Philadelphia Phillies ace and one of, if no the, best pitchers in baseball has been named a Cy Young Finalist, as announced by the Philadelphia Phillies.
Despite falling short in their 2024 championship run–very, very short–the Philadelphia Phillies had one of the best starting rotations in all of baseball, led by their workhouse, Zack Wheeler. In an era of baseball where we’re lucky to see a pitcher throw 100 pitches or more than 6 or 7 innings, let alone a complete game, Wheels dominates. He’s thrown 829 1/3 innings over the last 5 seasons–the only one in all of baseball to throw more? Fellow Phillies ace Aaron Nola, with 850 innings in the same time frame.
Zack Wheeler’s Workload Rewarded by Being Named 2024 Cy Young Finalist
Zack Wheeler wrapped up the season with a 16-7 record, 200 innings pitched, a sharp 2.57 ERA, 224 strikeouts, and a hefty 6.1 WAR (per Baseball Reference). Wheeler dominated NL pitching, leading in WHIP (0.955), opponents’ batting average (.192), on-base percentage (.253), OPS (.581), wOBA (.256), and put together 26 quality starts—all going six or more innings. He was just 0.1 WAR behind Chris Sale for the NL’s top pitcher, with Sale posting 6.2 WAR on Baseball Reference. Close, but Wheeler’s numbers were downright elite across the board. Wheels faced 85 more batters (787 to 702) and threw 22 1/3 more innings than Sale due to a late-season injury.
He’s a Cy Young, man. I don’t think anybody in baseball is better than him at this point. I don’t think anybody is in the National League, either. The people down in Atlanta probably think the same thing about the guy throwing down there [Sale], but I thought [Wheeler] got robbed of it three years ago. I believe he earned it this year.
– Bryce Harper
As mentioned previously, Atlanta’s Chris Sale was also announced as a finalist with Pittburgh’s Paul Skenes rounding out the three nominees. The Cy Young winners will be announced on MLB Network at 6:00 PM Eastern on November 20th.
Zack Wheeler has been in this scenario before, finishing second to Corbin Burnes for the Cy Young Award in 2021. That year, Wheeler pitched 46 1/3 more innings than Burnes, but only received 12 first-place votes and 141 points–behind Burns’ 12 first-place votes and 151 points; the closest the Cy Young vote has been since the ballot expanded in 2010.
Do you think Zack Wheeler will take home the award this year, or will he fall just short again? Let us know in the comments below or on social media–Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok.
