Baseball Writers’ Association of America unanimously voted Cleveland Indians’ ace Shane Bieber as this year’s American League Cy Young Award winner. Bieber received all 30 first-place votes for a total of 210 votes.
Bieber had 12 starts in the shortened 2020 MLB season and finished the campaign with an 8-1 record. The 26-year-old player posted 1.63 ERA and 122 strikeouts, leading the MLB in both categories.
Bieber is the first unanimous AL Cy Young winner since 2011 when Justin Verlander managed the same while wearing Detroit Tigers’ jersey.
“Today’s a good day regardless,” said Bieber of the award. “It just makes it that much better that we were able to take this thing home and that it was unanimous.”
Shane Bieber, Indians’ fourth-round pick in 2016, received his MLB debut during the 2018 season. He had a promising campaign, managing an 11-5 record while posting 4.55 ERA and 118 strikeouts.
Bieber showed his true potential last year when he put together an All-Star campaign and finished the year 15-8 with 3.28 ERA and 259 strikeouts. He was also named the MVP of the All-Star game in 2019.
Minnesota Twins’ Kenta Maeda finished second in the AL Cy Young Award voting, receiving 18 second-placed votes and 92 points overall. Toronto Blue Jays’ All-Star Hyun-Jin Ryu rounds up the top three, having received four second-place votes and 51 points.
