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Nationals’ Max Scherzer wins 2016 NL Cy Young Award

Washington Nationals’ starter Max Scherzer was named the 2016 NL Cy Young Award winner by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

By Patrick Reddington
Division Series - Los Angeles Dodgers v Washington Nationals - Game Five Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images

In the second year of his seven-year/$210M deal with the Washington Nationals, Max Scherzer earned his second Cy Young award, becoming just the sixth pitcher in major league history to win the award in both the American and National League.

Scherzer joins Gaylord Perry, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens and Roy Halladay on the list of the only pitchers to win the Cy Young in the AL and NL.

Scherzer’s win was announced this evening on the MLB Network. He received 25 first place votes from the voting members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA), beating out Chicago Cubs’ starters Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks.

Scherzer finished his second season in D.C., and his ninth season in the majors at (20-7), with a 2.96 ERA, a 3.24 FIP, 56 walks (2.21 BB/9) and 284 Ks (11.19 K/9) in 34 starts and 228 1⁄3 innings pitched for the NL East Champion Nationals, over which he was worth 5.6 fWAR, behind only Miami Marlins’ right-hander Jose Fernandez (6.2) and New York Mets’ right-hander Noah Syndergaard (6.5) in Wins Above Replacement among National League starters.

Scherzer, MLB Network analyst Jon Morosi noted on Twitter in early October, also led all NL pitchers in wins, strikeouts, WHIP and innings as well, becoming the first starter to do so since Los Angeles Dodgers’ southpaw Sandy Koufax in 1965.

Scherzer took the AL Cy Young Award back in 2013, after going (21-3) in 32 starts for the Detroit Tigers over which he put up a 2.90 ERA, a 2.74 FIP, 56 walks and 240 Ks in 214 1⁄3 IP, finishing the year at 6.1 fWAR.

Notes: The “Cy Young” award, which was first handed out in 1956, honors the late Denton True “Cy” Young, a major league pitcher from from 1890-1911 who is the all-time win leader in the majors to this day (with 511). Cy is short for his nickname, “Cyclone”, which B-R Bullpen’s bio on the right-hander notes, was, “... a reference to the speed of his fastball in his younger days [when] he was initially referred to as "Cyclone Young."

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