Even until 2019, Toronto, which had difficulty even forming a starting rotation, recruited Ryu Hyun-jin (36), whom he designated as an ace in 2020, and filled the starting lineup one by one. To sum up, I spent a lot of money. As a result, it is now evaluated that it has built the strongest starting rotation in the American League East Division.
Robbie Ray (Seattle) left the team last year, but following the arrival of Alec Manoa, the rotation was strengthened by consecutive acquisitions of Jose Berrios, Kevin Gaussman, Yusei Kikuchi, and Chris Bassitt from the trade and free agent markets. did. In the process, the team’s aces also achieved personal achievements that were comparable to the league as a whole.
In 2020, Ryu Hyun-jin broke the start. Ryu Hyun-jin, who ranked second in the National League Cy Young Award voting in 2019, threw 67 innings in 12 games in 2020, recording 5 wins, 2 losses and an average ERA of 2.69, proving that Toronto’s investment was not wrong. Ryu Hyun-jin finished 3rd in the American League Cy Young Award voting at the time, and vomited his spirit to become a finalist for the Cy Young Award for the second consecutive year.
In 2021, Robbie Ray quenched Toronto’s Cy Young Award thirst. Apart from his outstanding pitch, Ray, who had problems with his control, exploded in potential under Toronto’s systematic coaching. The dramatic drop in the number of walks per nine innings from 6.1 in 2020 to 2.4 in 2021 was crucial. Ray pitched 193⅓ innings in 32 games in 2021, going 13-7 with an earned run average of 2.84, capturing the first video of his career.
In 2022, Manoa put out a challenge. In his second year in the major leagues, he played 196⅔ innings in 31 games, recording an outstanding record of 16 wins and 7 losses with an ERA of 2.24. If he was lucky at the time, he could have won the Cy Young Award, but unfortunately he finished third behind Justin Verlander (Houston, now New York Mets) and Dylan Siege (Chicago White Sox).
Then, who will receive this baton? There are strong candidates. Columnist Ino Sarris of the North American sports media ‘The Athletic’ drew attention on the 26th (Korean time) by arguing that Kevin Gausman (32) would be the strongest Cy Young candidate in the American League.
Gaussman is a right-handed ace who signed a five-year, $110 million (approximately 143 billion won) contract with Toronto ahead of last year. He got off to a good start in his first season, going 12-10 with an earned run average of 3.35 in 31 games. Last year, he finished ninth in the American League Cy Young Award voting. The selection for the opening game went to Manoa, but Gaussman is better in terms of performance in the demonstration game.
Why does Sarris predict Gaussman’s winnings? Sarris carefully analyzed the contents of the pitching in this year’s demonstration game. Gaussman was a notable player in ‘Stuff+’, an effort to objectively count pitchers’ pitches through various indicators. Gaussman’s stuff+ was 110 last year, but 129 came out in this exhibition game. He was the player with the greatest improvement in this metric in the league.
“Gaussman is hitting the most fastballs in seven years, and his slider has changed its trajectory, so he’s pitching well,” Sarris said.토토사이트 And he had an unlucky above-league-average bat in last year’s games. He expects that (major league matchup) rule changes will face less opponents in his division this year, and his team will be able to push back with more runs. ‘Gaussman was already the second American League pitcher in WAR last year,’ he said. did.
Gaussman has one of the best pitches in the league, a top splitter. If he gets better at his fastball and slider, he can make a formidable impact. Less encounters with relatively strong American League East teams are a boon for all pitchers in Toronto. In a situation where WAR is already widely used in the Cy Young Award, it is expected that Toronto will be a ‘winning team’ that will appeal to voters.