Kansas City Royals: Every Cy Young Award Winner in Royals History

Royals’ Cy Young Award Winners

2009: Zack Greinke

Zack Greinke is the most recent Cy Young award of the Kansas City Royals. Drafted in the first round of the 2002 MLB Draft by the Royals, he is also one of the last pitching aces to spend some quality time in the organization. His success culminated in 2009 with a Cy Young award in what would be his second to last season in Kansas City.

In Greinke’s Cy Young award season he would post a shiny 2.16 ERA, a 66.7 win percentage, and throw a whopping 242 strikeouts. Unfortunately, Greinke would carry on his great play with other teams, as he just didn’t want to be part of a rebuilding franchise, which the Royals most certainly were at that time.

Greinke has still yet to make it to a World Series.

Zack Greinke’s stint in Kansas City ended when he requested a trade. Greinke would be sent to the Milwaukee Brewers in a deal that netted the Royals some of the key pieces to their World Series run (Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar, anyone?).

Since then, Greinke has had stints with the Angels, Dodgers, and is now with the Diamondbacks, and has been paid handsomely in the process. He hasn’t won another Cy Young, but continues to be a reliable starter.

While some fans might still be angry at Greinke for not wanting to be in Kansas City, let it go. He wanted to pitch for a World Series contender and the Royals went to two since Greinke was traded and won one. A large part of it actually came from trading Greinke too, as Cain and Escobar were huge parts in winning it all in 2015.

Meanwhile, Greinke has still yet to make it to a World Series.