Elephant Rumblings: Cole Irvin is 2022 Athletics Nation Cy Young Winner

Happy Wednesday, Athletics Nation!

As I write, the Phillies are leading the Astros 7-0 in the bottom of the sixth of game 3. How sweet would it be if this thing never got back to Houston?

Pretty darn sweet, says me.

Okay, on to today’s topic: I asked the AN community to vote on the A’s 2022 Cy Young winner, aka the team’s best pitcher of the year, and Cole Irvin was your near-unanimous pick. Here’s the line that earned the honors:

• Irvin, 2022: 3.98 ERA, 181 IP, 128 K, 36 BB, 25 HR, 4.21 FIP, 4.35 xFIP

Those aren’t the kind of numbers that will win an MLB CYA, but Irvin was a rock on the mound for the A’s through a very tough 60-102 season, and he deserves a lot of credit for putting in the work needed to steadily improve through the ups and downs of his four seasons in the big leagues.

Irvin began his career in the Phillies organization and put up a 6.75 ERA in 45⅓ MLB innings through 2019 and 2020 before coming to Oakland ahead of the 2021 season. He’s carried full workloads through both of his seasons with the A’s, logging 62 starts and 359⅓ innings. I think it’s safe to say at this point that Irvin has been well worth the cash considerations the A’s yielded to net him.

Only one other pitcher earned a nomination for the AN CYA: Frankie Montas. Now in pinstripes, Montas put up much higher quality numbers than Irvin for the A’s this season, including a 3.18 ERA and 25.8% K rate. But quantity matters too, and Montas got traded to the Yankees, so I concur with the hive mind that Irvin was the A’s most valuable pitcher in 2022.

I don’t think this discussion would be complete without considering Paul Blackburn for a moment—I’m a bit surprised that the A’s lone 2022 All-Star didn’t even get nominated for the award. But his Cinderella season was derailed after the Midsummer Classic by a string of terrible starts followed by a season-ending finger injury. Paul sure was great through the first half, though, and I hope he can recapture some of that magic next year.

Athletics Nation congratulates its 2022 Cy Young winner, Cole Irvin! And since WS game three ended while I was writing, congrats to the Phillies on recapturing the World Series lead! I’m going to guess there are zero of you pulling for the Astros. Correct me if I’m wrong!

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