), Bob Feller (3), Cy Young (3) and Larry Corcoran (3). It marked the 13th no-hitter in Astros history, and made Verlander the eighth pitcher in MLB history to throw a no-hitter as a member of multiple teams, joining Theodore Breitenstein, Jim Bunning, Mike Fiers, Randy Johnson, Hideo Nomo, Nolan Ryan and Cy Young.
Verlander reached 300 strikeouts in a season for the first time in his career during his final start of the season on Sept. 28, a start where he also surpassed 3,000 strikeouts for his career. He became the 18th pitcher in Major League history to record 3,000 career strikeouts, and joined Randy Johnson (2000) as the only pitchers in MLB history to reach 3,000 career strikeouts and 300 strikeouts for a season within the same game.
Verlander posted a 0.80 WHIP on the year, the best single-season mark of his career and the third-best mark by a pitcher in baseball’s modern era (since 1900), behind only Pedro Martinez’ 0.74 WHIP in 2000 and Walter Johnson’s 0.77 WHIP in 1913. His .172 opponent batting average was the seventh-best mark in a single season in the modern era, and the best since Martinez’ put up a .167 mark in 2000.
In Astros franchise history, Verlander’s 21 wins were tied for the second-most in a single season with Jose Lima (1999) and Joe Niekro (1979), behind Mike Hampton’s 22-win 1999 season. The 36-year-old became the 11th pitcher in AL history to have a season with at least 21 wins at 36 years or older, joining Curt Schilling (2004), Jamie Moyer (2003), Jack Morris (1992), Tommy John (1979-80), Mike Cuellar (1974), Early Wynn (1959), Walter Johnson (1924), Eddie Cicotte (1920), Eddie Plank (1912) and Cy Young (1903-04, 1907-08).
Cole finished in second place in the Cy Young voting in his second season with Houston, a year in which he led the Majors with 326 strikeouts, a new Astros single-season record and the most strikeouts by a pitcher since Randy Johnson struck out 334 in 2002. Cole led the AL in ERA (2.50) and opponent OPS (.579), while ranking second in opponent batting average (.186), WHIP (0.89), wins (20), opponent OBP (.237) and opponent slugging (.339). He ended the season on a 16-game winning streak, a new franchise record streak and the longest single-season winning streak since Roger Clemens’ 16-game run in 2001. Cole posted a franchise-record 21 double-digit strikeout games on the year, and finished the season by posting double-digit strikeouts in nine consecutive games, setting a new MLB record streak. Cole was named the AL Pitcher of the Month in June, July and September.
The Astros have had a busy awards season in 2019, as outfielder Yordan Alvarez was named the 2019 AL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year. This marks the third time that the Astros have won two national BBWAA awards in the same year. Mike Scott won the NL Cy Young award and Hal Lanier won the NL Manager of the Year award in 1986, and Carlos Correa won the AL Rookie of the Year with Dallas Keuchel winning AL Cy Young honors in 2015. The Astros have a shot to become the first team since the 1993 White Sox to win three of the four BBWAA awards, as third baseman Alex Bregman is one of three finalists for the AL MVP award, which will be announced Thursday night on MLB Network at 5:00 p.m. CT