Today I'm finishing up my regular season big league baseball posts for the annual Baseball Bloggers Alliance awards.
The BBA is a membership of over 200 dedicated baseball bloggers, and I'm honored to be a member of the general baseball category.
Because I write a generic/ general baseball blog I am able to vote for award winners in both the American League and the National League.
My votes are counted in with all the other voters in my category, and the votes are totaled up for the final votes.
Before I reveal my winners in the Walter Johnson Award for the top pitchers in each league, I must be honest to you, my readers, on how I decied the top five pitchers and winners.
For the entire baseball season of 2014 I had no cable or satellite TV service.
My baseball TV viewing was relegated to the few FOX games of the week and the annual All-Star Game.
I was also able to watch some ball games on MLB.TV, the FREE Game of the Day, and then several Detroit Tigers games the last two weeks of the season.
I followed baseball mostly through MLB.TV, my Twitter page... @freehan11, on my Facebook page, and on Instagram.
I must also remind you, as I try and do every year, that I will never vote for any player who has used steroids, HGH, etc.
So, for instance, I refuse to acknowledge any stats by know steroids users.
I mostly vote for players using basic, traditional baseball stats... HR, RBI, batting average for hitters, Wins/Loses and ERA for pitchers.
There are two exceptions... OPS for hitters, and WHIP for pitchers.
Yes, I understand I'm considered a baseball stats dinosaur, but thats OK, I actually appreciate that I still love baseball and its traditional statistics.
OPS and WHIP are SABR stats that I understand and recognize as valuable stats.
There are no right or wrong choices for fans, its just our opinions.
I hope to at the very least to be able to have good baseball conversations with all baseball fans, and will never argue that their choices are wrong...their choices are to be respected , and I hope they feel the same.
OK, with all that said, here are my choices for the Walter Johnson Award...
In the American League...
1. Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians, 18-9, 2.44 era, 269 K's, 1.09 WHIP
2. Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners, 15-6, 2.14 era, 248 K's 0.92 WHIP
3. Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers, 18-5, 3.15 era, 252 K's, 1.18 WHIP
4. Jered Weaver, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 169 K's, 18-8, 3.59 era, 1.21 WHIP
5. Matt Shoemaker, LAA, 16-4, 3.04 era, 124 K's
In the National League...
1. Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers, 21-3, 1.77 era, 239 K's, 0.86 WHIP
2. Johhny Cueto, Cincinnati Reds, 20-9, 2.25 era, 242 K's, 0.96 WHIP
3. Doug Fister, Washington Nationals, 16-6, 2.41 era, 98 K's, 1.08 WHIP
4. Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals, 20-9, 2.38 era, 179 K's, 1.03 WHIP
5. Zack Greinke, L A Dodgers, 17-8, 2.71 era, 207 K's, 1.15 WHIP
I did as much research as possible, combining over stats for as many pitchers as possible.
My goal is to do as honorable job at voting with the information I've collected.
Many fans will say that Felix Hernandez should be the clear cut winner in the A.L., or wonder why Chris Sake or Phil Hughes arent on my list.
Some of my fellow Detroit Tigers fans will wonder why I didn't vite Max Scherzer, the defending A. L. CY Young Award winber, #1 on my list, and will argue David Price should be in my top five list.
I'm pretty sure no one will complain about the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw as my #1 choice, and I believe the Reds Johnny Cueto deserves his #2 place on my list.
Again, I did my best, and wish all my fellow bloggers good luck in their voting this year.
My next post will be for the annual BBA Stan Musial Award for leagues MVPs.
Play Ball!
