Reds: 3 voters robbed Trevor Bauer of unanimous Cy Young selection

Three writers kept Trevor Bauer from becoming a unanimous Cy Young Award winner.

Trevor Bauer won the NL Cy Young, making him the first player in Cincinnati Reds history to take home the award. Bauer’s former teammate, Shane Bieber, was the unanimous selection for the award in the American League. Bauer fell three votes short of being a unanimous winner. Suspiciously, two of the three writers cover National League Central rivals.

Bauer received 27 of the 30 possible first-place votes with the other three first-place votes going to Chicago Cubs right-hander You Darvish. Darvish had an incredible season, but Bauer bested him in several key categories. Bauer’s 1.73 ERA led the National League with Darvish finishing second, sporting a 2.01 ERA.

Trevor Bauer also pitched two complete game shutouts, albeit of the seven inning variety. Darvish did not throw a complete game, though he finished with three more innings pitched than Bauer. Darvish did, however, have one more start. Bauer allowed 18 fewer hits (41) than Darvish (58) and had eight more strikeouts than his NL Central rival.

Even Bauer’s batting average against (.159) was lower than Darvish’s (.211). Darvish also had a higher WHIP (0.96) than Bauer (0.79). If you’re into more advanced metrics, Trevor Bauer’s 12.33 strikeout per nine innings was second only to Jacob Degrom (13.76) who did not receive a single first-place vote.

Strangely enough, two of the voters who did not give Bauer their first-place vote cover NL Central rival teams. Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago and John Perroto of USA Today (Pittsburgh) gave their first-place votes to Darvish, as did AJ Cassavell who is the MLB.com beat writer for the San Diego Padres.

Bauer’s first game against the Cubs was not his best, going 5.1 innings while giving up two round trippers on August 29th. The 29-year-old redeemed himself, however, during his next game against the Cubbies. Bauer tossed 7.2 innings of shutout baseball while allowing just three hits and struck out 10 Chicago batters.

As for Bauer’s games against the Pirates, his first performance was mired by terrible defense. The right-handed allowed four runs, but only one of them earned while striking out seven in a 4-3 loss. Bauer picked up the pieces in his next start against the Buccos, going 6.1 innings and striking out 12 while allowing just a solo home run.

Trevor Bauer’s stats head-to-head with Shane Bieber are quite impressive. While Bieber edged out the Reds starter for the overall ERA title, Bauer allowed fewer hits, fewer walks, and had a lower WHIP and batting average against. Both Bieber and Bauer were deserving of their respective awards, and both should have been unanimous selections.