2019 Ben McDonald Award winner

Ballots were all over the place in the wide open race for the Ben McDonald Award, with a clear top 3 that separated from the field in the final result.

Gerrit Cole of Livingston emerged with the award, finishing with 43 points, to outpoll teammate Hyun-Jin Ryu, whose 37 points edged out Tucson's Max Scherzer, with 36 points. Cole and Ryu combined with Jacob de Grom, Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard for a league-best 3.34 ERA and 107 wins on their way to their first DMBL title in 2019.


Voting was based on a 10-7-5-3-2-1 system:

Cole, LIV: 3-1-0-2-0-0--------------->43 points
Ryu, LIV: 1-3-0-2-0-0---------------->37 points
Scherzer, TUC: 1-2-2-0-1-0--------->36 points
Eovaldi, POO: 0-0-4-2-0-0---------->26 points
Carrasco, EC-TUC: 1-0-0-0-2-1---->15 points
Minor, ALN: 0-0-0-0-2-0------------>4 points
Bauer, PHI: 0-0-0-0-1-1------------->3 points
Verlander, HIL: 0-0-0-0-0-2-------->2 points
Sale, SF: 0-0-0-0-0-2---------------->2 points

It was the closest vote for the McDonald in at least four years. The top four finished appeared on all six ballots cast while no other hurler appeared on more than four. Cole won the strength of three 1st-place ballots. Other receiving 1st-place votes were Ryu, Scherzer, and Carlos Carrasco, who caught fire after being dealt from Hillsborough to Tucson at the deadline.

Cole and Eovaldi had a league-best 19 wins while Ryu won the ERA title (2.85) just ahead of Carrasco (3.02) in addition to the WHIP (0.98), tied with Eovaldi. It was a career-high for Cole, who also had a career-best 297 strikeouts and 3.24 ERA.

Eovaldi seemed the near consensus 3rd place finisher, collecting 4 3rd-place ballots to go with a pair of 4th-place votes. Ryu had the most 2nd place votes, with 3. It's the second consecutive 3rd-place finish for Scherzer, who led the league in innings pitched and strikeouts. Last year's winner, Stephen Strasburg of Hopatcong, did not poll.

A change of scenery seems to have worked for Cole, who has solidified his career after two seasons in Livingston. The Lords of Swing acquired him in a deal just before the 2018 protected lists from Sardine City, for 3rd and 8th rounders that year (the Straphangers would turn those picks into RPs Tyler Olson and Joe Kelly). His 19-9 campaign actually improved his lifetime record to 63-71 (.470), and 30-21 (.588) with Livingston.

Sardine City originally drafted Cole as an ineligible prospect way back in 2011. He was selected in the supplemental 3rd round that year (the 9th pick of what was essentially the 18th round, after prospect Jerry Sands and before Michael Brantley).

Cole would spend three seasons in the Sardine City system before finally debuting in 2014. He had a respectable rookie campaign for a 104-loss team. Cole finished 9-13 with a 3.76 ERA in 21/32 quality starts. He struck out 173 batters in 205.2 innings, and 1.29 WHIP.

The 29-year-old had an up-and-down path with the Straphangers before they decided to move on after several double-digit loss campaigns.

Cole suffered through possibly his worst season in 2015, going 6-18 with a 5.13 ERA in 165 innings for a 109-loss Straphanger squad. He followed that up in 2016 with what had been his best season to date: 15-8 with a 3.40 ERA over 219.3 innings, with 1.12 WHIP and 188 Ks in 21/33 quality starts. Then it was a step back in 2017 as Cole only made 15 starts, finishing 3-11 with a 7.28 ERA in barely 85 innings. Despite that, Sardine City made its first-ever DMBL Series appearance, as an 87-win 4th seed.

Cole's first season in Livingston was an improvement. He went 11-12 with a 4.76 ERA and career-high 4 complete games with 15/32 quality starts and 1.48 WHIP. That year also saw what was then a career-high 201 strikeouts in 215.2 innings for a 91-loss Livingston team in 2018.