The Tampa Bay Rays have flown under the radar all season, so it’s only fitting their top starter seems like something of a dark horse to win the American League Cy Young award.
Blake Snell has been nothing short of impressive in 2018, posting a 19-5 record with a 2.03 ERA. Over his final few starts of the season, the 25-year-old conceivably could end up with over 20 wins and a sub-two ERA.
But he’s not a clear-cut favorite to win the annual pitching honor, even though he’s a big reason his team is in third place in the American League East and would be in the playoff race if they were in a different division.
However, Snell’s sheer dominance is not lost on other players across the league.
Boston Red Sox pitcher David Price, who won the AL Cy Young in 2012 while with the Rays, had plenty of high praise for Snell in an interview with The Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin.
“His body of work this year has spoke for itself,” Price said. “If he doesn’t get one this year, he will definitely get one in the foreseeable future, and possibly a couple of them. This could be an award that’s named after him after a couple years. Hopefully he can continue on with the way that he’s throwing the ball and having good health. He’s going to do some really special things in this game.”
There are a ton of candidates for Cy Young this year in the AL, and Snell deservingly is right in the thick of the conversation. But just like Price said, it doesn’t seem like this season will be his only opportunity to take home some hardware over his career.
