MLB awards: Review how Jose Abreu, Trevor Bauer, Don Mattingly and others won baseball’s end-of-season honors.
USA TODAY looks at the winners of Major League Baseball’s end-of-season awards:
AL Rookie of the Year
The winner: Kyle Lewis, CF, Mariners
The vote: Earned all 30 firstplace votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America for 150 points. Outfielder Luis Robert of the Chicago White Sox received 83 points followed by right-handed pitcher Cristian Javier of the Houston Astros, who tallied 11 points.
Why he won: Hit .262 with a .364 OBP, 11 home runs, 28 RBI and five steals in 58 games. Lewis led all rookies in home runs (tied with Robert), runs (37) and walks (34).
Quotable: “It’s just a great first step for me, and being in that category, it’s just really special.” – Lewis on becoming the 12th player to win by a unanimous vote, joining a prestigious list that includes Carlton Fisk, Derek Jeter, Mike Trout and Aaron Judge.
Our pick: Lewis
NL Rookie of the Year
The winner: Devin Williams, RP, Brewers
The vote: Received 14 of the 30 first-place ballots and finished with a total of 95 points. Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm was second with nine first-place votes and 74 points, with Padres infielder Jake Cronenworth tallying six first-place votes to also total 74 points. Dodgers pitcher Tony Gonsolin, who was not among the three finalists, received the other firstplace vote.
Why he won: Using a devastating mix of a high 90s (mph) fastball and knee-buckling changeup, he went 4-1 with a 0.33 earned run average in 22 appearances, allowing only one earned run – a home run by Pittsburgh’s Colin Moran in the fourth game of the season. He finished with 53 strikeouts in 27 innings for a historic ratio of 17.6 per nine innings. He led all major league relievers with a 0.63 WHIP and .090 opponents batting average.
Bohm batted .338 in 44 games with a .400 on-base percentage, four home runs, 23 runs batted in and .881 OPS. He drew 16 walks, struck out only 36 times and was a clutch performer for the Phillies, batting .452 with runners in scoring position. Cronenworth, who started games at second base, where he was a Gold Glove finalist, nine at first base and three at shortstop, batted .285 with four home runs, 20 RBI and .831 OPS.
Quotable: “To me, it holds the same weight. There are analysts who may argue with that. Everyone is given the same number of games this year, so what you did with them is what you did with them.” – Williams when asked if it was just as meaningful to win after a 60game, pandemic-shortened season.
Our pick: Cronenworth
AL Manager of the Year
The winner: Kevin Cash, Rays
The vote: Received 22 firstplace votes, compared to five for runner-up Rick Renteria – who was fired at the end of the season by the Chicago White Sox. The Blue Jays’ Charlie Montoyo finished third.
Why he won: Cash led the Rays to the American League’s best regular-season record (4020). Tampa Bay had a $29 million prorated payroll as of Aug. 1, which ranked 28th out of 30 teams. Still, the Rays won the AL East for the first time since 2010.
Quotable: “Have I reflected on it? There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t reflect on it. Being in this position we owe it to ourselves and more importantly our players to continue to reflect on those decisions. Yes, I would do it the same way all over again. I would plead for a different outcome, that’s for sure.” – Cash on pulling a dominant Blake Snell in the sixth inning of the decisive Game 6 of the World against the champion Dodgers. After Snell exited, the Dodgers rallied against Nick Anderson and went on to a 3-1 victory. Voting for the award concluded before the playoffs began.
Our pick: Cash
NL Manager of the Year
The winner: Don Mattingly, Marlins
The vote: Received 20 of the 30 first-place votes from NL writers to finish with 124 points and easily outdistance Jayce Tingler of the San Diego Padres (71 points, six first-place votes). The Cubs’ David Ross finished third.
Why he won: Took a Marlins squad that lost 105 games in 2019 and turned it into a playoff participant following a secondplace finish in the NL East and a playoff spot – in spite of a layoff of more than two weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Quotable: “They’re just different. The first one feels personal, and this one feels more like a team thing, and that’s why I’m proud of it because we’ve struggled for a couple years and for us to move forward is important, and I think this is a sign that we’re heading in that direction.” – Mattingly on becoming the fifth person to win both MVP and Manager of the Year. The Marlins’ 31-29 record was Mattingly’s first winning season in his fifth year with the club.
