Brewers: Why Corbin Burnes Deserves The 2021 NL Cy Young

As the Brewers close in on the franchise record in regular season wins, I would be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to reflect on the fact that the Brewers likely wouldn’t be in this position without their star studded rotation.

Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, and Freddy Peralta are as good as any 1-3 in all of baseball right now. Yet somehow Corbin Burnes has found a way to separate himself from the pack and establish himself as the team’s true ace.

Corbin Burnes has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top, one considered unlikely by some. As it stands, the argument could be made that he is now the most dominate pitcher in all of baseball.

It’s hard to believe all this considering in 2019 Corbin Burnes had an 8.82 ERA in 32 appearances and was booted from the starting rotation altogether, leaving some questioning his long-term role with the club.

He was able to follow that up with a sterling 2.11 ERA in a Covid shortened 2020 season that left room for optimism. Thankfully for Brewer fans Burnes would build on that 2020 season and elevate his play once again, vaulting into the upper echelon of starting pitchers – dare I say Cy Young caliber?

Lets unpack the numbers and see how Brewers ace Corbin Burnes stacks up against the NL’s top arms in the Cy Young race.

Corbin Burnes by the numbers

• 1st in fWAR among pitchers (7.1)
• 2nd in ERA (2.25)
• 1st in FIP (1.50)
• 1st in xERA (1.89)
• 1st in xFIP (2.30)
• 1st in SIERA (2.59)
• 1st in K/BB (7.24)
• 1st in HR/9 (0.30)
• 1st in barrel rate (2.6)
• 1st in K% (35.4)

If that’s not enough to convince you, here’s more to chew on.

The additional resume

• As it stands Corbin Burnes trails only Pedro Martinez (1999) for the major league FIP record.
• 2.25 ERA – 210 K’s in 152 innings – 0.91 WHIP.
• Set the MLB record with 58 K’s before issuing his first walk on the season
• Became just the third pitcher in major league history to strike out 10 consecutive batters in a game.
• Threw 8 no hit innings that went on to be a combined no hitter W/ Josh Hader.
• 12.43 strikeouts per 9 innings (11th in MLB history – single season).
• (.198) opponent batting average.
• 6.51 hits per 9 innings (189th in MLB history).
• Only the 6th pitcher in franchise history with 200 strikeouts.

Despite not having as many innings pitched as some of the other names on the list of candidates, or playing for a big market team (this shouldn’t be a problem but often is) – Corbin Burnes has been nothing short of magnificent this season. What Corbin Burnes is doing isn’t just great, it’s historically great.

He’s the best pitcher in baseball right now, give him the Cy Young. He deserves it, and so does the city of Milwaukee.