Bauer Makes History, Wins 2020 NL Cy Young Award

Former UCLA standout and current Reds right-hander Trevor Bauer was named the winner of the 2020 NL Cy Young Award on Wednesday afternoon by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA).

Bauer becomes the first Bruin ever to win a Cy Young, the first pitcher in the 140-year history of the Cincinnati Reds franchise to win a Cy Young, and the third player ever to win both a Cy Young and college baseball's Golden Spikes Award (David Price, Tim Lincecum).

"I and UCLA Baseball would like to congratulate Trevor and his family on winning this prestigious award." said UCLA head coach John Savage, who coached Bauer for the entirety of his Bruin career. "Trevor is a perfectionist and a true student of the game. His ability to gather data and put it into his development is unparalleled. His drive to be the best is a great lesson for young pitchers. He is a unique player as he is a throwback type pitcher that has gathered the modern data to get him to this point."

Bauer was the National League's most dominant pitcher in a truncated 2020 campaign, leading the Senior Circuit with a 1.73 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, 5.06 hits per nine innings, two complete games, and two shutouts. Bauer posted a 5-4 record and struck out 100 batters over 73 innings in his first full season in Cincinnati.

While his regular season earned him hardware, arguably his best start of the year came in his lone playoff outing, as he struck out a dozen batters while surrendering just two hits over 7 2/3 scoreless innings in a Wild Card series matchup against the Atlanta Braves on Sept. 30.

The Cy Young Award is voted on by baseball writers from around the nation, but Bauer was also voted the NL's Outstanding Pitcher earlier this offseason in the MLBPA's Player Choice Awards.

Bauer was a three-year star at UCLA from 2009-11, posting a 34-8 career record with a 2.36 ERA and 460 strikeouts in 373 1/3 innings. He became the first Bruin ever to earn the Golden Spikes Award after a dominant junior campaign that included a 13-2 record, 1.25 ERA, and a UCLA-record 203 strikeouts.

The other finalists for the Cy Young were Chicago's Yu Darvish and New York's Jacob DeGrom.

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