Miami Marlins Cy Young Winner

If you had polled the writers at Marlin Maniac at the beginning of the year, the Marlins Cy Young award would have looked vastly different. Undoubtedly, Jose Fernandez would have been the unanimous selection, and rightfully so. Nathan Eovaldi likely would have come in second, with Henderson Alvarez coming in a close third. After an unfortunate midseason injury to Fernandez and a season filled with struggles by Eovaldi, the door was wide open for Alvarez to walk through.

Make no mistake though, Alvarez didn’t win this award by default. He made the all-star team, albeit due to injuries, but pitched well enough to garner a spot nonetheless. His stats were sparkling particularly the traditional big one. He posted a record of 12-7 to go along with a 2.65 ERA in 187 innings pitched. He posted a 5.34 K/9IP and cut down on his walks to 1.59 per 9 innings. He had 20 games this year allowing 2 runs or less, effectively keeping the Marlins in games longer than they may have deserved to be.

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Alvarez deserved this award, but Marlins fan should exercise caution in expecting a repeat performance next year. Some of Alvarez’s peripherals suggest that next year may not be so kind to Hendy. He posted a FIP almost a full run higher than his ERA at 3.58 and his strand rate was a career high 79.3% of runners.

Despite this caution for next year, we are going to celebrate a spectacular season by Henderson. Without his sparkling season, the Marlins certainly wouldn’t have experienced the success that they did this season. Alvarez became a leader, and cemented his status in the middle of the Marlins rotation for next year, and hopefully years to come.