The 2016 Burning River Awards

The awards with the funny names are back as Burning River Baseball brings you our unofficially official Tribe team awards for the sixth straight year. Prior to 2015, these awards were selected solely by myself, Joseph Coblitz, but for the second year in a row we have increased the voting pool. This year, Burning River Staff writers, Mike Melaragno, Kevin Gall, John Hutchison, Caitlin Boron, Gavin Potter and Justin Lada all got one vote as did Brad Wojdyla from WTAM 1100 in Cleveland and the Baseball & Brews podcast. Individual votes are located at the bottom of this article.

“The Lee Award” for Most Improved Player – Jose Ramirez

The previous winners of this award were all deserving, but none at the level of Ramirez. Last season, it’s arguable that the Indians missed the postseason because of the poor play of Ramirez at short stop and the fact that Franciso Lindor wasn’t promoted until June. This year, Ramirez was one of the main driving forces of an offense that was the second best in AL and a primary reason the Indians made the play-offs this year. In addition, he was a plus defender at third base and an adequate one in left field after being atrocious last year at short stop. In terms of WAR, he went from being a 1.8 win player in 2014 and 1.5 in 2015 to being a 3.9 win player this year.

In addition to his defensive improvements, which were enough alone to earn him this award, he was arguably the Indians most consistent hitter all season. Only nine times did he go consecutive games without a hit and only three times did he go three games in a row. This despite playing in 95 of the Indians last 96 games. While everyone else was running out of energy including Mike Napoli and Francisco Lindor, who completely disappeared over the last month, Ramirez batted .333/.379/.492 from August 26th on raising his season average to a team best .312. Ramirez swept the voting in this category.

2015 Winner – Lonnie Chisenhall
2014 Winner – Carlos Carrasco
2013 Winner – Scott Kazmir
2012 Winner – Shin-Soo Choo
2011 Winner – Justin Masterson

“The Super Joe” Rookie of the Year Award – Tyler Naquin

Naquin wasn’t the only rookie important to the Indians 2016 campaign as Mike Clevinger also had a decent year in his debut season and many others made short appearances, but he swept the field for Rookie of the Year. Many had given up on the former first round draft pick when the exciting names of Clint Frazier and Bradley Zimmer neared their Major League debuts, but Naquin gave Indians fans a reason to be patient and the Indians front office enough confidence to trade Frazier to fix another part of the team.

Although he never hit for power in the minors, Naquin knocked out 14 and knocked in 43 while batting a strong .297/.372/.514. His two obvious weaknesses brought down his season numbers a bit as his complete inability to hit, yet avoid swinging at, high pitches lead to 112 strike outs and a drop in average of 42 points after June 7th and his poor defense in center lead to him being named the absolute worst center fielder in the AL by Fangraphs (the leading site for defensive metrics), but he was still of great value to the team and undoubtedly the best rookie for the Tribe in 2016.

2015 Winner – Francisco Lindor
2014 Winner – T.J. House
2013 Winner – Cody Allen
2012 Winner – Zach McAllister
2011 Winner – Vinnie Pestano

“The Steve Olin Memorial Award” for Best Reliever – Andrew Miller

This was a split vote with Miller winning three to two over Cody Allen and Dan Otero. All three were incredible relievers this year for the Tribe and worthy of the award, but for the short period that Miller was in Cleveland, none were better. Miller ended up pitching 29 innings for the Tribe after coming over for Clint Frazier, Justus Sheffield, Ben Heller and J.P. Feyereisen and struck out 46 for a 14.9 K/9 for the full season, third in the Majors among those with at least five innings pitched. Looking at just his time in Cleveland, his 1.55 ERA was only slightly higher than Otero’s 1.53 and he pitched in significantly more difficult situations. Used whenever he was needed, Miller held nine games and saved three, never blowing a lead. Only Bryan Shaw had more holds for the season and he pitched in nearly three times as many games.

