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Phillies starter Aaron Nola named finalist for NL Cy Young award

By John Town

PHILADELPHIA, PA - JUNE 28: Aaron Nola #27 of the Philadelphia Phillies tips his hat to the crowd after being taken out of the game in the top of the eighth inning against the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park on June 28, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Phillies defeated the Nationals 4-3. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - JUNE 28: Aaron Nola #27 of the Philadelphia Phillies tips his hat to the crowd after being taken out of the game in the top of the eighth inning against the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park on June 28, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Phillies defeated the Nationals 4-3. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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After a fantastic season for the Phillies, starting pitcher Aaron Nola was named a finalist for the National League Cy Young award.

The Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced the finalists for MLB’s major awards Monday evening. Phillies starter Aaron Nola was named a finalist for the National League Cy Young award along with Max Scherzer of the Nationals and Jacob deGrom of the Mets. The winner of the award will be announced Nov. 14.

Nola is the first homegrown Phillie to be named a finalist for the award, as noted by Matt Breen of Philly.com. Cole Hamels received Cy Young votes four times but never finished higher than fifth in the voting.

In 33 starts, Nola had a 2.37 ERA, 175 ERA+, 3.01 fielding-independent pitching, 0.975 WHIP, 3.86 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and a 17-6 record. He finished with 10.5 pitching wins above replacement per Baseball Reference and 5.6 Fangraphs wins above replacement. Nola was an All-Star for the first time in his short career.

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Nola had the highest pitching wins above replacement total in the National League. He was second in ERA and starts, third in WHIP and innings pitched, fourth in fielding-independent pitching, fifth in strikeouts and home runs per nine innings, and eight in strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Among all single-seasons in franchise history, Nola is tied for seventh-most pitching wins above replacement and the most since Steve Carlton in 1972. His ERA+ is fourth-best and WHIP is seventh-best.

While Nola’s season was strong, he is facing some fierce competition for the award.

deGrom led the league in ERA (1.70), fielding-independent pitching (1.98), and home runs per nine innings (0.415). He was also top three in pitching WAR (9.6), WHIP (0.912), strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.848), and strikeouts (269). He is the favorite for the award.

Two-time reigning Cy Young winner Scherzer is also in the mix. He led the league in wins (18), innings (220.2), strikeouts (300), WHIP (0.911), strikeouts per nine innings (12.2), and strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.88). Don’t count him out for the award even with deGrom’s strong season.

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For as great as Nola’s season was, he just may not be able to stack up with deGrom or Scherzer. Nola may finish third in the voting, but don’t let that discount just how good of a season he had. If he keeps pitching like this, he will get his own award one year.

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