The 2024 MLB Awards – Did They Get It Right?

Every year, Major League Baseball hands out their annual awards, and every year there’s an argument about nearly every honor.

Whether its if someone deserved to win the award, if someone from their favorite team was snubbed or the thought that being in a major market controlled the outcome. If there’s an award to be won, there’s always a case to be made and will allow people to complain.

With that said, let’s do exactly that! We’ll go through the individual awards in MLB and see if the voters got it right. This is nothing against the writers who voted (if they got one we felt was wrong), just an expression of opinion.

Chances are, you’ll disagree with something on here and comment on it, and we encourage that.

 

American League Rookie of The Year – Luis Gil, Pitcher, New York Yankees

The A.L. Rookie of the Year race may have been the hardest fought. Gil, Yankees, catcher Austin Wells and Baltimore Orioles left fielder Colton Cowser all had excellent years. In the end, it came down to Gil winning the award.

Gil led the league in opponent batting average, led all A.L. rookies in wins and was tied for first in strikeouts amongst all rookies.

Wells had a nice season but some could argue he shouldn’t have gotten the nod over players like Boston Red Sox’s outfielder Wilyer Abreu or Texas Ranger’s outfielder Wyatt Langford due to better defense and production at the plate. Cowser, meanwhile, put up some nice power numbers and defense but it didn’t carry the weight that Gil did.

This is a close call but because Gil stepped up as the pitcher they needed at a time he was needed, they got it right. Verdict: Correct

 

National League Rookie of the Year – Paul Skenes, Pitcher, Pittsburgh Pirates

The N.L. Rookie of the Year award winner was one of the best pitchers in baseball last year. His 1.96 Earned Run Average and 170 strikeouts made his appearances for Pittsburgh a must watch.

His season was so good, he was nominated for the Cy Young Award as a rookie (we’ll get to it).

Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio had a nice season, including a 20-20 season but he was the odd man out in this race. On the other hand, San Diego Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill could compete with Skenes.

He was extremely clutch throughout the regular and postseason, led rookies in nearly every major batting category and was good in the field.

While most years, Merrill should get the win here, Skenes was just on another level. One account said that “Merrill had a season that wins Rookie of the Year four times out of five. Skenes had one that should win five times out of five.”

That statement is true, without a shadow of a doubt. Verdict: Correct

 

American League Manager of the Year – Stephen Vogt, Cleveland Guardians

No matter who won, the A.L. Manager of the Year award was going to be represented by an A.L. Central team.

Stephen Vogt just happened to be the right guy. Leading his team through multiple injuries and even managing his bullpen so well, it helped Cleveland have one of the best bullpens since 1995. Vogt really stamped his name into the conversation.

With that said, Detroit Tigers’ manager A.J. Hinch and Kansas City Royals’ manager Matt Quatraro made some serious noise. Quatraro turned a 106-loss team into a postseason team, something that only the 2020 Miami Marlins and 2017 Minnesota Twins had done.

Hinch, on the other hand, took a team that was expected to finish in or near last place and got them to the playoffs, even after selling at the trade deadline. While Vogt won the division ultimately, it’s debatable that he won Manager of the Year in his league, given the other finalist.

Realistically, Quatraro probably should have gotten the nod here. Verdict: Incorrect; Matt Quatraro should have won

 

National League Manager of the Year – Pat Murphy, Milwaukee Brewers

Pat Murphy had a hard task in Milwaukee. He had to replace Craig Counsell (who chose to leave Milwaukee to coach their division rivals, the Chicago Cubs), the team traded his best pitcher (Corbin Burnes) to Baltimore in the offseason, their next best pitcher (Brandon Woodruff) suffered a season-ending injury and lost their closer (Devin Williams) midseason to injury. Yet, they still won the N.L. Central.

New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza and San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt both made significant claims, however, what separates the two are the budgets. The Mets had the highest payroll in baseball and the Padres were in the top 15 of payroll. Meanwhile, Milwaukee was 21st.

The fact Milwaukee has had their sustained success as a small market team, even with the payroll cuts, is why Murphy should get the nod. Verdict: Correct

 

American League Cy Young Award – Tarik Skubal, Pitcher, Detroit Tigers

There’s not much to be said here, Skubal was a Triple Crown winner in the A.L.

No offense to Kansas City Royals’ pitcher Seth Lugo or Cleveland Guardians’ pitcher Emmanuel Clase, but when you win a Triple Crown, that automatically will give you a Cy Young or Most Valuable Player award. Verdict: Correct

 

National League Cy Young Award – Chris Sale, Pitcher Atlanta Braves

Like Skubal, Sale was a Triple Crown Candidate this time in all of baseball. He fell four strikeouts short but he still gets the nod here because of how close he was. Skenes will be a Cy Young Award winner soon but this was Sales’ Day.
Verdict: Correct

 

American League Most Valuable Player – Aaron Judge, Outfielder, New York Yankees

Aaron Judge was a monster this season. Leading all of baseball in home runs, runs batted in, walks, on-base percentage and other multiple categories, it was no way he wouldn’t finish in the top two.

Even against his teammate, outfielder Juan Soto, it seemed like these two should have been 1A and 1B.

Then there’s the Kansas City Royals shortstop, Bobby Witt Jr., who many said was the best all-around player this season. A 30-30 season and leading all major league baseball in batting average, in addition to having an incredible season in the field, really made a compelling case.

Realistically, this comes down to the question of who was more valuable. Witt was the best player in baseball this year, and that should be noted…. but Aaron Judge just had too good of a season.

If he didn’t lead all of baseball in so many categories, then Witt probably wins, that’s not this year though. Verdict: Correct

 

National League Most Valuable Player – Shohei Ohtani, Designated Hitter, Los Angeles Dodgers

When you play so well that you are the first player in Major League Baseball history to join (or create) the 50-50 club, then there’s no need to debate this.

If not for the 50-50 year Ohtani had, New York Mets’ shortstop Francisco Lindor would have probably won, as many see him as the best position player in the National League this season.

Like Judge, Ohtani’s year was just too good. Verdict: Correct