Former Hart High Pitcher Trevor Bauer Wins Cy Young Award

Former Hart High School pitcher Trevor Bauer was announced as Major League Baseball’s 2020 National League Cy Young Award winner.

With the win, Bauer became the first player from Santa Clarita to take home the award and the first to win it for his team, the Cincinnati Reds.

Trevor Bauer pitches for Hart High School. (Image courtesy of Max Preps)

Every year, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America votes on the Cy Young award in the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) to honor the best pitcher in each league.

Prior to Bauer’s selection, the Reds had been the oldest franchise in baseball without a Cy Young winner in its history.

That streak ended with Bauer’s stellar campaign in the shortened 2020 season, he finished the year with an NL-leading 1.73 ERA and finished atop multiple other pitching categories in the league, including  WHIP (0.795), opponents’ batting average (.159) and hits per nine innings (5.1), among others.

His resume for the year also included two shutout performances and two complete games.

Bauer didn’t dominate in the win-loss column with a 5-4 record in the shortened 2020 season, but much of that is attributable to a lack of scoring from the Reds’ offense.

“It’s been my goal ever since I won the Golden Spikes [Award] in college in 2011,” said Bauer to MLB.com. “It’s something I’ve chased, I guess, for nine years now. All the offseason workouts, all the time I’m studying, learning, researching, all the bad years I’ve had, the bad pitches I’ve made, to find a way to overcome all of that and actually accomplish something that I’ve wanted for that long, it’s pretty special.”

Lights out. @BauerOutage wins the NL Cy Young Award. pic.twitter.com/MWsEilrkc3

— MLB (@MLB) November 11, 2020

Bauer was selected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America selected with 27 of the 30 first-place votes and three second-place votes for 201 points.

Behind Bauer was Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish, who received the other three first-place votes and finished with 123 points.

The award adds another page to the legacy of the Hart High School baseball program, which added another World Series appearance by a former player to its accomplishments with Tampa Bay Ray’s pitcher Tyler Glasnow’s two starts in the 2020 World Series.

Bauer pitched in a World Series in 2016 as a member of the Cleveland Indians with his former Hart High School teammate Mike Montgomery pitching for the opposing Chicago Cubs.

While Bauer accomplished a remarkable feat for the Cincinnati Reds, he is technically no longer a member of the team as he is currently a free agent and set to be the top starting pitcher available on the market.

No clear front-runner has emerged for Bauer’s services, however, a return to Southern California hasn’t been ruled out as the Los Angeles Angels have been linked as one of his potential suitors.

KHTS Sports is your place for 2020 Santa Clarita high school sports and Los Angeles Dodgers coverage. Find all the latest news and updates on your hometown schools here as they compete in the Foothill League, Heritage League, Western State Conference and GSAC.