Former Vanderbilt ace Walker Buehler finished fourth in National League Cy Young Award voting on Wednesday.
Buehler pitched with the Commodores from 2013-15 and was part of Vanderbilt’s first championship team in 2014. In three years, he had a career ERA of 2.87 in 41 starts and 10 relief appearances.
He was drafted in the first round, 24th overall, by the Dodgers in 2015 and made his MLB debut in 2017 despite undergoing Tommy John surgery shortly after the draft. Buehler has been one of the league’s top pitchers since his debut, finishing third in Rookie of the Year voting in 2018, earning All-Star nods in 2019 and 2021 and winning a World Series ring in 2020.
Buehler led the majors with 33 games started in 2021 and was second in the NL with 207⅔ innings pitched. He had a 2.47 ERA, a career best, and 9.2 strikeouts per nine innings.
In the award voting, Buehler finished behind the Brewers’ Corbin Burnes, the Phillies’ Zack Wheeler and Dodgers teammate Max Scherzer, traded midseason from the Nationals. He received two second-place votes, nine third-place votes, 17 fourth-place votes and a fifth-place vote, appearing on all but one of the 30 writers’ ballots.
It is the highest Cy Young finish of his career.
Buehler is not the only pitcher with Nashville ties to be recognized. The Blue Jays’ Robbie Ray of Brentwood took home the AL Cy Young Award.
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Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.