New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom captured his second consecutive National League Cy Young Award on Wednesday night after earning 29 of 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers' Association of America:
2019 NL Cy Young: Jacob deGrom. Full voting details: https://t.co/x2Hbeatvt6
— BBWAA (@officialBBWAA) November 13, 2019
Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu was the only other NL starter to earn a first-place vote.
The distinction makes deGrom the 20th pitcher in history to win a Cy Young multiple times, and he becomes just the seventh pitcher in NL history to repeat.
The 31-year-old led the National League in strikeouts (255) and bWAR among pitchers (7.3) while ranking second in ERA (2.43), FIP (2.67) and WHIP (0.971).
DeGrom absolutely dominated hitters throughout 2019, and especially after the All-Star break. Opponents combined for a paltry .481 OPS against deGrom in the second half, and he led New York's second-half charge on the strength of a 7-1 record and a 1.44 ERA.
Most of the preseason focus surrounding a potential contract extension may have weighed on deGrom early in the year. After signing a five-year, $137.5 million extension at the end of Spring Training, deGrom posted a 4.85 ERA and an .802 OPS against in April.
Of course, those struggles would turn out to be an aberration.
DeGrom recovered in May, then turned on the afterburners at the start of July. He ranked second in the MLB in fWAR over the course of the last three months while ranking second in ERA and FIP and fourth in SIERA.
The Mets came up a little short in their charge towards October, but deGrom was unequivocally the heartbeat of their resurgence, and he has become the face of the franchise after another Cy Young Award.
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