The Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) have announced the three finalists in each of the main categories in their prestigious annual awards. The winners will be announced next week between the 12th & 15th November.
The Nominees are:
American League Most Valuable Player (MVP)
Mookie Betts – Boston Red Sox: Season Highlights 32 home runs & 30 stolen bases
Jose Ramirez – Cleveland Indians: 39 home runs & 34 stolen bases
Mike Trout – LA Angels: 39 homers & 24 steals
National League Most Valuable Player
Nolan Arenado – Colorado Rockies: Led the NL in home runs (38)
Javier Baez – Chicago Cubs: Led the NL in runs batted in (RBI) with 111 also the first player in Cubs history to achieve 40 doubles, 30 home runs and 20 stolen bases in a single season.
Christian Yelich – Milwaukee Brewers: Great all-around season with 36 HR & 110 RBIs
AL Cy Young Pitching Award
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Corey Kluber – RHP Cleveland Indians: Winner in 2014 and 2017 he has 20 wins and a 2.89 ERA (earned runs allowed).
Blake Snell – LHP Tampa Bay Rays: 21 wins and a 2.19 ERA
Justin Verlander – RHP Houston Astros: a 16-9 record and 2.52 ERA.
NL Cy Young Pitching Award
Jacob deGrom – RHP NY Mets: The 10-9 record is down to him playing in a lousy team and his 1.70 ERA that was the best in the NL by far.
Aaron Nola – RHP, Philadelphia Phillies: Second best ERA (2.37), third in innings
Max Scherzer – RHP, Nationals: Winner of the last two Cy Young awards and coming off another solid season with a mediocre team. Posted a 2.53 ERA.
AL Jackie Robinson Rookie of The Year
Miguel Andujar – NY Yankees: Joint top rookie HR scorer with 27 (alongside Daniel Palka from the Chicago White Sox) got the nod as he set a Yankees rookie record of 47 doubles, surpassing the great Joe DiMaggio’s 44 from the 1936 season.
Gleyber Torres -NY Yankees: The future is bright in the Bronx with Torres being the second Yankee nominated. A solid season with 24 homers and 16 doubles (was he better than Daniel Palka?).
Shohei Ohtani – RHP/DH, LA Angels: Dual-threat with 20 home runs and 10 pitching appearances.
NL Jackie Robinson Rookie of The Year
Ronald Acuna Jr. – Atlanta Braves: Only 20 years old but hit 26 homers and had 16 steals
Walker Buehler, RHP, LA Dodgers: Had a solid 2.31 ERA and a tremendous Post Season
Juan Soto – Washington Nationals: At 19-year-old ended up with the second-most home runs ever by a teenager with 22 and the most multi-homer games 3
AL Manager of the Year
Kevin Cash -Tampa Bay won 90 games despite trading away a bevvy of starters.
Alex Cora – Boston Red Sox: Most season wins in Red Sox history (108) and the World Series. Not bad for your first season in management. Now how do you top that?
Bob Melvin – Oakland Athletics: What can you say, the lowest payroll in MLB a slew of injuries (21 starters ended up on the disabled list) and no recognised pitching rotation – largely thanks to all those injuries. Despite this they get 97 wins and a post season berth.
NL Manager of the Year
Bud Black – Colorado Rockies: Took the unfashionable Rockies to a Wild Card spot for the second straight season.
Craig Counsell – Milwaukie Brewers: Finally got the Brewers back in the post season for the first time since 2011
Brian Snitker – Atlanta Braves: Got them to the NLDS after a 5 years absence losing 3-1 to the LA Dodgers. Ironically, they lost 3-1 to the Dodgers in the NLDS back in 2013 too.
The announcements are scheduled as follows:
AL and NL Jackie Robinson Rookies of the Year – Monday 12th Nov
AL and NL Managers of the Year – Tuesday 13th Nov
AL and NL Cy Young Awards – Wednesday 14th Nov
AL and NL MVP Awards – Thursday 15th Nov
