As the MLB season drew to an end and the Chicago Cubs won the World Series over the Cleveland Indians, the MLB passed out the end of season awards. The nominees for the for MVP, Cy Young, Manager of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards for the American and National League were put in place.
For the AL Mike Trout of the Angels walked away with the MVP award for the second time in his career. Trout received an impressive 19 out of 30 votes for first place as Mookie Betts, in second place, only received nine. Trout ended the season having a .315 batting average with 32 doubles, five triples, 29 home runs, 100 runs batted in and 30 stolen bases. This made it clear how Trout received so many votes and could go home happy with yet another MVP award.
In just his second year in the majors Kris Bryant for the Chicago Cubs won the NL MVP award with 29 out of 30 possible votes. After unanimously winning Rookie of the Year last year, Bryant had a .291 batting average, 39 homeruns, and 102 RBIs. Bryant is also the first player in MLB history to win College Player of the Year, Minor League Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and MVP in consecutive seasons.
Boston’s Rick Porcello won the Cy Young award in the AL with a close vote of 137 to 132. Porcello only got eight votes for first place and 18 votes for second, while second place’s Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers got 14 votes for first place and only two for second place, allowing Porcello to squeeze by for the win. Porcello achieved a career high of 189 strikeouts, and in 27 out of 33 of his starts he only allotted three earned runs or fewer.
The Nationals’ Max Scherzer was named the Cy Young winner for the NL for the second time of his career and became the sixth pitcher in MLB history to win this award in both leagues. Scherzer led the majors with 284 strikeouts, which tied a Major League record for a nine-inning game, and he averaged 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings winning him 25 of the 30 first place votes.
Terry Francona the Cleveland Indians manager was very humble throughout the year saying that the Indians’ success was because of the players. The voters, however, didn’t see it that way as Francona won the AL Manager of the Year with 22 of 30 first place votes. This is the second time Francona won the award in four years as he led the Indians to a 94-win season.
Still in his rookie season of coaching, Dave Roberts of the Dodgers won the NL Manager of the Year award with 16 first place votes. Roberts used 55 players, 31 of them being pitchers, tying franchise records and leading the NL with 606 pitching changes.
Detroit Tiger pitcher, Michael Fulmer, received 26 of 30 votes for first place in the Al Rookie of the Year award. In the beginning of the year Fulmer looked to Justin Verlander, who won the Rookie of the Year award in 2006, to guide him. When Fulmer tapped into his potential and gained in confidence he threw a 33-inning scoreless streak from May to June. In eight straight outings Fulmer gave up only one run or less and finishing with a 3.06 earned run average on the season.
The shortstop for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Corey Seager, won a unanimous first place decision for the NL Rookie of the Year award. Seager already won the Silver Slugger award hitting 26 homeruns, a slugging percentage of .512, and having 57 multihit games. He also had a .308 batting average with a total of 321 total bases.
With the first game of 2017 season starting on April 2nd, we will watch and see as these extraordinary players grow in their skill and attempt to achieve greatness yet again.
