Mason Miller, the San Diego Padres' closer, is being discussed as a potential candidate for the NL Cy Young award, despite the complexities of his role compared to starting pitchers. His performance has made him one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball.
Can Mason Miller win the Cy Young? Padres' closer vying for rare MLB history originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Mason Miller is the most unhittable pitcher in baseball.
If someone said that to you and you didn't know more about the San Diego Padres' right-hander, you'd assume he's a favorite to win the NL Cy Young, right?
Well, it's a bit more complicated than that.
Miller is a closer, not a starting pitcher.
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Yes, Miller is eligible for the Cy Young. All pitchers are.
It's just incredibly rare for a relief pitcher to win it. The last one to do so was Eric Gagne in 2003.
The voters will generally value the much higher quantity of innings thrown by the top starters over the top relievers.
Miller, though, is on such an absurd level that it's not impossible.
"Miller is closing games for the Padres in such dominant fashion that itās invoking memories of Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera, two of the best closers of all-time," wrote The Athletic's Jim Bowden in a new article on Monday. "In seven outings this season, Miller has faced 24 batters and has struck out 19 of them (23.3 K/9). Heās allowed only one hit and one walk in 7 1/3 innings, has converted all of his save attempts and has a seemingly impossible negative FIP (-1.65). If he keeps this up, heāll be in the conversation with Paul Skenes, Cristopher SĆ”nchez, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani and Chris Sale for the NL Cy Young Award."
Miller likely has to maintain almost this level of dominance the whole way, though.
If he's just a superstar and not historically great, it may not be enough from his closer role to win the Cy Young.
Mason Miller's exceptional performance as a closer has positioned him as a strong candidate for the NL Cy Young award, despite the challenges faced by relief pitchers in winning this honor.
Being a closer typically limits a pitcher's opportunities to accumulate the innings and wins often favored by Cy Young voters, making Miller's candidacy more complex.
Closers winning the Cy Young award is rare, highlighting the unique challenges they face compared to starting pitchers, which makes Miller's potential candidacy noteworthy.
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