MLB Awards Leaders At Season’s One-Third Mark

NL Manager of the Year: Dave Roberts (LAD)

The Manager of the Year Award isn’t typically awarded as a review to the manager’s season, in reality. That’s because it is so difficult to evaluate every single manager fairly. Rather, it typically goes to playoff teams, especially if they outplay expectations and win close games. That’s why Dave Roberts wins the National League version. The Dodgers have been clearly the best team in the NL so far this season, and therefore Dave Roberts wins the award a third of the way through the season.

Runners-Up: Andy Green (SDP), Gabe Kapler (PHI), Craig Counsell (MIL)

Green leading San Diego to an above .500 record with such a young roster, while also dealing with many injuries. Speaking of injuries, Kapler and Counsell have dealt with extremely depleted bullpens, yet have still helped their teams reach a playoff spot as of now.

AL Manager of the Year: Rocco Baldelli (MIN)

Baldelli seems like the obvious choice here. The Twins were not expected to make the playoffs at all, let alone as a division winner. Yet, when the brand-new manager took over, Minnesota did so well in the first third of the season that they seem like a surefire division winner.

Runners-Up: Kevin Cash (TBR), Aaron Boone (NYY), AJ Hinch (HOU)

Cash has led Tampa Bay in a similar way to Baldelli in that he took a team with a small hope at the playoffs to one of the better records in a difficult division. He’s had a young roster and has used his unconventional pitching staff management to get his team to this point. Boone had expectations coming into the season with New York, but they don’t even seem like the same team with the number of injuries they have had, and yet Boone has still led the team of no-names to the division lead. Hinch doesn’t seem like he could beat any of those 3 for the award, but nonetheless, he’s managed the Astros to one of the better records in the majors.

NL Reliever of the Year: Kirby Yates (SDP)

It’s difficult for a reliever to run away with an award at this stage of the season with the lack of innings they have, but Yates may be doing so. His 1.7 fWAR and 1.6 bWAR is unheard of for a reliever at this point, and that’s all driven by a 1.08 ERA and a 1.96 xFIP. He hasn’t allowed a home run all season and is a perfect 21 for 21 on save opportunities for the Padres. His 2.35 WPA may just be the difference between the Padres being above .500 at this point and not.

Runners-Up: Josh Hader (MIL), Felipe Vazquez (PIT), Will Smith (SFG)

Hader also has a case for the award due to his 1.94 xFIP, 1.44 SIERA, and 2.26 DRA. That is all impressive just by itself, but once you consider the role of a multi-inning reliever he plays, it appears even more worthy of this award. Vazquez is also perfect on save opportunities and has a mid-1 ERA, backed by solid peripherals. Will Smith has outperformed his ERA with a sub-2 xFIP and SIERA, so it seems possible that Smith and his 40% K% gets better as the season goes on.

AL Reliever of the Year: Ryan Pressly (HOU)

Pressly is the latest success story of the Astros pitching development abilities. After being given away by the Twins for not much in terms of prospects, Pressly has put up a 0.36 ERA in over 25 innings already. While repeating a 1.4 bWAR through the next third of the season is unrealistic for a reliever, his peripherals are solid too. Pressly has struck out 32.2% of batters and only walked 2.2%. A very high groundball rate has helped as well. In total, Pressly’s FIP, xFIP, and SIERA are all still under 2.

Runners-Up: Ken Giles (TOR), Ty Buttrey (LAA), Aroldis Chapman (NYY)

Giles has bounced back in a major way, producing a 1.1 fWAR while striking out over 40% batters while also limiting walks. His ERA and FIP are under 1.30 each. Buttrey is also doing a great job as the Angels closer as only a rookie, with a 1.5 bWAR and a 1.27 ERA and 2.08 FIP through 28.1 innings. Chapman has also been his usual dominant self, keeping both his ERA and FIP under 1.80.