The Sporting News announced several of their 2015 end of season awards on Monday and while the St. Louis Cardinals not winning in the categories was not a complete surprise, the voting totals were a little more than perhaps expected.
Players from the league were surveyed by Sporting News to determine the winners.
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Rookie of the Year honors went to Chicago’s Kris Bryant, who garnered 127 of the 167 total votes. San Francisco’s Matt Duffy (22) and Pittsburgh’s Jung Ho Kang (5) rounded out the top three. Neither Randal Grichuk or Stephen Piscotty even made the top seven candidates for the award.
Pitcher Jaime Garcia, who underwent season-ending thoracic outlet surgery last year, was mentioned as a Comeback Player of the Year candidate at different times throughout 2015, but the Sporting News award went to New York’s Matt Harvey, who received 72 of the 198 votes.
Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies, who ended last season early for surgery to repair a torn patella tendon, finished second with 66 votes and Cincinnati’s Joey Votto was third (25 votes).
Harvey had Tommy John surgery the end of 2013 and missed all of last season. He returned to go 13-8 with a 2.71 ERA and 188 strikeouts in 29 starts for the Mets. Harvey’s 189.1 innings pitched were the subject of much debate after his agent, Scott Boras, stated the right-hander was on a strict 180 IP limit per doctors orders.
Garcia made 20 starts for the Cardinals and finished with a 10-6 record with a 2.43 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 129.2 innings pitched.
Interestingly, St. Louis Cardinals teammate Michael Wacha finished fourth in the balloting with 13 votes.
While it’s not likely that players got out their computers to break down and compare stats of various candidates before submitting their tallies, the vote does provide some glimpse into perspective from around the league.
The Sporting News will announce their Managers of the Year tomorrow.
photo credit: Jeff Curry, Scott Kane-USA TODAY Sports
