The 2020 MLB Players Choice Award winners are announced

It is MLB Awards season and the 2020 Players Choice Awards kick it off

The Players Choice Awards were announced on Thursday, October 22nd. The Players Choice Awards are one of the early MLB awards given out this season, as the Baseball Writers’ Association of America Awards will be announced during the second week of November. These include the Cy Young, Manager of the Year, Rookies of the Year, and MVP Awards.

The Gold Glove Award finalists and Reliever of the Year were also recently announced. Three to four finalists were announced at each position in each league for the Gold Glove Award. The Relievers of the Year went to Liam Hendriks of the Athletics and Devin Williams of the Brewers.

To begin, let’s meet the MLB Players Choice, Marvin Miller Award.

Twins slugger, Nelson Cruz wins the Marvin Miller Award (Man of the Year Award)

The Marvin Miller Award is given to the player who is most “respected based on his leadership on the field and in the community.” Nelson Cruz from the Twins was the recipient of the award. The 40-year-old has established himself as one of the best designated-hitters in the past decade and Cruz has also done his part in the community.

Players around the league respect the work Cruz has done in the Dominican Republic after establishing the Boomstick23 Foundation in 2016. The non-profit organization is “committed to generating social impact by empowering children and young people in situations of social vulnerability; developing skills and abilities through education and sports to improve the environment and their quality of life.”

“In recent years, Cruz has donated a fire engine and ambulance and helped build a police station in his hometown of Las Matas De Santa Cruz, while also giving time and money to expand access to healthcare” via MLB.

Cruz also won the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award at the 2020 ESPY Awards. Veterans, Jason Heyward, and Adam Wainwright were also finalists for the Marvin Miller Award. Curtis Granderson was the 2019 Marvin Miller Award winner.

Next up, the Curt Flood Award.

2010 Hall of Fame inductee, Andre Dawson, wins the first-ever Curt Flood Award

The Curt Flood Award was established this year in memory of the 50th anniversary Curt Flood’s historic judicial fight against baseball’s reserve system, which created a path for free agency. Andre Dawson was inducted into the Hall of Fame for his illustrious career in 2010.

Dawson is the recipient of the inaugural Curt Flood Award for his decision in 1987, to offer the Chicago Cubs a blank contract and asked the team to fill in a salary. This was during a time of collusion between Major League clubs, and Dawson wanted to make a statement.

Dawson was a superstar outfielder and was frustrated after not receiving an offer after declaring himself a free agent. This exemplified the way owners colluded to deny players’ contractual free agent rights, so Dawson tested the waters with his agent, Dick Moss.

He practically baited the Cubs, which he and Moss thought would be a great fit, to sign him for very little value. It became an offer the Cubs could not pass up, so they signed the star outfielder to a contract.

If it were not for this bold action Dawson and Moss took, Dawson may have not had a chance to prove his talent in the MLB. Even bigger, Dawson may not have been a Hall of Famer if it were not for the blank contract.

Dawson had an impressive 19 season career, winning the Rookie of the Year, eight Gold Glove Awards, eight All-Star teams, MVP, and four Silver Slugger Awards. He has quite the resume and he now adds the first-ever Curt Flood Award to it.

The other three candidates included Don Baylor, Mark Belanger, and Jim Bunning.

Braves standout first baseman wins two Players Choice Awards: Player of the Year and NL Outstanding Player

Freddie Freeman had an impressive 2020 season after battling Covid-19 prior to the start of the regular season. He performed so well that it won him National League Outstanding Player, and Player of the Year as the cherry on top.

As you could guess, the Outstanding Player and Player of the Year Award are correlated. It just means Freeman was basically the best player in the MLB from the players’ perspective.

There is a lot to like about Freeman’s 11th season with the Braves as he hit .341, recorded a 1.102 OPS, 13 home runs, 53 RBIs, and a league-leading 23 doubles and 51 runs. What is there not to like about that offensive stat line?

Freeman also played consistent defense as he always has. He only made one error in the 2020 regular season and a solid 7.91 range factor per game. To compare, Anthony Rizzo’s range factor per game in 2020 was 8.11.

Interestingly enough, Freeman was left off of the 2020 Gold Glove finalists. This season, the finalists are Anthony Rizzo, Brandon Belt, and Paul Goldschmidt. Freeman did win a Gold Glove Award in 2018, so maybe they thought he couldn’t win all of the awards in 2020.

Overall, Freeman finished with a 3.4 WAR and tied Jose Ramirez for baseball’s highest total. Freeman had some tough competition for the two awards but he certainly deserves it after leading the Braves to a first-place finish in the NL East.

For the NL Outstanding Player Award, he battled against Mookie Betts and Juan Soto. For Player of the Year, Freeman’s competition was Jose Abreu and Shane Bieber.

Now to the AL Outstanding Player Award.

Shane Bieber wins the 2020 American League Outstanding Pitcher Award

Shane Bieber was absolutely dealing this season and was a part of arguably the best starting rotation in all of baseball. It is crazy to think he is only 23-years-old as one of the most dominant pitchers in the American League. And the Players Choice Award cements that statement.

In 2020, he led the league with eight wins, a 1.63 ERA, and 122 strikeouts. The Indians’ ace started 12 games and threw 77.1 innings only allowing 46 hits and 14 earned runs. Bieber held an impressive 0.866% WHIP and 14.2 K/9 which also led the league.

