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Milwaukee Brewers MVP, Best Newcomer, and other season awards

By Kenny Jilek

CLEVELAND, OHIO - SEPTEMBER 04: Daniel Vogelbach #21 hits a foul ball to left. during the first inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on September 04, 2020 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OHIO - SEPTEMBER 04: Daniel Vogelbach #21 hits a foul ball to left. during the first inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field on September 04, 2020 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /
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MEDAL RESULT | Most Valuable Pitcher

Devin Williams

Corbin Burnes

Brandon Woodruff

The top two in the best pitcher category are virtually interchangeable. Williams was the most effective reliever in the entire MLB this season and Corbin Burnes put himself into Cy Young contention with a string of fantastic starts down the stretch. The third spot was also a battle, but it went to Woodruff because Eric Yardley will be getting a medal for another category.

Devin Williams has THE BEST PITCH in Major League Baseball right now. Opponents hit just .032 against his changeup this season and whiffed 61.1 percent of the time they swung at it. The changeup has gotten so much better from last year because he added an extra 200 rotations per minute of spin over the offseason. That combined with his fastball, which averaged 96.4 miles per hour, combined to make him the best reliever in the league. He had a ridiculous ERA of 0.33. His ERA+, a stat like OPS+ that standardizes league average at 100, looks like a typo at 1375. He also had a very impressive strikeout to walk ratio of 5.89:1.

While Williams made himself into one of the league’s best by adding spin, Burnes had the ability to spin it all along and just adjusted how he did it. He added a cutter that is one of the best in the league and a sinker that gets hit out of the ballpark far less than his problematic four-seam fastball did last season. He also still has his slider which is almost as nasty as Williams’ changeup with a whiff rate of 60.3 percent.

Until his final start, when he got hurt, he was in Cy Young contention and led the league in a plethora of big categories including ERA at one point. Unfortunately, he missed qualifying for league leaders by a third of an inning, literally one out. However, he still had a season to remember and his 13.3 strikeouts per nine innings would have been fifth all-time in a season had he got one more out to qualify. Maybe next year he can make a little history.

Finally, the Milwaukee Brewers’ Opening Day starter who has seemed to break the curse, Brandon Woodruff. Did you know there had been two Woodruffs to play in the MLB before Brandon? Sam Woodruff was a utility infielder and played in 1904 and 1910 and Pete Woodruff played one season for the New York Giants in 1899. This has been fun with last names.

Now that that’s over, we can continue with 21st century Woodruff. He had an ERA of 3.05 and led the league in games started with 13. He also posted career-bests in hits and strikeouts per nine innings in addition to WHIP and strikeout to walk ratio. By many accounts, this was Woodruff’s best season in the majors to date and he’s entering the prime of his career at 27-years-old. He’s broken the Opening Day Starter curse and he’ll hopefully build on that next season.

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