Former La Crosse Loggers pitcher Max Scherzer won his second Cy Young Award on Wednesday night when the Baseball Writers Association of America voted him in as the National League winner for 2016.
In winning the 2016 top pitcher award, Scherzer became only the sixth pitcher in the history of Major League Baseball to win a Cy Young Award in both the American League and National League. Scherzer claimed the American League award in 2013 when he won 21 games for the Detroit Tigers.
The hard-throwing right-hander also became the first Washington National to win the award only two years after becoming the first $200 million dollar man in Nationals history. During those past two seasons, Scherzer has recorded two no-hitters, a 20-strikeout performance and now a Cy Young Award.
After being selected to the NL All-Star team in mid-July, Scherzer elevated his game in the second half eventually going on to lead the National League in wins (20), innings pitched (228 1/3), strikeouts (284), WHIP (0.97) and strikeouts-to-walks ratio (5.07). He finished second in batting average against (. 196), seventh in ERA (2.96), and induced a higher percentage of swinging strikes than anyone in baseball (15.3 percent, according to FanGraphs).
Scherzer, a St. Louis, Mo. native, was a member of the 2004 La Crosse Loggers squad that became the first Loggers team to qualify for a NWL post-season berth. The big right-hander went 2-1 with a 1.91 ERA and six saves for the Lumbermen that summer when he had just finished his freshman season at the University of Missouri. Scherzer also struck out 50 batters over 33 innings.
The La Crosse Loggers are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 160 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (CWS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM), Lucas Duda (NYM) and Ben Zobrist (CHC). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.lacrosseloggers.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Loggers as your favorite team.
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