For the first time in franchise history, the Tampa Bay Rays have proudly claimed one of Major League Baseball’s most prestigious awards. On Wednesday, November 14, starting pitcher David Price was announced as the winner of the 2012 American League Cy Young Award by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Annually recognizing the league’s best hurler, Price becomes the first Rays’ player to claim such hardware and the team ace certainly cements his status as one of baseball’s premier pitchers.
The 27 year-old Tennessee native edged last year’s recipient, Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers, while Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels finished a distant third. In one of the closest votes in award history, Price picked up 14 of 28 first-place votes for a total of 153 points. Meanwhile, Verlander received top billing on 13 ballots, which resulted in him trailing by the slim margin of 4 points.
In fact, the results proved the closest vote in American League history since the 1969 tie between Denny McLain and Mike Cuellar.
Appropriately, this year’s slender difference was largely the result of a single first-place vote that neither leading contender managed to earn. Instead, Tampa Bay Rays’ teammate Fernando Rodney, who sealed many of David Price’s victories in 2012, claimed a solitary first-place vote, despite finishing 5th in the running.
With a 20-5 mark in 31 starts and 211 innings, Price topped the American League with a 2.56 ERA and further tied Weaver for the league lead in victories. He additionally impressed with a stingy 1.10 WHIP and topped 200 strikeouts for the second consecutive campaign.
Though Verlander’s numbers were nearly as stellar, Price likely garnered further acclaim for thriving within a more competitive division. While the AL East housed 3 clubs earning at least 90 wins in 2012, not a single team in the AL Central reached that benchmark.
Price must also be credited for overcoming frequently poor support from the offensively-challenged Rays. That struggle was highlighted by a pair of 1-0 defeats during the month of August, in which the Cy Young Award winner pitched 8 innings both times and yielded only a combined 5 hits.
While Tampa Bay struggled through an underwhelming .240 team average and played without the bat of Evan Longoria for the majority of 2012, the Tigers enjoy one of baseball’s most feared lineups, which featured Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera.
Formerly the Cy Young runner-up in 2010, Price has appeared in 3 consecutive All-Star games. Employing both a 2 seam and 4 seam fastball, the left-hander is regularly clocked above 95 miles per hour and possesses an arsenal of pitches that also includes a cut fastball, change-up, and curve ball.
While all 3 candidates could have worthy choices, Tampa Bay Rays fans certainly endorse the selection of David Price. Enjoying the best season of his 4 year career, the first overall pick of the 2007 draft has not only met his lofty potential, but is capable of anchoring the team’s staff for the next decade.
However, frugal Tampa Bay will have to make an increased financial commitment to their ace in the years to come. Surely this honor will only assist the pitcher’s case in future arbitration hearings. As one of baseball’s best bargains, Price is only now concluding a 6 year, $8.5 million contract he signed exiting Vanderbilt University.
The Rays retain Price’s rights for 3 additional seasons before the Cy Young Award winner can hit the free agent market in 2016.
Sources:
Yahoo! Sports, Baseball-Reference, WashingtonPost.com.
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5 Rivals to Miguel Cabrera as Baseball’s Best Player in 2012
Jeff Briscoe is a regular contributor for the Yahoo! Contributor Network and a follower of the Tampa Bay Rays . He talks Rays’ baseball and more on The Sports Train radio show in Southwest Florida.
