Soft-spoken Royals ace Zack Greinke wins AL Cy Young Award with 16-8 record, MLB-low 2.16 ERA

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Royals ace Zack Greinke wins AL Cy Young Award

NEW YORK — Zack Greinke fidgeted a bit and spoke softly.

Winning the Cy Young Award brought up a whole lot of unwanted attention.

“A lot of stuff going on today when I usually just like doing nothing,” he said. “But just part of life.”

The Kansas City Royals ace easily beat out Felix Hernandez for the honor Tuesday after a spectacular season short on wins but long on domination. Winning left the extremely shy Greinke with mixed emotions as he spoke from a studio in Florida during a series of conference calls and a video link.

“Back in Orlando, I haven’t really got a whole lot of attention from people, which has been nice,” he said. “So I hope it doesn’t get that way, where everyone is like, ‘Oh, hey, Zack, hi.’”

He’d prefer to remain anonymous when he’s not on the mound. He’s not looking forward to being introduced at banquets as “Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke” for the rest of his life.

“In that way, it’s kind of like a negative for me,” he said.

It’s been quite a turnaround for Greinke, who led the AL in losses in 2005 and quit baseball for six weeks the following year after being diagnosed with a social anxiety disorder.

Greinke went 16-8 with a major league-low 2.16 ERA this season and received 25 of 28 first-place votes and three seconds for 134 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Hernandez, 19-5 with a 2.49 ERA for the Seattle Mariners, drew two firsts, 23 seconds and one third for 80 points.

“I didn’t expect this outcome that heavily favored Greinke. Nonetheless, I feel good because I know that I had a good season,” Hernandez said in Maracaibo, Venezuela. “There are many good pitchers. I don’t think I’m the best, but I’m one of the best.”

Detroit’s Justin Verlander was third with the remaining first-place vote and 14 points, followed by the Yankees’ CC Sabathia (13) and Toronto’s Roy Halladay (11).

The NL winner will be announced Thursday.

Even before winning, this was sure to be a big week for Greinke. He is getting married on Saturday to high school girlfriend Emily Kuchar, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, and then is heading to Hawaii for a three-week honeymoon.

The 26-year-old right-hander was the sixth overall pick in the 2002 amateur draft. He made his major league debut in 2004 and got hit hard the next year. After leaving spring training in February 2006 to combat his anxiety, he worked his way back to the majors by late September.

Greinke was 7-7 the following year and 13-10 in 2008 before his breakout season. His ERA was the lowest in the AL since Pedro Martinez’s 1.74 ERA in 2000, and his 242 strikeouts were second in the league behind Verlander.

Steve Carlton was the only Cy Young Award winner who pitched for a club that was worse. The Hall of Fame lefty was 27-10 with a 1.97 ERA for the 1972 Philadelphia Phillies, who went 59-97.

Kansas City, which tied for last place in the AL Central at 65-97, scored just 13 runs in Greinke’s eight losses and 21 runs in his nine no-decisions. He failed to get a victory in six starts in which he allowed one run or none.

Despite what he’s overcome, Greinke doesn’t view himself as a role model.

“I really don’t like having a bunch of attention, so even if I did see myself in that light, I don’t do anything about it,” he said. “I’m real uncomfortable doing stuff like that, to be around people and doing stuff like that,” he said.