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David Price On His First Cy Young Award: “It still hasn’t set in yet”
Rays pitcher David Price showed everyone around Major League Baseball early in his career that he was going to be a force on the mound for years to come. He didn’t need a Cy Young Award to validate his place amongst the top pitchers in the game today, but now he has one. After finishing as the runner-up to Felix Hernandez Price just narrowly edged Justin Verlander this time around and now he has one piece of hardware that validates just how dominant he has been for Tampa Bay despite pitching in arguably the toughest division in all of baseball. The voters made the right call. Price put it all together this season. He led the AL in wins with 20, his ERA was just 2.56 and opposing hitters batted just .226 off him this year.
David Price joined WDAE in Tampa Bay with Ron and Ian to talk about winning his first ever Cy Young, if he thought he may lose out on the Cy Young once again this season like he did a few years back, whether he dreamed about winning a Cy Young when he was younger, how he will stay motivated after winning the Cy Young and what it’s like pitching in the AL East.
How it feels to win his first ever Cy Young:
“It feels good. It still hasn’t set it yet but it feels good right now. It’s been a crazy 24 hours.”
If he thought he may lose out on the Cy Young once again this season like he did a few years back:
“I guess I had a little bit of that thought in the back of my mind. That’s why I tried not to think about it going up until that point. Right there at 6:00 and 6:15 I had nothing else to think about so everything was going through my mind, winning and losing, so I was very happy to get the nod and it was a great moment for myself.”
If he dreamed about winning a Cy Young when he was younger:
“Whenever I was a little kid, I don’t think I knew what the Cy Young was. I didn’t think they gave out a Cy Young. I just wanted to be a Major League Baseball player whenever I was a little kid. It’s been fun.”
How he will stay motivated after winning this kind of award:
“I’m going to keep going about my business the same way I did before. I’m going to treat this no differently than I did the last offseason. This is still a game for me, this is something that I’ve wanted to do since I was 2-years-old. I’m not going to treat this any different. Honored to be the Cy Young but it’s time for me to get back on track and try to help the Rays win in 2013. That’s going to be my mindset and I’m not going to change things up. I’m going to continue to work hard, work on my game and try to improve things I can improve and just take it from there.”
On Joe Madden:
“He does. I really feel like he views that locker room like we have 25 grown men in that locker room and he polices us. That’s the way he goes about it. He doesn’t have to speak up about anything, he expects all the players to police our issues and that’s what we do. He kind of lets us have free reign and I feel like everybody appreciates that and you don’t have somebody looking down your back, what you’re wearing, what you’re saying or what you’re doing. As long as you’re out there on that field and making sure you’re prepared for that game then he’s not going to say anything.”
What it’s like pitching in the American League East:
“It’s tough. There’s no easy outs, one through nine can hit the ball out of the yard to any place in the park so it makes it tough. It’s kind of a blessing and a curse. If you can get through the rough season and get yourself to the postseason, you kind of feel like you’re playing postseason baseball all year long so in that sense it kind of helps but it’s tough, it’s fun, it keeps you on your toes and it’s fun to be a part of.”
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