Hard work and confidence lead Dallas Keuchel to unlikely Cy Young award

Houston Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel wasn’t yet a household name when manager A.J. Hinch named him the team’s opening day starter. He’s a household name though now, having earned the American League Cy Young award behind a brilliant 2015 season.

It’s an amazing journey that has led Keuchel to the award that signifies pitching excellence, but it’s not one that played out over the past seven months. It’s a journey that has taken years to complete, and required every ounce of Keuchel’s sweat and energy. Sweat that was invested into developing his talents on his own time, away from his teammates. Energy that was invested studying himself as much as his competition, all to make believers are of those who gave him a chance.

It’s almost impossible to fathom now, but Keuchel’s emergence as an elite hurler was not on baseball’s radar when he was drafted in the seventh round of the 2009 draft. In fact, Keuchel’s name was barely even known to scouts at that time.

Though he earned his way to the big leagues in relatively short order, debuting for Houston in 2012, there were no indications his ceiling would reach the sky alongside established pitchers such as Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and David Price. That’s the company Keuchel finds himself in now though, and it’s where he figures to stay after feuling his own rocket ship to success.

Dallas Keuchel won the AL Cy Young with 22 first-place votes. (AP) Keuchel’s story is a reminder that baseball doesn’t lie down for those who were built physically superior. Keuchel may stand 6-foot-3, he may weigh 210 pounds, but his size didn’t guarantee him anything. Besides, his arm doesn’t have the juice to overwhelm hitters like Kershaw or overpower like Justin Verlander. But he does attack them with confidence, which separates pitchers just as much as break on a curveball or digits on the radar gun.

It’s a reminder that the game of baseball doesn’t know or acknowledge perceived talent. For every superstar that lives up to the hype, a guy like David Price, for example, who finished second in the AL Cy Young voting, there’s a Dallas Keuchel or a Jake Arrieta, the NL Cy Young winner. Guys who figure it out along the way and change their own outlook, while changing the game.

It’s a reminder that hard work and determination matter as much, if not more than any measurable physical skill. As Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle wrote last month, Keuchel was never just happy to be in the big leagues. He was constantly looking to improve, even to the point where his preparation started rubbing his teammates the wrong way.

Some of Keuchel’s teammates in his 2012 rookie year were “salty vets,” as he put it, who didn’t love the idea of pitchers doing their own work during batting practice rather than shagging balls. The sentiment left with Keuchel: starters go every five days, so why can’t they complete their exercises in time to shag?

“I was like, well, in order for me to get the work done I need to and feel good about myself going into the next start, I’m going to have to get here super early,” Keuchel said. “It was basically more of like seeing some of the veterans, listening to what they had to say about pitchers and not being present on the field during BP.”

Keuchel found a way to get his work in while making everyone else happy, and in the process found a routine that suited him far better.

As Keuchel developed his routine earlier in the day, a desire for privacy played in. He doesn’t like people watching him working out and running.

“I like working out by myself,” Keuchel said. “In the offseason, I workout super early, usually 6 or 7 o’clock in the morning, because nobody’s at the gym. I don’t like having to wait on people to work out, I don’t like having people watch me work out. I like to do my own stuff, in my own and peace and quiet.”

Baseball is a mental game as much as a physical game. Through his determination, Keuchel struck a balance every player searches for and often times never finds, while finding a comfort zone that affords him the proper focus.

If there’s anything that can be taken from that, it’s that settling into the day-to-day routine that’s seemingly ready-made can be counterproductive. Keuchel has maximized his time and his productivity, and in the process has maximized talent nobody knew existed. It’s a mindset we all should applaud, and perhaps even take to heart.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports: