re: DAT 5/15: Stros (Verlander) @ Detroit (J. Wholestaff) - 6:10 ct

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Justin Verlander is at the top of the heap in the American League in MLB.com's first Cy Young Award poll of 2019, and that’s probably the least surprising thing you’ll read. Verlander received a whopping 32 of 46 first-place votes.

As for Verlander, he’s the very definition of a future Hall of Famer. In the 12 seasons before this one, he was a top-five finisher in AL Cy Young Award voting seven times. That Verlander won the award just once -- in 2011, when he was also the AL Most Valuable Player Award winner -- takes nothing away from the fact that for more than a decade, he consistently has been in the best-in-the-game conversation.

The righty has been as good as ever in his 15th Major League season, with a fastball that still touches 98 mph and a smothering 0.820 WHIP and 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings. Since he joined the Astros on Aug. 31, 2017, he leads the Majors in wins and is second in innings, strikeouts and earned run average.

Verlander received 32 of 46 first-place votes, but the rest were spread among four pitchers: Matthew Boyd (seven), Gerrit Cole (three), Jake Odorizzi and Jose Berrios (two apiece).

American League

1. Justin Verlander (79.6 percent) -- Milestones come routinely these days for Verlander. Most recently, he reached 22nd place on the all-time strikeout list with 2,774. He’s 29 behind Cy Young, who is No. 21. This season, Verlander has pitched at least six innings in eight of his nine starts, and finished at least seven innings four times. His name is all over the AL leaderboard. Heading into Monday, he was first in batting average against (.163) and WHIP (0.82), second in innings pitched (57 1/3), third in strikeouts (68) and fourth in ERA (2.51).

2. Jose Berrios (28.3 percent) -- The right-hander entered Monday’s start with a personal five-game winning streak, and the Twins were 7-1 in his eight starts before the Angels knocked him around for five runs on 12 hits and three walks over 5 2/3 innings in a 5-4 loss. The 24-year-old had previously allowed more than two earned runs just twice in 2019. Berrios has tweaked his approach slightly, throwing fewer fastballs and more curves and changeups this season.

3. Matthew Boyd (26.5 percent) -- The lefty is building on a breakout second half in 2018 in which he had a 1.08 WHIP and a .230 opponents' batting average. Before allowing three runs on five hits and two walks over four innings vs. the powerful Astros in an 8-1 loss Monday, Boyd ranked fourth in the AL with 65 strikeouts and seventh in WHIP at 0.99.

Others receiving votes: Odorizzi, Cole, Glasnow, Charlie Morton, Domingo German, Mike Minor.

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