Where Ex-Red Sox Nathan Eovaldi Ranked In Early Cy Young Poll

Nathan Eovaldi has been lights out so far for the Texas Rangers, and he’s already beginning to receive some well-deserved credit.

Eovaldi, who spent the last four seasons with the Boston Red Sox, has compiled an impressive debut campaign with the Rangers, going 8-2 with a 2.24 ERA through 12 starts made. The right-hander has also thrown two complete-game shutouts along with two outings of eight-plus innings tossed. That red-hot start has placed Eovaldi in the premature, but still interesting, conversation of Cy Young candidates, according to a poll from MLB.com, ranking the right-hander second among American League pitchers.

“Eovaldi has been a Jacob deGrom-like ace in deGrom’s absence, with a 2.24 ERA over an MLB-high 80 1/3 innings pitched,” MLB.com’s David Alder wrote. “He’s on a lights-out run, with a 0.68 ERA over his last seven starts, including five scoreless outings. That vaults Eovaldi all the way up to No. 2 in the Cy Young poll after he was unranked in the first edition.”

Here are the full results of the poll:

American League
— Shane McClanahan (No. 1)
— Nathan Eovaldi (No. 2)
— Gerrit Cole (No. 3)
— Framber Valdez (No. 4)
— Sonny Gray (No. 8)

National League
— Zac Gallen (No. 1)
— Spencer Strider (No. 2)
— Marcus Stroman (No. 3)
— Mitch Keller (No. 4)
— Logan Webb (No. 5)

This surge in dominance comes especially handy for the Rangers in the wake of the news surrounding Jacob deGrom, who is set to undergo Tommy John surgery, which the organization announced on Tuesday. Standing atop the AL West, Eovaldi will inherit the unofficial duties of leading Texas’ pitching staff down the line in order to keep their shift afloat.

Eovaldi and the Rangers agreed to a two-year, $34 million contract this past offseason.