*Photo from Sports Illustrated*
Monday night was an important one in the baseball world, as the finalists for the 4 major individual awards were announced. Winners will be revealed next week for the awards, which are AL and NL MVP, AL and NL rookie of the Year, AL and NL Cy Young, and AL and NL manager of the year.
AL MVP: Yordan Alvarez, Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani
If you are surprised by any of these 3 finalists, you probably didn't watch a ton of baseball. Alvarez, the Astros slugger, posted a .306 average while also slugging 37 home runs in the regular season, and was one of only two players to post an OPS over 1.000. The bad news? The other player to do that is also in the race. Judge is the AL single season home run record holder thanks to this year and was just shy of a Triple Crown this season thanks to 131 RBI's and a .311 batting average. Ohtani, the reigning AL MVP, qualified for both the batting and pitching leaderboards, hitting 34 homers at the plate and striking out 219 on the mound.
NL MVP: Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Manny Machado
A finalist on 5 different occasions, Goldschmidt is looking for his first MVP after being in the Triple Crown mix for a while, hitting .317 with 35 homers and 115 RBI's, leading the NL in slugging percentage and OPS. His teammate Arenado hit .293 with 30 homers and 103 RBI's at the hot corner, looking for his first MVP in 4 times, finishing in the top 5 on 3 previous occasions. Machado's 7.4 WAR led all players in the NL, and put together his second straight all star season with 32 homers and 102 RBI's, looking for his first MVP.
AL Cy Young: Dylan Cease, Alek Manoah, Justin Verlander
After a breakout 2021, Cease put together an impressive year in 2022, with his 2.20 ERA being second best in the AL. Cease struck out 227 hitters and had a stretch of 14 straight starts allowing one earned run or less between May and August. Manoah's 2.24 ERA was 3rd best in the AL, and struck out 180 hitters in his second big league season, including a 0.88 ERA in September. In his first season back from the injury bug, Verlander took home the ERA title with a 1.75 mark, led AL pitchers with 18 wins, and his 185 strikeouts moved his career total to 3,198 as he searches for his 3rd Cy Young award.
NL Cy Young: Sandy Alcantara, Max Fried, Julio Urias
Alcantara was a workhorse for the Marlins, throwing 6 complete games in 2022, the most by any pitcher since 2016 Chris Sale and most out of any team combined this year. His 228 2/3 innings pitched led the majors, and threw at least 7 innings in 13 straight starts from May to July. Fried made his first all star team this year, and ended the year with a 2.48 ERA and 170 strikeouts to help the Braves win the NL East. Urias took home the NL ERA title with a 2.16 mark and followed a 20 win 2021 with 17 this past year.
AL Rookie of the year: Steven Kwan, Julio Rodriguez, Adley Rutschman
Kwan came from out of nowhere to put together an incredible year, hitting .298 and finishing the year with more walks than strikeouts, one of 6 qualified hitters to do so. Rodriguez was the sparkplug of a Mariners franchise, hitting 28 home runs and stealing 25 bases, one of 3 rookies to have 25 homers and 25 steals. Debuting in May, Rutschman quickly became one of baseball's best catchers, hitting 13 home runs and posting a 128 OPS+.
NL Rookie of the year: Brendan Donovan, Michael Harris II, Spencer Strider
Donovan appeared all over the infield and played left and right field for the Cardinals, taking home a gold glove defensively while hitting .281 with a .394 on base percentage. Called up in May, Harris II hit 19 homers and stole 20 bases, leading NL rookies with a 5.3 WAR. Strider's 202 strikeouts were the most by a rookie since Yu Darvish in 2012, striking out 16 Rockies hitters in September, the highest in a game by any pitcher this year.
AL Manager of the year: Terry Francona, Brandon Hyde, Scott Servais
In his 10th year in Cleveland, Francona led the Guardians to a 92-70 record and the AL Central Title, leading the Guardians to the playoffs for the 6th year in his tenure, and 4 division titles. Hyde led the Orioles to a winning record and 31 game improvement from 2021, their first winning season since 2016. Servais led the Mariners to the playoffs for the first time since 2001, winning 90 games for the second year in a row and snapping the longest active playoff drought in the major North American Sports leagues.
NL Manager of the year: Dave Roberts, Buck Showalter, Brian Snitker
Roberts led the Dodgers to a franchise record 111 wins this past season, the most in a season by any team since the 2001 Mariners. It was Roberts's 4th 100 win season and 6th NL West Title in 7 years. In his first season with the Mets, Showalter led the team to 101 wins and their first playoff appearance since 2016. Snitker led the Braves to a 101 win season, their most in a season since 2003. He helped them storm back to take the NL East from the Mets, one year after a World Series title.
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