TORONTO – Cy Young Award finalist Alek Manoah was the unanimous choice as Blue Jays pitcher of the year while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. bagged player of the year honours for the second straight season in voting by the Toronto chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Ross Stripling, the free agent right-hander who established career bests in starts, innings, ERA, walks-per-nine and WHIP, was selected as the club’s most improved player while longtime broadcaster Buck Martinez and first base coach Mark Budzinski shared the John Cerutti Award, which goes to someone associated with the day-to-day workings of Blue Jays’ baseball who displays goodwill, co-operation and character, as exemplified by the late left-hander.
Manoah finished third in AL Cy Young voting after posting a 2.24 ERA in 196.2 innings across 31 starts, recording a quality outing in 25 of them. He struck out 180 batters and limited opponents to a WHIP of 0.992. Kevin Gausman finished second in the voting.
Guerrero led the Blue Jays in games played (160), home runs (32) and RBI (97) while winning his first career Gold Glove at first base. He received eight of 18 first-place votes to edge out shortstop Bo Bichette, who received six first-place votes. George Springer, with two, Alejandro Kirk and Matt Chapman also received first-place votes.
Stripling logged a 3.01 ERA in 134.1 innings across 32 games, 24 starts, emerging as a key performer after Hyun Jin Ryu’s season-ending elbow injury. He received 10 first-place votes to beat out Kirk, who received six first-place votes, and Manoah, who had two.
Martinez, the former Blue Jays catcher and manager whose voice is part of the soundtrack on broadcasts of the club’s games, returned to the booth this season after being diagnosed with cancer in mid-April and taking a pause to receive cancer treatment.
Budzinski, in his fourth season as the team’s first base coach, left the club in July following the death of his daughter Julia and returned after the all-star break, resuming his duties with his usual grace, strength and dignity.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.