2015 Winner – Cody Allen
2014 Winner – Cody Allen
2013 Winner – Cody Allen
2012 Winner – Vinnie Pestano
2011 Winner – Joe Smith

“The Big O” for Most Outstanding Defender – Francisco Lindor

Performing at a level not seen in Cleveland at least since Omar Vizquel, it looks like Lindor will own the top defender award until he leaves Cleveland or ends his career (hopefully at the same time and many years in the future). He not only was the best defender on the Indians, but the best in all of baseball, saving 27.8 runs over the average defender. In addition, his 42.8 career defensive runs saved make him the single most valuable defender for the Tribe on a career level since Fangraphs began calculating the stat in 2002. Simply put, in a year and a half, he’s become the Indians best defender in more than a decade. Unfortunately, we don’t have the numbers from Vizquel’s early years in Cleveland, but Lindor is vastly superior to the old and often injured Omar of the early 2000’s.

He will likely win his first Gold Glove this year for his combination of flashy plays and routine consistency and would have won it in 2015 if not for a stupid arbitrary rule that cost him qualification. On a team that was one of the best defensively as a group, there was not a single competitor for Lindor as he earned all the votes for top defender.

2015 Winner – Francisco Lindor
2014 Winner – Jose Ramirez
2013 Winner – Michael Brantley
2012 Winner – Michael Brantley
2011 Winner – Jack Hannahan

“The Golden Belle” for Most Outstanding Hitter – Carlos Santana

This one was an extremely close vote as the Tribe had five hitters who were all deserving of consideration for this award. Despite this, there were only two vote getters as those who valued the power side acknowledged that Santana had a significantly better season than Mike Napoli and the fans of more well rounded players all picked Ramirez over Lindor and Jason Kipnis.

On Santana specifically, who won the award with a 5-3 vote, he lead all qualifying hitters with a .498 slugging percent and a .366 OBP. He also lead the team in home runs (31) and walks (99) while only striking out 99 times compared to Napoli’s 194 in fewer at bats.

2015 Winner – Michael Brantley
2014 Winner – Michael Brantley
2013 Winner – Jason Kipnis
2012 Winner – Shin-Soo Choo
2011 Winner – Asdrubal Cabrera

“The Addie” for Best Overall Pitcher – Corey Kluber

For the third year in a row, there was only one answer for who the Tribe’s top pitcher was and that was Kluber (although Andrew Miller got one vote). He finished his third consecutive season with and ERA below 3.50 in at least 210 innings and with at least 225 strike outs. While not as good as his 2014, Cy Young winning campaign, 2016 was unquestionably superior to 2015 and his ERA showed it, down to 3.14, fourth in the AL. In addition his win-loss record, while heavily influenced by an increase in run support, reflected his ability to pitch deep into games without ever putting his team behind by an insurmountable amount. He won 18 games for the second time (2014), third in the AL. He also finished fifth in total strike outs and innings pitched, fourth in K/9. He easily lead the Indians in all these stats and more.

2015 Winner – Corey Kluber
2014 Winner – Corey Kluber
2013 Winner – Justin Masterson
2012 Winner – Vinnie Pestano
2011 Winner – Justin Masterson

“The Rose Award” for Best Overall Player – Jose Ramirez

This is the team MVP award and encompasses all facets of the game and no player excelled everywhere on the field or was more important to the Indians this year than Ramirez. He began the season on the bench, not playing in Opening Day or six of the team’s first 24 games, but would play in all but three more games for the rest of the season, missing one due to an ankle injury. Despite going from part timer to full timer with almost no notice, he never slumped or tired, batting a team high .312 for the season with 11 home runs, 76 RBI and 84 runs scored, mostly out of the five hole.

On the bases, the entire team had a turn around compared to last year and, while much of this was due to Rajai Davis, Ramirez really brought it to the next level, stealing 22 of 29 attempts. As mentioned before, he improved greatly on defense with a UZR/150 of 4 at third base after a -24.7 last year at short. While his range is still limited, having Lindor next to him makes up for that and he was nearly perfect on the balls he had hit at him with an MLB best .979 fielding percent.

2015 Winner – Francisco Lindor
2014 Winner – Corey Kluber
2013 Winner – Jason Kipnis
2012 Winner – Jason Kipnis
2011 Winner – Asdrubal Cabrera

Vote Results