Rick Porcello Can Very Well Win The American League Cy Young Award
Rick Porcello, right-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, has had the best season of his career, and he may very well be rewarded for it.
Twenty-seven year old Boston Red Sox right-hander Rick Porcello has surprisingly had the best season of his career, and possibly the best season of any American League pitcher in 2016. Porcello finished the year with an astounding 22-4 record with a 3.15 ERA.
His 22 wins were the most wins recorded by any pitcher in all of baseball for the 2016 season. And I know what many people often speculated about this statistic. With an offense as good as Boston’s, averaging 5.2 runs per game, many people discredited Rick Porcello’s performances. They believed that Porcello was only winning games because of his run support, which happens to be very untrue.
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Rick Porcello ranked within the top 5 for 8 pitching categories in the American League. He led the AL in wins (22) and strikeouts per walk (5.91). He ranked 2nd in WHIP (1.01), winning percentage (.882), and walks per nine innings (1.29). He ranked 3rd in complete games (3), 4th in innings pitched (223), and 5th in ERA (3.15). So yeah, Porcello did a lot more than most people thought.
Let’s not forget to mention how much of an animal Rick Porcello was at Fenway Park during the regular season. He was 13-1 with a 2.97 ERA.
Going back to run support, we can find that Porcello’s ERA was higher in the first half of the season than it was in the second half. During the first half, Porcello posted an 11-2 record with a 3.66 ERA. Even though this ERA isn’t quite bad at all, it can be reasonable evidence for people who claim he needed the run support. On the other hand, Porcello had the same record in the second half yet his ERA was an impressive 2.62. I think it’s about time you give credit when credit’s due if you haven’t already.
Let’s not forget to mention his leadership role to this Boston Red Sox team. After signing left-handed pitcher David Price in the offseason, the Red Sox thought this was their #1 guy. The guy they could rely on in the rotation. Their so called “Ace” of the pitching staff. To everyone’s surprise, he was not that guy, at least not this season.
This season belonged to Rick Porcello. He was the man in charge when he took the mound. He was the guy the fans loved to watch, because he performed so brilliantly every game with the same amount of competitiveness and passion that is desired in a pitcher. He was our “Ace”.
Now that the regular season has been over for some time now, and the postseason is nearing a conclusion, awards like the AL Cy Young Award are taken into consideration. Who was the best overall pitcher in the American League? Who put together some of the best numbers on the mound? Who truly deserves this award?
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Well if you ask me, and many other fans, Rick Porcello is the answer.