Our pick: Mattingly
AL Cy Young Award
The winner: Shane Bieber, SP, Indians
The vote: Received all 30 first-place votes for 210 points. Kenta Maeda (92 points) of the Minnesota Twins and the Toronto Blue Jays’ Hyun-jin Ryu (51 points) finished second and third, respectively.
Why he won: Went 8-1 with a 1.63 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 77 1⁄ innings, helping the Indians
3 reach the postseason for the
fourth time in five years. In all, Bieber led the majors in wins, ERA, strikeouts and strikeouts/ nine innings (14.2) and is the first pitcher since 2011 to win the Triple Crown (ERA, wins, strikeouts). His 14.2 strikeouts per nine innings is the highest single-season ratio in history among players to have qualified for the ERA title – albeit in a shortened season.
Quotable: “Today’s a good day regardless. It just makes it that much better that we were able to take this thing home and that it was unanimous.” – Bieber
Our pick: Bieber
NL Cy Young Award
The winner: Trevor Bauer, SP, Reds
The vote: Received 27 of the 30 first-place votes, winning in a landslide over finalists Yu Darvish (Cubs) and Jacob deGrom (Mets) to earn the award for the first time in his career.
Why he won: Was a big reason why the Reds earned their first trip to the postseason in seven years. He had a 5-4 record with a league-low 1.73 ERA in 11 starts. He struck out 100 across 73 innings and led the league in WHIP (0.795) and fewest hits per nine innings (5.1).
Quotable: “Just having a year like this, it really validates all the work. People way overestimate what can be done in one year, but they underestimate what can be done in 10. I’ve been at this for 10 years, probably more like 15 years now actually in this method of development, but hopefully it validates what I do, the scientific approach to baseball for the people that follow me.” – Bauer, who frequently trains in the offseason at the data-driven Driveline facility near Seattle, along with some other dataheavy facilities. He was one of the first pitchers in professional baseball to work with weighted balls. He was the first to utilize the extreme slow-motion cameras during bullpen sessions that are now ubiquitous with all teams.
Our pick: Bauer
AL MVP
The winner: Jose Abreu, 1B, White Sox
The vote: Claimed 21 of the 30 first-place votes. Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez claimed eight first-place votes and Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu claimed the last first-place vote and finished third.
Why he won: Turned the 60game season into one of his greatest, leading the AL in hits (76), RBI (60), slugging (.617) and total bases (148) and his 19 home runs ranked second. Meanwhile, a long-awaited White Sox rebuild finally gained traction, as the club went 35-25. His September surge measured up against any year: 10 home runs, a .366 average and a 1.294 OPS that lifted the Indians out of the doldrums and into nine wins in their final 11 games to claim the AL Central title.
Quotable: “This award is for my family, for (owner) Jerry (Reinsdorf) and the Chicago
White Sox organization who gave me the opportunity to play in the big leagues and made my mom’s dream come true. To the fans and to all my coaches, teammates and everyone who has helped me and supported me, this is for you too. Thank you also to all the writers who voted for me.” – Abreu in a statement.
Our pick: Abreu
NL MVP
The winner: Freddie Freeman, 1B, Braves
The vote: Claimed 28 of the 30 first-place votes, with Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts receiving the other two.
Why he won: Played in every game despite missing most of summer camp battling COVID-19. He posted career bests across his slash line, with a .341 average, .462 on-base percentage and .641 slugging. He would have swept the NL in all three categories were it not for Washington’s Juan Soto, who qualified for the batting title but had 66 fewer plate appearances than Freeman after an openingday positive test for the coronavirus shortened his season. The Braves won their third consecutive NL East title.
Quotable: “At Truist Park, when you walk down the hall of the clubhouse, all the MVPs are on the wall of the clubhouse, and the Cy Youngs. You think, that’d be cool to win that some day. For me to achieve that is still kind of hard to put into words.” – Freeman, the first Brave to claim MVP honors since friend and former teammate Chipper Jones won in 1999.
Our pick: Freeman