Diamondbacks’ Eduardo Rodriguez finishes in top 10 for NL Cy Young Award

Arizona Diamondbacks All-Star starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez received down-ballot National League Cy Young Award votes, finishing seventh in the race for the league’s top pitcher.

Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski won his first Cy Young, while Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sanchez was the runner-up and Atlanta’s Chris Sale the third-place finisher.

Rodriguez received a pair of fifth-place votes. This is the first time Rodriguez has received Cy Young votes since 2019, when he finished sixth for the AL Cy Young while pitching for the Boston Red Sox.

Rodriguez had a dream-like season in many respects, which started with his heroic performance in the World Baseball Classic championship game against the United States. Venezuela won, 3-2, after Rodriguez delivered 4.1 scoreless innings.

He took the lessons learned from working with Venezuela’s pitching coach and his childhood hero, Johan Santana, and was a much more reliable pitcher for the D-backs than during his disappointing first two seasons with the club.

The lefty made his first career All-Star Game, as he pitched to a career-best 2.89 ERA in 32 starts.

Rodriguez was a rock for the rotation, one that went through another season of injury adversity with Corbin Burnes making only three starts, while Michael Soroka, Zac Gallen and Ryne Nelson all spent time on the injured list.

The D-backs went 23-9 when Rodriguez took the bump, as he completed at least six innings with two or fewer earned runs in 19 games. Only Sanchez and AL Cy Young winner Cam Schlittler had more such starts in 2026. No D-backs pitcher has had that many since Patrick Corbin in 2013 (20).

Rodriguez even made 115 pitches in a key win over the Dodgers in August, a number rarely hit in today’s game.

The veteran led Arizona in innings, quality starts and strikeouts. Without Rodriguez finding new life as a big league starter, the D-backs would not have been a competitive team.

He remains under contract for $19 million next season.

The Diamondbacks have not had a Cy Young season since Brandon Webb in 2006. The last time one of their pitchers finished top 10 for the award was 2023, when Gallen came in third.

Brandyn Garcia gets a vote for reliever award

Another Diamondbacks pitcher received some down-ballot love on Wednesday, as left-hander Brandyn Garcia secured a fourth-place vote for the National League Reliever of the Year, finishing 11th in the race.

Garcia had a breakout season in 2026 after getting his feet wet in MLB in 2025.

The lefty made 57 appearances with a 1.93 ERA and five saves.

Mason Miller of the San Diego Padres won the award, unanimously.

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