National League Cy Young: Zack Greinke

The staff here at TBOH bringing you Philadelphia Phillies coverage year-round was polled for their choices on the biggest awards in Major League Baseball for the 2015 season and. by the closest margin of all our voting this year, our selection as the National League Cy Young Award winner was free agent starting pitcher Zack Greinke.

In the TBOH staff voting, Greinke received votes from three of our six staff writers. Two votes went to his Los Angeles teammate, Clayton Kershaw. Finally, another vote went to Chicago Cubs righty Jake Arrieta.

Greinke has pitched for the last 3+ seasons with the Dodgers, and this season put up a sensational 19-3 record. His 1.66 ERA, 0.844 WHIP, and 225 ERA+ marks all led the National League.

Over 32 starts with Los Angeles, Greinke allowed just 148 hits in 222.2 innings, with a 200/40 K:BB ratio, and he also registered a 2.76 FIP mark. The righty turned 32 years of age just last month, after helping lead the Dodgers to the NL West crown for a 3rd straight season. He made two starts in LA’s narrow 3-2 loss to the New York Mets in the NLDS.

In Game Two he dominated, earning the win as the Dodgers tied the series. In that outing, Greinke went 7 strong innings, striking out 8 and allowing 2 earned runs on 5 hits. In the decisive Game 5, which the Mets would win 3-2 to take the series, Greinke lasted 6.2 innings, allowing 3 earned on 6 hits, striking out 9 and walking just one.

An Orlando, Florida native, Greinke was the 6th overall pick in the 1st round of the 2002 MLB Amateur Draft by the Kansas City Royals out of his Florida high school. By the following season he was one of the top pitching prospects in the entire game after a 15-4 record with a 1.93 ERA across the High-A and AA levels while still a teenager.

On May 22nd, 2004, Greinke made his big league debut with Kansas City in a 5-4 loss at Oakland. He allowed two earned runs on five hits across five innings in that one. Three starts later, on June 8th, 2004, Greinke picked up his first Major League win with a dominating seven innings at home against the Montreal Expos in which he shut out the old Canadian franchise on three hits over seven innings.

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Greinke went 60-67 across parts of seven seasons in Kansas City before being traded to the Milwaukee Brewers on December 19th, 2010 in a huge seven-player deal that included outfielder Lorenzo Cain going to the Royals.

In Milwaukee, Greinke began to become the dominating pitcher that most foresaw years earlier. He went 25-9 in most of two seasons with the Brew Crew, and saw his first postseason action with the team. However, Greinke was knocked around in his three playoff starts, allowing 23 hits in 16.2 innings, and getting shelled in the pivotal Game Five 7-1  loss to the Saint Louis Cardinals in the NLCS.

At the trade deadline in 2012, Greinke was swapped to the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for three prospects, including infielder Jean Segura. Following that season, he became a free agent for the first time, and signed his contract with the Dodgers. That contract called for him to make $147 million over six years, but included an opt-out for this season, which Greinke chose, allowing him to take another bite at the free agent apple.

For his career, Greinke has faced the Phillies eight times, with seven of those as starting assignments. He has an outstanding 6-1 record with a 2.68 ERA across 50.1 innings in which he has yielded just 36 hits. He has a dominating 51/9 K:BB ratio, helping him to a 0.894 WHIP mark against the Phils.

Greinke earned two victories over the Phillies this season, but the Dodgers’ pitcher and the Phils’ hitters earned a split. In the first matchup at Dodger Stadium on July 9th, Greinke was electric. He shut the Phillies out on just one hit across eight innings, with only a Ryan Howard opposite field single in the top of the 2nd standing between him and possible perfection.

On August 6th at Citizens Bank Park, in the midst of their best stretch of baseball all season, the Phillies bats got to Greinke for five earned runs over six innings. But the Dodgers’ bats bailed their pitcher out, winning a 10-8 slugfest.

Greinke was the 2009 American League Cy Young Award winner while with the Royals, and finished in the top 10 of the voting in both 2013 and 2014 with the Dodgers. He is also a 3x All-Star, won a 2013 Silver Slugger, and has won two straight NL Gold Gloves.

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