Picking Every Team's Hank Aaron Award and Cy Young Award Winner
Picking Every Team’s Hank Aaron Award and act Young Award Winner
Written by: Nathan Middleton
It is mid-June and the best players are beginning to separate themselves from the rest, it's the time of year when the leaderboards become a bit more stable and we start thinking about who will be taking home the hardware at the end of the season.
I am going to do something to honor the best hitter and pitcher from every team because every team has a best hitter and pitcher regardless of how poorly the team has played. We already have a Hank Aaron Award for best hitter and a Cy Young Award for best pitcher in each league and I will expand this to each team.
*All stats are as of the end of play on June 11th
AL East
Baltimore Orioles
Hank Aaron Award- Austin Hays
This was a close race between him and Trey Mancini but I went with Hays because of his slightly superior power numbers (although they aren't gaudy because the Orioles decide to move their fences back 30 feet).
Cy Young Award- Jorge Lopez
A failed starter who was 3-14 with a 6.07 ERA last season has turned into one of the best closers in baseball as of late leading a surprisingly good Orioles bullpen (3.19 ERA). He has 8 saves in 29 innings where he has a 0.93 ERA.
Boston Red Sox
Hank Aaron Award- Rafael Devers
Devers is easily the best hitter on the Red Sox and is leading the league in hits and doubles. He is on pace for 221 hits (would be the most since 2014) and 62 doubles (would be the most since 1936 and tied for the fifth most all time.
Cy Young Award- Michael Wacha
An amazing comeback story for him. He recently had an ERA under 2.00 (although he is not qualified for the ERA title). He even threw a shutout earlier this month (one of five all season across MLB). I thought he was done but he has a shot at the All-Star team.
New York Yankees
Hank Aaron- Aaron Judge
The best hitter in baseball so far this year. He is leading the AL in runs, homers, slugging, OPS, OPS+, total bases and intentional walks. Is on pace for 66 home runs which would set the AL record (61 by Roger Maris).
Cy Young- Nestor Cortes
One of the breakout stars in baseball this year and is not just the Yankees Cy Young but an AL Cy Young candidate as he has an ERA of 1.96 with a 5-2 record and 71 strikeouts in 64.1 innings. He could be the All-Star starter as well.
Tampa Bay Rays
Hank Aaron- Randy Arozarena