Rick Porcello: Dark Horse Cy Young Award Candidate
There is a man for the Boston Red Sox, unassuming but standing tall, that has emerged as a dark horse Cy Young Award candidate.
It’s not the high-priced left-hander many thought it might be before the season started. It’s none other than Rick Porcello.
Porcello won his 14th game of the season on Friday night, helping to defeat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 6-2 and putting a stop to Boston’s four-game losing streak.
In tossing his first complete game since 2014, Porcello allowed only five hits while walking none and striking out three. In the process, he lowered his E.R.A. to 3.47.Now standing with a record of 14-2, Porcello is tied for the league lead in victories with Chris Sale (14-4) of the Chicago White Sox and Chris Tillman (14-3) of the Baltimore Orioles.
Porcello has quietly become the rock of the oft beleaguered Red Sox pitching staff and has been a model of consistency the Red Sox have been in desperate need of.
Questions surrounded Porcello entering the season. Fans, teammates and coaches knew Porcello would need to have a bounce back season in 2016 if the Red Sox were to be successful.
Last season, in his first with the Red Sox, Porcello produced mixed results. After struggling through the first half of 2015 with a 5-9 record and a 5.90 ERA, Porcello bounced back for a more respectable 4-6 record with a 3.53 ERA in the season’s last two months.
It was not known what version of Porcello the Red Sox were going to get in 2016. Were they going to get the man who turned necks with his stellar pitching or who turned necks with the amount of baseballs leaving the park when he was on the mound?
So far this season, despite still allowing the long ball–14 thus far in 2016 after allowing 25 last year–Porcello has settled into the pitcher he was with the Detroit Tigers, where he won 76 games over his first six seasons.
Porcello’s numbers warrant him the merit to be included in any discussion for the American League Cy Young Award. He is already one win away from tying his career-high for a season, one win away from career-win number 100, and is a perfect 10-0 at home this season.
Sale might be the more newsworthy pitcher among the candidates, but he is just one among many pitchers worthy of Cy Young discussion for the American League.
JA Happ of the Toronto Blue Jays is 13-3 with a 3.27 ERA and Cole Hamels (12-2, 2.84 ERA) of the Texas Rangers are two examples to go along with the aforementioned Sale and Tillman.
Porcello should be right there in the mix if his season continues on this trajectory. He has on at least three occasions this season helped the Red Sox end a losing streak, something that is expected from a top pitcher.
Despite the recent losing streak, last night’s victory kept Boston in the thick of things in the A.L. East. The Red Sox are currently only 1.5 games out of first. The Blue Jays have passed them in the standings, while the Orioles have lost four in row themselves.
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The A.L. East is turning into a three-team race. If Porcello continues to thrive, Steven Wright finds his knuckleball again, and David Price pitches like he did against the Angels last Thursday, then Boston will have a nice top of the rotation for the homestretch.
Until then, Porcello will be the pride of this staff. Standing tall and dealing aces.