Blue Jays: Kyle Drabek and the Cy Young connection

It is safe to say that Kyle Drabek never lived up the lofty expectations placed upon him after the Toronto Blue Jays acquired him as a highly touted former first rounder, however, the hurler does have numerous connections to Cy Young winners even though he himself never reached that leave of baseball supremacy.

Cy Connection #1

Kyle Drabek is the son of former pitcher Doug Drabek who is best known for his time as a Pittsburgh Pirate in the late 80’s and early 90’s. The elder Drabek was crowned the National League Cy Young winner in 1990 after going 22-6 with a 2.76 earned run average in 231.1 innings of work.

Doug Drabek would spend 13-seasons in the majors notching 155 career victories.

Cy Connection #2

The Blue Jays acquired Kyle Drabek in 2009 along with Travis d’Arnaud and Michael Taylor from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for pitcher Roy Halladay.

Halladay and his accomplishments are no secret to Jays fans as the “Doc” won a Cy Young award in 2003 with the Blue Jays before duplicating the honour in 2010 with the Phillies. Halladay would also finish up as the runner-up to the award on two other occasions during his illustrious career.

Hat Tip to Canuck Baseball Plus for the topic idea:

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Cy Connection #3

Drabek was drafted by the Phillies in the 1st round, 18th overall of the 2006 amateur draft out of the Woodlands High School in Texas. The likes of Clayton Kershaw (7th), Tim Lincecum (10th), and Max Scherzer (11th) were all selected in the first round before Drabek that year. The trio has eight Cy Young awards shared between them.

The Blue Jays selected another failed prospect in Travis Snider with their selection in the first round. Ironically there have been six players from that talented round who played for the Jays at one time or another in Drabek, Snider, Brad Lincoln, Jeremy Jeffress, Brandon Morrow and Chris Coghlan.

Additional Drabek Tidbits

Drabek’s high school teammate was Paul Goldschmidt who was taken in the 49th round, 1453rd overall by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Goldy would forego signing with Los Angeles to attend Texas State University where he was eventually drafted in the 8th round by Arizona.

Pitcher Jameson Taillon would also end up going to the same school and was taken in the 1st round, 2nd overall of the 2010 draft by the Pirates. Taillon could one day capture a Cy Young of his own to add to the Drabek connection.

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Drabek spent last season with the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Independent League and for all intents and purposes, it would appear his career is all but over however the hurler does have six degrees of separation with the infamous Cy Young award.