MLB awards season is here, and today, Chris Sale will be named the National League Cy Young Award winner, the first of his career. The Braves don’t have anyone else up for any, but there’s an old friend who is making headlines again.
With Paul Skenes and Luis Gil winning the NL and AL Rookie of the Year awards, respectively, they became the first set of pitchers to win the award in the same year since Jeremy Hellickson and Craig Kimbrel did so in 2011.
https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1858688268272816333
During the 2011 campaign, Kimbrel set a new rookie record with 46 saves across 77.0 innings pitched to go along with a 2.10 ERA, 1.039 WHIP, 1.52 FIP, and a ridiculous 14.8 K/9.
He’d go on to either lead the National League or MLB in saves over the next three seasons, marking four straight campaigns with an All-Star bid. His best seasons with the Braves came in 2012 and 2013, posting a 1.01 ERA and 1.21 ERA, respectively, with top five finishes in the Cy Young voting.
The Rookie of the Year voting also reminded me of another Braves winner — Michael Harris II. This race between Paul Skenes and Jackson Merrill is reminiscent of the Braves duo of Harris and Spencer Strider a few years ago, one that many believed Strider would win, leading some to believe Merrill should’ve won over Skenes.
https://twitter.com/Adam_Klug/status/1858661239364481143
Sometimes, these awards are popularity contests in which voters easily buy into narratives. Unfortunately for Merrill and Strider, in most other seasons, they run away with Rookie of the Year award. That doesn’t diminish their individual accomplishments.
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