I wrote that the Red Sox would be wise to add Chris Sale or Justin Verlander to their staff to add not only another talented pitcher, but because Sale and Verlander are the epitome of toughness and the Red Sox could use that in their starting rotation.

That was not a slight to Rick Porcello, who exhibited his toughness by turning a horrible 2015 campaign, in which he went 9-15 with a 4.92 ERA into a Cy Young season (22-4, 3.15) by winning the AL Cy Young award by 5 points over Verlander Wednesday.

Porcello got eight first-place votes to Verlander’s 14, but 18 second-place votes put Porcello over the top.

Porcello went deep into games and made quality starts 80 percent of the time. Porcello fulfilled his promise. Dave Dombrowski brought a then 19-year-old Porcello to the big leagues and hoped he would be Cy Young-caliber.

At age 27, that day arrived.

On a Red Sox team that signed David Price to a record contract last offseason, Porcello emerged as Boston’s No. 1 starter. Price went 17-9 and overcame a slow start, but Porcello was the consistent starter from Day 1 of the 2016 season. The only place he failed was in Game 1 of the Divisional Series against the Indians, where he was heavily favored against Indians starter Trevor Bauer. It didn’t turn out that way. Nor did it turn out that way for Price in Game 2 and the Red Sox bowed to the Indians.

We’ll see how things go next season and beyond for Porcello. Ben Cherington signed him to a four-year, $82.5 million extension as a 26-year-old heading into his prime seasons. The signing didn’t look so good in 2015, and we piled on and put it in a box that said “Bust.’’

But guess what?

Porcello escaped the box and crawled into the one that said “Stud.’’

Porcello is a smart pitcher who now knows what it takes to pitch in the Boston market, and what it takes to pitch against the most powerful teams and hitters in baseball.

No, he’s not a 97-miles-per-hour guy who can blow it past hitters. Instead he mixes a two-seamer, four-seamer, cutter and slider so well now. He’s learned how to use his many assets. It’s unfortunate he couldn’t continue that against the Indians, but the playoffs are a different animal. Like Price, Porcello is going to have to learn how to pitch at the biggest moment. He’s now 0-3 with a 5.66 ERA in nine postseason games, three of them starts. If Porcello won Game 1 against the Indians, things might have been different for the Red Sox.

What you learn about Porcello is the respect his coaches and managers have for him.

“He’s good people,’’ said former Tigers manager Jim Leyland, who now works for baseball commissioner Rob Manfred. “I can’t tell how happy I am for him and how happy a lot of people are for him because he approaches the game the right way. He works his butt off to get better and understand what he’s doing. When he goes bad, everybody feels bad for him because you know the type of kid he is.’’

Those sentiments were often echoed by Sox manager John Farrell throughout the year. Farrell was impressed with Porcello’s thoughtful and careful preparation for each game. Farrell felt that way even in 2015, when things didn’t go so well. Farrell was at a loss to explain why Porcello had such a bad year, but he chalked it up to Porcello’s first year in a new market after he signed a big contract. Maybe the pressure of the world was on his shoulders. He was certainly under scrutiny constantly for not living up to his contract.

One of his best friends, former Tigers teammate Max Scherzer, won the National League Cy Young for the Washington Nationals. These two were inseparable in Detroit, constantly talking pitching. Porcello learned from those conversations and vice versa.

Both pitchers were brought to the Tigers by Dombrowski, who always has expressed a great deal of pride in the pitching staff he put together in Detroit, which also included Verlander, a 2016 AL Cy Young candidate.

Porcello now stands among the elite.

He got his validation, his revenge, his peace of mind, and he proved his toughness winning the Cy Young award over Verlander, whose toughness likely rubbed off on Porcello.

Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickcafardo.