Josh Hader finishes seventh in NL Cy Young vote

This year’s Cy Young vote went as expected, with Jacob deGrom winning in a landslide, and Max Scherzer right behind him. However, one Brewer did get some recognition from the voters: Josh Hader.

In the NL Cy Young vote revealed today, Josh Hader came in seventh among the voters. He was only named on three ballots, with one writer (Mark Sheldon of Cincinnati) giving him a fourth place vote and two writers (Andrew Wagner of Milwaukee, John Perrotto of Pittsburgh) giving him a fifth place vote. Only 9 pitchers received votes for this year’s award, with the top three (Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Aaron Nola) named on all 30 ballots.

Hader built on his exceptional rookie season with an even better second season, posting a 2.45 ERA and 2.23 FIP in 55 appearances over 81.1 IP. He led relievers with 143 strikeouts and posted a 15.8 K/9 across the season. This also led to Hader’s first All-Star appearance this season.

Whenever Hader was in the game, the Brewers would typically win, as the Brewers were 48-7 in the regular season and 5-2 in the postseason when Hader made an appearance. Part of this was because Craig Counsell almost exclusively used Hader when the Brewers were ahead, but it was generally a safe bet they would stay ahead when he entered the game.

One more award remains to finish up this season: the MVP award. Christian Yelich is expected to win, but it’s not official yet. The award will be revealed tomorrow at 5:00 pm Central.

Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.