Dodgers

Dodgers: Hyun-Jin Ryu Loses Players’ Choice Award to Mets’ Jacob deGrom

The Major League Baseball Players’ Association announced the winners of their 2019 Players’ Choice Awards on Friday and there were recipients for the Dodgers. For the National League’s NL Outstanding Pitcher Award, the New York Mets’ Jacob deGrom took it home for the second straight season. Hyun-Jin Ryu had to have been in the conversation amongst the players in the league, but they certainly got this one right.

In addition to Hyun-Jin Ryu losing out on this award, Cody Bellinger lost to Anthony Rendon in the voting for the National League’s Outstanding Hitter Award. Bellinger deserved to win.

There were a ton of fantastic pitching seasons in the National League this year and it seems like only a hair separates each of their production. The Nationals’ ace duo of Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg got it done all year too, while deGrom and Ryu certainly had excellent efforts.

Jacob deGrom

Jacob deGrom was phenomenal for a second straight season, posting a 2.27 DRA across 204 innings of work. He struck out 255 batters and contributed a phenomenal 7.0 WAR. As a pitcher, that is excellent.

Max Scherzer

Max Scherzer kept up his career pace with another great year as we have come to expect from him. He turned in a 2.48 DRA with 243 strikeouts across 172 1/3 innings of work. He made just 27 starts, accumulating 6.5 WAR. At that WAR pace, had he made the full season’s worth of starts, he would have been somewhere around 8.0 WAR. Phenomenal.

Stephen Strasburg

Stephen Strasburg had the best season of his career in 2019, a huge credit to him staying healthy. He led the league in DRA amongst all qualified starting pitchers with a gaudy 2.13 mark. Across 209 innings of work, Strasburg struck out 251 batters and posted 5.7 WAR.

Hyun-Jin Ryu

Hyun-Jin Ryu kept up his 2018 half-season run in 2019 with another phenomenal year. He managed to throw more than 160 innings for the first time in his career since his rookie year in 2013. Ryu put up a 3.03 DRA — partially because of a lack of strikeouts and a poor month of play — with 163 strikeouts across 182 2/3 innings of work. He mustered 4.8 WAR.

Overall

deGrom was the clear-cut winner here just as he appears to be the clear-cut Cy Young favorite. Despite Ryu’s dazzling ERA and beginning to the 2019 season, this award went in the correct direction.

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