The 2020 Ben McDonald Award could become more of a coronation than last year's close race after a season that saw the second-highest win total by a starting pitcher in DMBL history. Sardine City's Lance Lynn (24-6) might make the race for 2nd place a more interesting contest. After Lynn, there's a second tier of starters who had strong seasons but hardly anyone that should challenge him for the McDonald. There wasn't a superb season by a reliever as in years past but who knows, one could sneak his way onto a ballot. (Hopatcong's Shane Greene topped relievers with 31 saves and finished 12th in ESPN's Cy Young Predictor).
The McDonald, which recognizes the DMBL's best pitcher, is voted on by the league's 16 owners. Ballots have six slots available:
- 10 points for 1st place
- 7 for 2nd place
- 5 for 3rd place
- 3 for 4th place
- 2 for 5th place
- 1 for 6th place
Here's a baker's dozen of candidates who could deserve a vote on your ballot, in alphabetical order (italics indicate league leader):
Gerrit Cole, Livingston
12-7, .631%
4.13 ERA, 1.17 WHIP
205 IP, 312 K
18/33 QS, .545%
10.9 R/9, 13.7 K/9, 4.7 K/BB
Could a 12-game winner seriously take home the McDonald? He eked out last year's award in a tight race but he's not likely to repeat on the strength of his win-loss record; that ERA is a bit high too. If he does get support, it'll be on the strength of his huge power arm and historic strikeout numbers. He led the league with 312 Ks, which is the 6th most all-time, and an absurd 13.9 K/9. Jacob deGrom, Livingston
14-6, .700%
3.95 ERA, 1.17 WHIP
223 1/3 IP, 261 K
17/33 QS, .515%
10.7 R/9, 10.5 K/9, 3.8 K/BB
3 CG, 2 ShO
deGrom could be an ace on almost any other squad but Livingston's rotation is so strong, there's sometimes not enough room in the spotlight; teammates Gerrit Cole and Hyun-Jin Ryu finished 1-2 in last year's McDonald voting. He led the team in innings, good for 3rd in the league, and finished 8th in strikeouts and 10th in ERA, which make his case for the McDonald. According to ESPN's Cy Young Predictor, deGrom finishes 10th in voting thanks to a rather low 14 wins.
Lucas Giolito, Sardine City
16-11, .592%
3.70 ERA, 1.20 WHIP
204 1/3 IP, 281 K
21/33 QS, .636%
10.9 R/9, 12.4 K/9, 3.4 K/BB
1 CG
The youngster finally put it all together in 2020 after years as a prospect. He finished 2nd in the league in strikeouts, 4th in K/9 and 7th in ERA while complementing Lynn as a solid 1-2 punch for the top-seeded Straphangers. If the Cy Young Predictor had a ballot, Giolito would get the 6th-place vote.
Tyler Glasnow, San Francisco
15-4, .789%
2.98 ERA, 1.09 WHIP
214 1/3 IP, 267 K
22/32 QS, .688%
9.9 R/9, 11.2 K/9, 4.6 K/BB
2 CG, 1 ShO
The ERA champion will always get support for the McDonald but Glasnow's win total may be a little light for a 1st place vote but his excellent win percentage (.789) was second to only Lynn. According to the Cy Young Predictor, Glasnow finishes a distance 2nd, ahead of a quartet of starters bunched up behind him (Minor, Greinke, Strasburg, Giolito). He also was tops in the league in OPS (.621), extra base hit rate (.059) and slugging (.350), while ranking 5th in strikeouts and 4th in WHIP (1.09).
Zack Greinke, Hillsborough
18-7, .720%
3.46 ERA, 1.09 WHIP
221 IP, 193 K
21/33 QS, .636%
11.5 R/9, 7.9 K/9, 4.5 K/BB
3 CG, 1 ShO
Greinke didn't lead the league in any categories nor did he overpower batters with huge strikeout numbers. What he did do was quietly finish among the top 10 in ERA (6th), win % (4th), and IP (5th), all while helping the Hit Men to 94 wins and the postseason. Teammate Justin Verlander seems to have gotten more headlines and Kate Uptons over the years but Greinke has put together a Hall of Fame career too, now ranking 6th in starts and wins, 4th in innings, 7th in strikeouts, and challenging the all-time WHIP mark. He won the McDonald in 2010 with an incredible 21-3 campaign for Vancouver. The Cy Young Predictor has him finishing 4th.
Lance Lynn, Sardine City
24-6, .800%
3.17 ERA, 1.24 WHIP
244 1/3 IP, 280 K
11.4 R/9, 10.3 K/9, 3.4 K/BB
23/33 QS, .697%
4 CG, 2 ShO
If you go by ESPN's Cy Young Predictor, you'd be hard-pressed to find a stronger McDonald Award candidate than Lance Lynn -- in almost any year. After all, the Sardine City slinger was the only pitcher to win 20 games this season and he also logged a shit-ton of innings and strikeouts, ranking within the top 10 -- all categories that the Cy Young Predictor relishes. The 33-year-old had a career year to say the least, falling 2 wins short of Greg Maddux's record 26 in 1998 with Vancouver, and matching Philly's Trevor Cahill in 2013 and Vancouver's Jake Peavy in 2008.
