The San Diego Padres could have a surprising Cy Young candidate if Mason Miller can sustain his amazing ways.
In a normal season, a closer like Mason Miller wouldn’t get anywhere near the Cy Young Award, as the Reliever of the Year Award was created to honor the best closer in the game in each league.
But the San Diego Padres star reliever isn’t having a normal year—not even close. He’s mowing down hitters at a record rate, and Dennis Lin of The Athletic raised a possibility that’s at least in the back of anyone’s mind who’s watched Miller lately:
Could he win the Cy Young Award?
It’s not impossible, but it will be ridiculously hard. The last pitcher to do it was Eric Gagne of the Los Angeles Dodgers back in 2003, as Gagne converted all 55 of his save opportunities.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts commented on all this recently in LA, and he noted that no reliever has separted himself enough to pull this off.
“I just don’t think a reliever has been as dominant to separate himself from the field,” Roberts said. “To be honest, that’s what the Trevor Hoffman award, the Mariano (Rivera) award is for is for. The Cy Young is, I think in general, for the best pitcher.
“The relievers have their award. If you’re going to do it, you’ve got to really separate yourself. And I don’t think anyone’s done it.”
But Miller is doing something very different right now, and Roberts acknowledged that when he was asked about the Padres closer.
“See, now, he’s on his Gagne,” Roberts said. “If he keeps it up, that’s a different conversation.”
The numbers so far are astounding, and they’re worth mentioning yet again. Miller hasn’t allowed a run since early last August, and his scoreless streak of 28-2/3 innings is the longest active streak in MLB. He’s struck out 17 of the last 18 hitters he’s faced, and those hitters face a devastating combination of a four-seam fastball that’s coming in hot at over 100 mph, plus a wipeout slider that sits in the high 80s.
“I don’t think any of us have seen anything like it,” said Padre reliever David Morgan.
Miller sees it a little differently, though. He compares his role to that of a placekicker in football, and he knows he’s a specialist who enters the game with everything on the line.
“A team spends eight innings or three-and-a-half quarters, guys playing every down, guys on the field the whole time,” Miller said before Friday’s game. “It’s like, yeah, they affected the game the whole time, but ultimately, at the end of the game, it’s in the hands of said player.
“As you get closer to that final out, it just feels like each out carries more weight. I don’t think that’s something that’s reflected in the stat sheet if you’re not in those moments or playing in the games. I don’t think that as a fan you can fully grasp that.”
Pitching coach Ruben Niebla gets it, however. When asked how he coaches Miller, Niebla offered the best response of all.
“I stay out of his way,” Niebla said. “There’s a certain part of coaching — good coaches, they just know when to stay the [expletive] away.”
Miller also takes the long view on all this, which is smart given the length of the season.
“We know how long the season is, and baseball has a funny way of evening out over the course of a season,” Miller added. “Inevitably, everybody has a scuffle that looks different, you know?
“(Winning a Cy Young) is not something that’s on my mind like a goal or anything like that. If it happens, great. But I think focusing on attainable, short-term goals is the best way to approach a season.”