Cy Young Profile: Frank Viola, 1988

Pitcher, Minnesota Twins

 

Age:  28 (April 19)

7^th season with Twins

Bats – Left, Throws – Left

Height: 6’4”    Weight: 200 

Prior to 1988:

A native of New York’s Long Island, Viola was an All-Nassau County first baseman at East Meadow High School. He began pitching as a junior and was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in 1978. He passed on the Royals to accept a scholarship to St. John’s University where he improved his mechanics and produced a 26-2 record. Selected by the Twins in the 1981 amateur draft, he signed and was initially assigned to Orlando of the Class AA Southern League where he went 5-4 with a 3.43 ERA. Viola started the 1982 season in Class AAA with the Toledo Mud Hens of the International League but was called up by the struggling Twins and, following a promising start, he lost his last six decisions on the way to a 4-10 tally with a 5.21 ERA for a last-place club that lost 102 games. 1983 was another difficult year in which Viola went 7-15 with a 5.49 ERA, a league-leading 128 earned runs surrendered, and further gave up 34 home runs. Improvement came in 1984 as he posted an 18-12 mark with a 3.21 ERA and 149 strikeouts. Under the guidance of pitching coach Johnny Podres he added a changeup to go along with his fastball and curve, which made a difference, and he also picked up the nickname “Sweet Music” thanks to a Twins fan who regularly hung a sign from the upper deck at the Metrodome that read “Frankie Sweet Music Viola”. In 1985 he overcame a slow start to produce an 18-14 record with a 4.09 ERA and 135 strikeouts. His 1986 tally was 16-13 with a 4.51 ERA and 191 strikeouts. Easily derailed by adversity, he took a page from veteran teammate Bert Blyleven and better mastered his emotions while also improving his changeup. The result was encouraging in 1987 as Viola compiled a 17-10 record for the division-winning Twins, along with a 2.90 ERA and 197 strikeouts. He won a game in the ALCS defeat of the Detroit Tigers and was 2-1 in the seven-game World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, earning MVP honors.   

1988 Season Summary

Appeared in 35 games

[Bracketed numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]

Pitching

Games – 35

Games Started – 35 [3, tied with six others]

Complete Games – 7 [17, tied with Charlie Leibrandt, Bert Blyleven & Bruce Hurst]

Wins – 24 [1]

Losses – 7

PCT - .774 [1]

Saves – 0

Shutouts – 2 [8, tied with thirteen others]

Innings Pitched – 255.1 [6]

Hits – 236 [9]

Runs – 80

Earned Runs – 75

Home Runs – 20

Bases on Balls – 54

Strikeouts – 193 [3]

ERA – 2.64 [3]

Hit Batters – 3

Balks – 1

Wild Pitches – 5

League-leading wins were +3 ahead of runner-up Dave Stewart

League-leading win percentage was +.024 ahead of runner-up Bruce Hurst

 

Midseason Snapshot: 14-2, ERA - 2.24, SO - 104 in 140.1 IP

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Most strikeouts, game – 10 (in 9 IP) vs. Texas 8/20

10+ strikeout games – 1

Fewest hits allowed, game (min. 7 IP) – 3 (in 9 IP) vs. California 6/22, (in 9 IP) vs. Boston 7/6, (in 7 IP) vs. Baltimore 4/26

 Fielding

Chances – 37

Put Outs – 5

Assists – 30

Errors – 2

DP – 1

Pct. - .946

Awards & Honors:

AL Cy Young Award: BBWAA

AL Pitcher of the Year: Sporting News

10^th in AL MVP voting (39 points, 10% share)

All-Star (Starting P for AL)

AL Cy Young voting:

Frank Viola, Min.: 138 pts. – 27 of 28 first place votes, 99% share

Dennis Eckersley, Oak.: 52 pts. – 1 first place vote, 37% share

Mark Gubicza, KCR.: 26 pts. – 19% share

Dave Stewart, Oak.: 16 pts. – 11% share

Bruce Hurst, Bos.: 12 pts. – 9% share

Roger Clemens, Bos.: 8 pts. – 6% share

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Twins went 91-71 to finish second in the AL Western Division, 13 games behind the division-winning Oakland Athletics. The slow-starting Twins were 11-18 by May 9 but went 80-53 the rest of the way and were unable to gain ground on Oakland in the division race.

Aftermath of ‘88:

Following bitter negotiations, in 1989 Viola signed a contract extension with the Twins. He got off to a poor start, losing his first five decisions, and being booed by the home fans as a result. On July 31 he was traded to the New York Mets for five players that included pitchers Rick Aguilera and Kevin Tapani. At 8-12 with a 3.79 ERA at the time of the deal, Viola went 5-5 with a 3.38 ERA the rest of the way for the Mets, giving him a combined record of 13-17 with a 3.66 ERA and 211 strikeouts. With the Mets in 1990 he returned to form with a 20-12 tally and 2.67 ERA with 182 strikeouts while topping the National League with 249.2 innings pitched. Having been diagnosed with bone spurs in his left elbow, Viola still got off to a 10-5 start in 1991 before fading in the second half and finishing up at 13-15 with a 3.97 ERA and 132 strikeouts. A free agent in the offseason he signed with the Boston Red Sox for three years and $13.9 million. In 1992 Viola posted a 13-12 tally with a 3.44 ERA and 121 strikeouts. Despite chronic elbow problems in 1993 which caused the club to shut him down by mid-September, he finished at 11-8 with a 3.14 ERA. Viola had offseason elbow surgery and started the 1994 season but was done by May when it became necessary to have further surgery on his elbow. After spending time with the Toronto and Cincinnati minor league organizations in 1995 and making one last major league appearance with the Blue Jays in 1996, Viola retired. For his major league career, “Sweet Music” posted a 176-150 record with a 3.73 ERA, 74 complete games, 16 shutouts, and 1844 strikeouts in 2836.1 innings pitched. With the Twins he was 112-93 with a 3.86 ERA, 54 complete games, 10 shutouts, and 1214 strikeouts in 1772.2 innings. In five postseason games, all in 1987, he posted a 3-1 tally with 4.31 ERA and 25 strikeouts. A three-time All-Star he received Cy Young votes after four seasons, winning once. Viola was inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015. He has worked as a pitching coach for several minor league teams.

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Cy Young Profiles feature pitchers who were recipients of the Cy Young Award by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (1956 to present). The award was presented to a single major league winner from its inception through 1966 and from 1967 on to one recipient from each major league.