Mets' Jacob deGrom Wins 2019 NL Cy Young Award over Max Scherzer
November 13, 2019
New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom became the franchise's first-ever back-to-back Cy Young winner when he beat out finalists Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals and Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the award.
The Baseball Writers' Association of America gave deGrom 29 first-place votes and 207 total points. Scherzer and Ryu had 72 points each, with Ryu getting the leftover first-place vote.
DeGrom was a near-unanimous choice when he beat out Scherzer for the award in 2018, garnering 29 of 30 first-place votes then as well. The three-time All-Star continued to dominate opposing hitters this season with an NL-high 255 strikeouts and a 2.43 ERA in 204 innings.
Per FanGraphs, deGrom's 7.0 wins above replacement were more than those of Scherzer (6.5) and Strasburg (5.7). He was also one of five NL pitchers with at least 200 innings pitched.
DeGrom also did his best to keep the Mets in playoff contention until late into the regular season. No other starting pitcher on the team had an ERA under 3.70.
Even though New York ultimately came up short of making the postseason with an 86-76 record, deGrom remains a consistent force for the franchise to build around.