Corbin Burnes of the Milwaukee Brewers named a Cy Young Award finalist

Corbin Burnes had an amazing season in 2021, and he was a clear candidate for the Cy Young Award for most of the season. With the season wrapped up, award finalists were announced today on MLB Network, and Corbin Burnes is one of the finalists this season. Zack Wheeler of the Phillies and Max Scherzer of the Dodgers are the other two pitchers in the top three.

Adam McCalvy adds Burnes is the first Brewer to finish in the top three of voting since Teddy Higuera in 1986. Burnes in the top three is an obvious choice after the season he had. He leads the NL among qualified starters in fWAR (7.5), ERA (2.43), FIP (1.63), walks allowed (34), home runs allowed (7), and strikeout rate (12.61 K/9), and his total strikeouts (234) rank fifth. The only main knock against Burnes is his innings pitched. He only pitched 167 innings, compared to 213.1 by Wheeler (leads NL), and 179.1 for Scherzer. He also only started 28 games, compared to 32 for Wheeler and 30 for Scherzer.

The winners of this season’s MLB awards will be announced next week on MLB Network, and the Cy Young award winners will be announced on Wednesday, November 17.

Statistics courtesy of FanGraphs.