Hyun-Jin Ryu (Juan Ocampo/Los Angeles Dodgers)

by Rowan Kavner

Dodger left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu finished second in National League Cy Young Award voting behind the Mets’ Jacob deGrom, who won the top pitching award for the second straight season.

Dodger pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler finished eighth and ninth in NL voting, respectively. The Astros’ Justin Verlander won the American League Cy Young Award.

NL Cy Young Award votes

Ryu, who won the MLB ERA title this year, was the only NL pitcher other than deGrom to earn a first-place vote. The Nationals’ Max Scherzer finished third. In a career year for Ryu in 2019, he went 14–5 with a 2.32 ERA. He also had the Majors’ lowest walk rate per nine innings (1.18).

He was named NL Pitcher of the Month in May, when he went 5–0 with a 0.59 ERA, becoming the first Dodger pitcher to earn the honor since Rich Hill in July 2017. His best work came in the first half of the year, when he went 10–2 with a 1.73 ERA and earned the start in his first career All-Star Game.

Ryu was the NL frontrunner in the category for much of the season until a rough patch in August, when he had a 7.48 ERA over four appearances. He rebounded to post a 2.13 ERA in four September starts. Ryu had an ERA below 3.50 in every month other than August.

Ryu’s runner-up finish in Cy Young voting demonstrated how far he’s come since injuries limited him to a combined one start between the 2015 and 2016 seasons. He returned to make 24 starts in 2017, then took a sizable leap in 2018 with a 1.97 ERA, but a groin injury that season limited him to 15 starts.

He nearly doubled that total in 2019, making 29 starts and throwing 182 2/3 innings — his highest marks since his rookie season in 2013— while posting a career-best 6.79 strikeout-to-walk ratio.