Angels News: Shohei Ohtani Finishes Fourth in AL Cy Young Voting

It's safe to say Shohei Ohtani should've received more votes.

The AL Cy Young voting results came in with Astros pitcher Justin Verlander taking home the award for the third time in his career. Verlander finished ahead of White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease and Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah for the award, with Shohei Ohtani finishing in fourth.

Ohtani received zero first place votes and was five points behind Manoah for third place.

After his dominant 2022 season on the mound, many believed Ohtani should have been named one of three finalists for the award. But all Ohtani can do now is go out and prove again next season why he's among the MLB's best. 

Shohei Ohtani finished 4th in the AL Cy Young voting.

(Also, he has hit HRs against all of three of the guys ahead of him.) pic.twitter.com/ILibFOH3Ab

— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) November 17, 2022

Among AL rankings, Ohtani finished fourth in ERA (2.33) — which is right behind the three finalists — and third in strikeouts (219). Ohtani also finished first in strikeouts per nine innings (11.87), first in strikeout to walk percentage (26.5%) and first in skill-interactive earned run average (2.73).

During a stretch in July, Ohtani had a 0.39 ERA across 45.2 innings. He won six consecutive starts, and didn't give up a single earned run in 31.2 straight innings.

It's clear that Ohtani should've been ranked higher, but his fourth place finish doesn't take anything away from the dominance he displayed all season long. It's pretty impressive when you finish fourth in Cy Young voting and second in MVP voting in any season.

But the hope now is for Ohtani's continued dominance to translate into a more successful season overall for the Angels.

There's plenty of time for the Angels to continue making moves and build around Ohtani and Mike Trout, and they seem to be doing that early thus far in free agency.