Ryu wins Warren Spahn Award as top lefty

Ryu wins Warren Spahn Award as top lefty

December 22nd, 2020

TORONTO -- Blue Jays ace added another accolade to his 2020 season on Tuesday, being named the Warren Spahn Award winner as the best left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball.

The award has been given out annually by the Oklahoma Sports Museum since 1999, with past multi-time winners including Randy Johnson, Johan Santana, C.C. Sabathia and Clayton Kershaw. Ryu is the first Blue Jays pitcher to win the award.

Warren Spahn, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, ranks sixth in Major League history with 363 wins, the most ever recorded by a left-handed starter. His 21-year Major League career began with the Boston Braves, who moved to Milwaukee midway through Spahn’s tenure, before he finished his career by spending one season each with the Mets and Giants. Spahn went 363-245 with a 3.09 ERA over 5,243 2/3 innings, leaving him widely considered to be one of the greatest left-handed pitchers to play the game.

Ryu’s first season with the Blue Jays lived up to Spahn’s standards, as he posted a 2.69 ERA over 67 innings in the shortened 2020 season. The 33-year-old was also recognized this offseason by finishing third in voting for the American League Cy Young Award and being named to the All-MLB Second Team.

It’s fitting, though, that Ryu won this award while pitching his home games at Buffalo’s Sahlen Field, where the Blue Jays called home in 2020.

While Spahn eventually made Oklahoma home, he was born in Buffalo and attended South Park High School. A member of the Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame, Spahn is one of the greatest professional athletes to come from the area.

This success is exactly what the Blue Jays envisioned when they signed Ryu to a four-year, $80 million deal last offseason. Perhaps the big splash came a year earlier than many expected, but it signaled that the franchise was pivoting from rebuilding to competing, which they did immediately by reaching their first postseason since 2016.

With three years remaining on his deal and a strong debut in the AL already under his belt, Ryu should be right in the mix a year from now for the 2021 Cy Young Award and Warren Spahn Award conversations.