Padres’ Blake Snell and Yankees’ Gerrit Cole win Cy Young Awards

San Diego Padres outfielder Blake Snell won his second Cy Young Award on Wednesday, this time in the National League, while New York Yankees outfielder Gerrit Cole earned his first unanimous award after two runner-up finishes and a top-five finish. Three more times.

Snell became the seventh player – and the second left-handed player – to win the award in each league, joining Gaylord Perry, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay and Max Scherzer. He previously won the AL Cy Young Award while a member of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2018.

Snell was 14-9 with an MLB-leading 2.25 ERA and 180 innings pitched in 2023. He also gave up the fewest hits (5.8) per nine innings while leading the majors in walks (99).

He is the third shooter to win the award while leading the league in free passes. Bob Turley and Early Wynn did it in 1958 and 1959 respectively.

Snell also ranked first in opponent slugging percentage (.286) and second in hitting percentage (31.5).

Snell threw the fewest innings (5.6) per start of any Cy Young winner, breaking his own mark when he averaged 5.8 innings in 2018.

He is the 22nd pitcher to win the award multiple times.

Snell, who turns 31 next month, became a free agent after the World Series and declined a $20,325,000 qualifying offer from the Padres on Tuesday to pursue a more lucrative contract.

The four previous San Diego pitchers to win the Cy Young Award are Randy Jones (1976), Perry (1978), reliever Mark Davis (1989) and Jake Peavy (2007).

Snell received 28 of the 30 first-place votes in balloting conducted by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. San Francisco Giants right-hander Logan Webb was second, and Zach Gallen of the National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks was third. Webb and Gallen each received one first-place vote.

Atlanta Braves right-hander Spencer Strider finished fourth in the voting. Chicago Cubs left-hander Justin Steele was fifth.

Cole, 33, was 15-4 with a league-leading 2.63 ERA and 209 innings pitched. He also led the league in fewest hits allowed (6.8) per nine innings pitched, as well as WHIP (0.981). He is the second overall pick to receive the award, joining David Price in 2012.

Cole finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting in 2015 while in Pittsburgh, then had a string of top-five finishes from 2018-21. The six-time All-Star was runner-up to the AL Cy Young team in 2019 when he was a member of with the Houston Astros and in 2021 with the Yankees.

Cole received all 30 first place votes. Minnesota Twins right-hander Sonny Gray was second with 20 runner-up votes, while Kevin Gausman of the Toronto Blue Jays was third. Baltimore Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish was fourth, followed by Seattle Mariners veteran Luis Castillo.

Cole became the sixth Yankees player to win the Cy Young and the first since Roger Clemens in 2001.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.