Play.
The winner of the 2021 American League Cy Young Award was named byRobbie Ray.
The broadcast will announce the winner of the American League Cy Young Award in 2021. 1:45
Sources told Jeff Passan that a five-year, $115 million contract with an opt-out after the third season is being worked on by the SeattleMariners.
A team that surprised many last season by finishing second in the American League West with a 90-72 record is now joined by Ray.
Ray was one of the worst starting pitchers in the majors in 2020 and the best in the American League in 2021, but he won the American League Cy Young award after going 13-7 with a 2.84 ERA for the Toronto Blue Jays. After leading the majors with 45 walks and posting a 6.64 earned run average, Ray re-signed with Toronto on a one-year, $8 million contract.
Ray rejected the team's offer of a draft pick, which will result in compensation for the Blue Jays. Sources told Passan that Toronto agreed to a five-year, $110 million contract on Sunday to replace Ray.
Ray was one of the hardest-throwing left-handed pitchers in the majors and he made his lone All-Star appearance in the season that he was with the D-backs. His career strikeout rate is the highest of all time among pitchers with at least 1000 hours of work, ahead of Chris Sale, Yu Darvish and Jacob deGrom. His command was always a weakness, as he entered the year with an average of 4.1 walks per nine, including the disastrous results in 2020, when he struggled with an attempted mechanical change.
It all came together in 2021. He worked out twice a day in the off-season, and returned to a wind-up he had used in the minor leagues. He finally trusted that his stuff was good enough to live in the strike zone and threw strikes. His strike rate on his four-seamer improved from 42% to 70% in the year 2020, and his fastball velocity improved from 92.4 mph to 94.8 mph. He was 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217
Ray won the Cy Young Award and said it was perseverance. I'm as tough as anyone. I feel like I put too much pressure on myself to be good. The mindset was always about putting the physical stuff with the mindset.
Ray began his career in the Washington Nationals organization and was traded to the Detroit Tigers, where he made his major league debut. He became the fifth member of that team to win a Cy Young Award. Ray now gets his own big money.
One reason to believe Ray can maintain a high level of success is his health. He missed time with an oblique strain and got hit by a line drive, but he's been injury-free since.
Ray received 29 of the 30 first-place votes for the Cy Young and said he was looking to build on this.
The report was contributed to by David Schoenfield.
