2011 Walter Johnson Awards

The Victoria Seals Baseball Blog (VSBB) is a proud member of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance (BBA). Once again this year, the VSBB has the honour of casting the Other Baseball Chapter ballot for a number of the BBA awards given to players and managers in both the National and American Leagues.

On Thursday, we posted our ballots for the Goose Gossage Award, which goes to the top reliever in each league. Today we give you the VSBB ballot for the National League Walter Johnson Award, which is presented to the top pitcher (starter or reliever). The Other Baseball Chapter’s American League ballot for the award was cast by Wally Fish at Seedlings to Stars.

Although the Walter Johnson award can be given to a relief pitcher, no reliever had a season that even came closer to the top five starters in either league.

On our National League ballot, I'm giving the nod to 23-year-old Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kershaw posted a spectacular 21-5 record with a 2.28 ERA and a nifty 0.977 WHIP. He also struck out 9.6 hitters per nine innings while only walking 2.1 per nine.

A pair of Philadelphia aces secured the second and third spots on our ballot. Roy Halladay finished in second place thanks to a 19-6 record, 2.35 ERA and a 1.040 WHIP. Halladay's teammate Cliff Lee was penned into the third spot, based on his solid 17-8 record. The southpaw also registered a 2.40 ERA and a 1.027 WHIP.

Two Giants starters finished fourth and fifth on our ballot, in spite of mediocre win-loss records. Matt Cain finished fourth after posting a 2.88 ERA and 1.083 WHIP this season. Madison Bumgarner snagged the last spot on our ballot due to his solid 3.21 ERA and 1.241 WHIP. He also had an excellent strikeout to walks ratio of 3.83.

Honourable mention goes to Ian Kennedy of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Our NL ballot for the Walter Johnson Award stands at:

1. Clayton Kershaw
2. Roy Halladay
3. Cliff Lee
4. Matt Cain
5. Madison Bumgarner