ERA+ normalizes a pitcher’s earned-run average across the entire league. It accounts for external factors like ballparks and opponents. A score of 100 is league average. As opposed to earned-run average, in this category, you want a high number.
The lowest ERA+ to win the Cy Young Award are: Jim Lonborg, 112 in 1967, Pete Vuckovich 114 in 1982, Lamar Hoyt (1983) and Whitey Ford (1961) with 115.
WHIP is a ratio of walks plus hits divided by innings pitched. Many Cy winners have posted WHIP under 1. In 1982, Pete Vuckovich of the Milwaukee Brewers won the Cy with a 1.502 WHIP. He pitched out of a lot of trouble and won 18 games for the Brewers on their way to the World Series. It’s hard to believe a 1.5 WHIP could win. The average WHIP of all Cy Young Award winners from 1956 through 2019 was 1.045. The average WHIP for the entire American League in 1983 was 1.329. The next highest for a Cy winner after Vuckovich’s fluke season was Steve Stone at 1.297 for Baltimore in 1980.
LOWEST CAREER VOTE POINTS FOR A PITCHER WHO WON A CY YOUNG AWARD (since 1970)
Tampa Bay Rays left-hander Blake Snell won the Cy Young Award in 2018. He is a talented your pitcher who seems likely to receive Cy votes again in the future. But it wouldn’t be unprecedented for a talented pitcher to win the award but not make another appearance in Cy Young Award voting.
The following pitchers have the lowest career Cy voting points among pitchers who won the award, because they received votes in just the one year.
- John Denny, 1983 Phillies, 103 vote points
- Mark Davis, 1989 Padres, 107
- Barry Zito, 2002 A’s, 114
- Lamar Hoyt, 1983 White Sox, 116
- Jake Peavy, 2007 Padres, 160
- Blake Snell, 2018 Rays, 169
- Dallas Keuchel, 2015 Astros, 186