Bieber made his first All-Star appearance in 2019 and finished fourth in Cy Young voting in the AL. He made an impressive leap in 2020 and truly leveled up.

Bieber was a no-doubter for me and is my pick to win the Cy Young Award a couple of weeks as well. Bieber beat out Gerrit Cole and Lance Lynn.

Trevor Bauer from the Reds won the National League Outstanding Pitcher Award

On the other side of the league, Trevor Bauer took the NL Outstanding Pitcher Award. The 29-year-old has been excellent in his first full season with the Reds. Bauer had a league-leading 1.73 ERA and two complete-game shutouts.

Bieber outperformed Bauer, but it does not take anything away from Bauer’s season. The Reds pitcher struck out 100 batters in 73 innings, only allowing 41 hits and 14 earned runs. He led the National League with a 0.795% WHIP as well.

Bauer is similar to Bieber in that he flipped the switch in 2020 as well. Although Bauer struggled hard last season, he made a huge jump into 2020. Bauer was an All-Star in 2018 and finished sixth in Cy Young voting in 2018 when they were teammates, but Bauer could not find it in 2019.

Imagine in the Indians kept Bauer in Cleveland alongside Bieber…. now that would have been something.

Bauer outperformed Jacob deGrom and Yu Darvish in 2020 for this award. It will be interesting to see who takes home the Cy Young Award because it is not as clear cut for me as it is in the American League. We will have to wait until November to find out.

On deck, we have the AL and NL Outstanding Rookies Awards.

Mariners rookie, Kyle Lewis, met high expectations to the delight of the Mariners fans

Boy am I happy to be writing about Kyle Lewis‘ 2020 season. Lewis made his debut in 2019 but only played in 18 games, so 2020 is his first full season with the Mariners.

After playing in 58 games, the Mariners centerfielder batted .262, .801 OPS 11 home runs, and 28 RBIs. Lewis was red hot in July and August and lost his fire in September and October. But, he managed to still have an impressive average and OPS as a rookie despite tanking a bit.

Lewis was also talented on the field, making multiple catches at the wall robbing home runs like Ken Griffey Jr. He did have a fierce competition with Luis Robert from the White Sox who was also nominated as a Gold Glove finalist. Although his Gold Glove finalist selection was a little controversial as Kevin Kiemaier had some incredible stats to make a case for himself.

Lewis is the center of the Mariners rebuild and will be relying on him to lead the team in a highly anticipated 2021 and 2022 Mariners season as more of its top prospects become MLB ready.

The other candidate for the AL Outstanding Rookie Award was James Karinchak of the Indians. To me, it seems Kyle Lewis is the AL Rookie of the Year but there still is a lot of hype around Luis Robert from Chicago.

The Padres rookie, Jake Cronenworth wins NL Outstanding Rookie

No one would have guessed that Jake Cronenworth would even be in consideration for rookie awards at the start of the 2020 season. The infielder quietly came into the rookie award conversations during the middle of the season.

Cronenworth’s fame really came to light in August where he batted .355 with four home runs and 16 RBIs which helped propel the Padres to second place in the division.

Yes, the Padres had Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado, but Cronenworth’s presence in the lineup really helped the Padres as an overlooked player. He finished 2020 with a .285 average and .831 OPS, with 20 RBIs.

Like Kyle Lewis, Cronenworth tanked during September and October but still kept a great stat line as a rookie. To me, the Padres found a diamond in the rough with Cronenworth and he will be a key player moving forward.

Cronenworth went up against Alec Bohm and Devin Williams. It will be interesting to see how Cronenworth fares in the Rookie of the Year Award especially with Devin Williams winning NL Reliever of the Year.

Finally, I will share the two Comeback Players.

Daniel Bard has a heartwarming comeback story and wins the NL Comeback Player Award

The Rockies reliever, Daniel Bard, did not pitch since the 2013 season when he was with the Red Sox. When with the Red Sox, Bard became one of the most reliable bullpen pitchers for the team as a mid-20s pitcher.

After proving his talent out of the bullpen, Bard was moved to the starting rotation with hopes that his stuff translates. It did not.

Bard had a 5.30 ERA in 10 starts and be sent to Triple-A soon after. After this 2013 experiment gone wrong, Bard had to battle injuries and mechanical issues before hanging up his cleats after the 2017 season.

Bard would stay close to the game as a player mentor, and he decided to make a comeback prior to the 2020 season. It worked out pretty well for him and posted a 3.65 ERA, striking out 27 over 24.2 innings and saved six games.

Bard can now add the NL Comeback Player Award to his story and deserves it. He competed against Adam Duvall and Wil Myers for this 2020 award.

Carlos Carrasco has another great story behind his AL Comeback Player Award win

Carlos Carrasco from the Indians had a major battle to face in 2019. Carrasco battled through leukemia last summer for three months.

He would make his standing ovation return in September of 2019 as a reliever. Now in 2020, Carrasco came back healthy as ever in the starting rotation.

In 2020, Carrasco finished with an impressive 2.91 ERA in 68 innings pitched. He struck out 82 batters and a 1.206 WHIP. It is such a touching story and it is amazing to see Carrasco not only pitch but thrive in the starting rotation.

Salvador Perez and Jose Ramirez were also considered for the AL Comeback Player Award.

A talented group of ballplayers won the 2020 Players Choice Awards, but this is just the beginning of the MLB Awards season. Look to see some of these names again in the next couple of weeks as hardware is slowly passed out.