Milwaukee Brewers ace Corbin Burnes cap off an impressive breakout season in 2021 by taking home the NL Cy Young Award on Wednesday, finishing ahead of the finalists Philadelphia Phillies Vase Zack Wheeler and Los Angeles Dodgers Vase Max Scherzer.
Burnes narrowly beat Wheeler to win the prize, gaining 151 points to Wheeler 141. Both received 12 first-place votes from members of the Baseball Writers Guild of America, but Burnes was only 14 behind Wheeler. second. Scherzer, who finished third, won another six votes in first place.
Burnes’ 10-point win margin is the closest win in the NL and a fourth overall draw since the ballot expanded from three to five pitchers in 2010, according to the BBWAA.
Burnes, 27, ends 2021 with a low MLB of 2.43 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 234 strikes in 167 plays across 28 games. He set a major league record by starting the season with 58 appearances without a walk and in August set the record by scoring 10 consecutive goals in a single game against Chicago Cubs.
Burnes leads the experts in strike counts per nine innings (12.6), third in walks in nine innings (1.83) and first in home runs allowed in nine innings ( 0.38). According to research by the Elias Sports Bureau, he is the first pitcher in modern MLB history (since 1900) to finish in the top three in each category. The last person to even finish in the top 5 in each tournament was Pedro Martinez in 1999.
Burnes became the first Brewers pitcher to win a Cy Young Award in the NL. Cy Young’s other winners for the Brewers, 1981’s Rollie Ringers and 1982’s Pete Vuckovich, did the same in the AL. The Brewers moved to NL in 1998.
Milwaukee wore Burnes in the 4th round of the 2016 MLB Draft after he attended college at Saint Mary’s College of California. Burnes made his major league debut in 2018, when he featured in 30 games as a pain reliever, posting an ERA of 2.61 and a WHIP of 1.00. He struggled throughout 2019, posting an ERA of 8.82 with 1.84 WHIP in 32 games during a four-game start. He’s had a strong season in 2020, making 12 appearances and starting nine with a 2.11 ERA and 1.02 WHIP in 59⅔ plays.
“Everybody has their story,” Burnes said upon winning, adding, “You always have to grow.”
This is Burnes’ first Cy Young award. In a post-season game, Burnes played six innings, allowing two hits while hitting six beaters and going three against. Atlanta Braves.