Even without bonus points in the Predictor for being on a division winner, Lynn would run away with the award if his season ended when he won his 20th game. But he continued, going 24-6 (a league-best .800 win %) and logged another 40 innings. Not only did he have a league-best 24 wins but also a league-high 30 decisions and finished in the top 3 in the key categories of ERA, innings and K's.
In addition to wins, Lynn led the league in HR/9 (0.8) and was the only pitcher to eclipse 30 batters faced per game (30.91). He finished 2nd quality start percentage. Lynn also benefitted from a great bullpen, as the only pitcher with .000 runners left scored percentage (though he only left 10 all season anyway), and solid offense, backed by an average 5.6 runs per game.
You'll be hard pressed to find a better candidate than the top pitcher on the top-seeded team (the 105-win Straphangers). One of the few knocks a voter could make against Lynn's candidacy is the 1.24 WHIP that's not even in the neighborhood of the league's best (1.01, Tucson's Chris Paddack).
Mike Minor, Allentown
16-12, .571%
3.43 ERA, 1.17 WHIP
247 IP, 243 K
22/33 QS, .667%
10.7 R/9, 8.9 K/9, 3.0 K/BB
7 CG, 2 ShO
Minor was the definition of a workhorse. His 7 CG -- including one on the final day of the regular season to pass Lynn and take the innings pitched crown (if that's a thing) -- was 3 more than any other pitcher. What he lacks in the sexy strikeout department, Minor makes up in workload, innings and quality starts. He essentially was the league's top left-hander in 2020, finishing 5th in ERA but did take 12 L's against his 16 wins.Minor was one of only two starters to face 1,000 batters (1,002); the other was Lynn (1,020). The Cy Young Predictor likes him to finish 3rd, behind Glasnow and ahead of Greinke.
Chris Paddack, Tucson
15-6, .714%
3.33 ERA, 1.01 WHIP
203 IP, 195 K
20/32 QS, .625%
9.4 R/9, 8.6 K/9, 3.8 K/BB
1 CG, 1 ShO
Paddack was among the contenders for the ERA title for much of the season, ultimately finishing 3rd behind Glasnow and Lynn. His numbers don't seem overpowering, especially considering he had fewer strikeouts than innings, and yet, he led the league in WHIP and tied for the lead in R/9.
Paddack finishes 7th in the Cy Young Predictor but he could find the back-end of some ballots based on his leading the league in a combination of lesser-known but key categories: batting average (.202), on-base (.259), H/9 (6.8), and in-play average (.220). He also has the cool high socks so he's got that going for him.
Hyun-Jin Ryu, Livingston
17-8, .680%
4.22 ERA, 1.33 WHIP
215 1/3 IP, 191 K
16/32 QS, .500%
12.1 R/9, 8.0 K/9, 5.0 K/BB
4 CG, 4 ShO
Max Scherzer, Tucson
14-9, .608%
4.17 ERA, 1.26 WHIP
183 2/3 IP, 228 K
17/31 QS, .548%
11.8 R/9, 11.2 K/9, 5.0 K/BB
Scherzer usually finds himself on the ballot for the McDonald, finishing 3rd last year, but has yet to win the award. This season, the 36-year-old likely will continue to find his name on ballots but even if he doesn't win, he's already got hardware for 2020, sharing the DMBL World Series MVP award with Willson Contreras. Despite only 14 wins, the DMBL veteran still put up solid peripheral numbers with 11.2 K/9 and 5.0 K/BB - both in the top 10.
Mike Soroka, Allentown
15-8, .652%
4.13 ERA, 1.43 WHIP
207 IP, 145 K
17/31 QS, .548%
13.2 R/9, 6.3 K/9, 2.2 K/BB
3 CG, 2 ShO
Yet another 15-game winner, Soroka was the one of the best rookie starters in 2020 despite a lack of any power numbers. While he may be more likely to be a contender for the Listach Award, the 23-year-old from Calgary is more of a dark-horse, long shot for the McDonald, getting recognition with some back-of-the ballot votes. He banked on his ground-ball strengths, leading the league with 40 ground-ball double plays but voters will have to overlook his less-than-stellar WHIP and K/BB.
Stephen Strasburg, Hopatcong
16-9, .640%
3.42 ERA, 1.02 WHIP
213 1/3 IP, 241 K
24/33 QS, .727%
9.4 R/9, 10.2 K/9, 4.2 K/BB
4 CG, 1 ShO
Justin Verlander, Hillsborough
18-8, .692%
4.04 ERA, 1.03 WHIP
223 1/3 IP, 276 K
20/33 QS, .606%
9.4 R/9, 11.1 K/9, 5.5 K/BB
The 2012 McDonald Award winner led the league in K/BB and R/9 (tying with Paddack and Strasburg) and finished 2nd in wins. He also finished 4th in strikeouts, moving into 3rd place on the all-time DMBL strikeout list with 2,770, trailing only Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson. Verlander, who turns 38 in February, already has announced he'll skip the 2021 DMBL season to spend more time with wife Kate Upton but could return for the 2022 campaign.
No comments :
Post a Comment