Soto already became the youngest player to win the NL batting title when he hit .351 in his age-21 season in 2020. Martinez was too consistent and too elite for too long to simply lose it overnight. Net income. At 27, this is theoretically his prime. Zach Edey is the runaway odds favorite and his lead over the field is absolutely laughable. The 29-year-olds cancer is now in remission. Harper said he only needed to rest following the season to be healthy by the time Spring Training opens in February. MLB Awards: 2020 results, all-time winners. But it was rough sledding getting to that point, and he ended up with 106 strikeouts in 377 plate appearances. Because of MLB's rookie eligibility rules being prorated given the shortened 2020 season, many players you grew familiar with a year ago are still rookie eligible, making the pool of . A bit later in the month, he hit three home runs in the span of four innings in a win over the Diamondbacks. Jayce Tingler finished second in NL Manager of the Year voting in '20. RAYS: Randy Arozarena, AL Rookie of the Year. Guardians: Triston McKenzie, RHPHeading into last year, you wondered whether the lanky, powerful McKenzie was going to become the next Cleveland pitcher to come up through their system and turn himself into an ace. Bleacher Report's 2021 Midseason MLB Awards Kerry Miller July 15, 2021 Shohei Ohtani Elaine Thompson/Associated Press The 2021 Major League Baseball season is approximately 56 percent. The 22-year old shortstop has had an impressive season so far. But it seems his accelerated career path and 2020 trial by fire did the flame-throwing lefty quite a bit of good. Despite both a slow start (Tatis was batting .118 as late as April 19) and missing 17 of the team's first 43 games (minor shoulder injury and a stint on the COVID-19 list), El Nino has hit 28 home runs and stolen 20 bags. The New York Giants' offense had a plethora of issues up and down the roster. His re-addition to the Dallas Cowboys has helped take them from 6-10 and a third place NFC East finish in 2020 to 11-5 and the division title this year. Bieber showed just how lethal his repertoire can be after adding a cutter to create more separation between his fastball and breaking pitches. While San Francisco managed to exceed expectations and fall only one win short of the playoffs, there was no question the club missed its undisputed leader in the clubhouse and on the field. His strikeout rate rose slightly from 26.3 percent to 29.7 percent this year, but there were still signs of encouraging plate discipline. Burnes managed to finish sixth in 2020 NL Cy Young Award balloting after his candidacy took a painful hit in his final regular-season start, when an oblique injury not only spoiled his bid to be the first Brewers pitcher to win an ERA title, but left him one-third of an inning -- thats right, one measly out -- shy of qualifying for the honor. With his intriguing combination of power, speed and competitive drive, Kelenic ranks as the No. Who's to say he would've even been in the big leagues this year were it not for Sanchez's shoulder injury? He hit 35 home runs and drove in 97 runs in 154 games while batting .291/.364/.535. Its safe to say that the stage wont be too big for Kirilloff whenever he appears in a big league uniform in 2021. The final treatment came on Sept. 21, 2020. It's clear the 2010 first-round pick still has plenty left in the tank following his showing in 2022. Expect the right-handed hitter to bounce back in a big way in 21, and having Alex Cora back as his manager will only help. Gallen doesnt get the attention of some pitchers in larger markets, but if he continues to pitch as he has in his first year-plus in the big leagues, that could change in a hurry. Mariners: Jarred Kelenic, OFHe finally came on toward the end of the year, showing Mariners fans why they thought he could carry them back to the playoffs by himself. Could that be an offseason adjustment that assures he retains his title? The Braves would very much welcome his 2020 form. Major League Baseball on Monday night announced the two winners of the Comeback Player of the Year award for 2021: Buster Posey of the Giants in the National League and Trey Mancini of the Orioles . Bleacher Report's panel of MLB scribesAbbey Mastracco, Joel Reuter, Zachary Rymer and myselfoffered up picks for Manager, Comeback Player, Rookie, Cy Young and MVP in each league from the first half of the season. Odds have been released for the 2023 NFL Comeback Player of the Year award. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Major League Baseball on Tuesday night announced the two winners of the Comeback Player of the Year award for 2022: Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League and Justin . The 22-year-old outfielder has finished within the top 12 in NL MVP balloting in each of his first three seasons and he is now primed to win this honor. Giants: Tommy La Stella, 2BIts not easy to find disappointments on this Giants roster from last year, but its fair to think they expected a little bit more than a .250 average from one of their more high-profile free agent signings. The 25-year-old dominated the shortened 2020 season, taking home the MLB pitching Triple Crown by topping all other pitchers in wins (eight), strikeouts (122) and ERA (1.63). Also Considered: Gerrit Cole, New York; Lance Lynn, Chicago; Nathan Eovaldi, Boston. The Pirates focus for now is on building a better future, and theres no doubt Hayes will be a part of it. Gallen had just two poor innings in '20 -- he allowed four runs in the sixth inning on Sept. 7 and four runs in the first inning on Sept. 12. And while it seems absurd to suggest he could get even better in the second half, it bears mentioning that the Mets have been taking it easy on their ace since the minor injuries he suffered in May. If Harper can stay healthy in 2021, there is no reason to think he cannot continue to crush the baseball like he did in the first half of '20. teammate and person could make him . Also Considered: Alex Cora, Boston; Dusty Baker, Houston. Ahead are our picks for who'll take home the five biggest awards in the American League and National League: Comeback Player of the Year, Manager of the Year, Rookie of the Year, the Cy. but +1000 is great value for an electric player that saw far more of the . The American League features a trio of new managers in 2021, although none are first-time skippers. In the abbreviated 20 season, Martinez slashed .213/.291/.389 and was one of the least productive position players in the game. Being the leader of America's Team certainly has its privileges, with more national TV games and chances of exposure. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File). 3 overall pick in the 2014 MLB drafta chance at the back end of the rotation. The award was created for a player who was once a star, but had to come back from either injury or ineffectiveness to reclaim his status. He's averaging just under 11 K/9 and a little better than 3.5 K/BB. Hes got one more year on his Royals deal, and if this teams going to compete at all in this division, they need him making far more regular jaunts down to first base, one way or another. The 30 club beat reporters from MLB.com selected the winners from an original list of 30 candidates (one per MLB club). NL: Adam Wainwright, Cardinals Wainwright was nowhere near being thought of as a rotation mainstay, even after posting a 3.15 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in the abbreviated 2020 season. From 2016-2019, Mancini had a 162-game pace of 31 home runs, which is exactly where he's at this year with 16 dingers at the All-Star break. 2022 could be a bounce-back fantasy season for Adalberto . BALTIMORE -- Even before the 2021 season began, murmurs projecting one of Major League Baseballs more prestigious offseason awards had already begun to circulate. With the NBA regular season more than half over, this is an exciting time for hard-core hoop heads, who have a chance to get some real value on the best 2022-23 NBA awards odds. Their improvements should bode well for Posey, who will be entering the final year of his contract. He only has a 7-6 record to show for it, but Rogers has a 2.31 ERA and has held the opposition to three or fewer runs in each of his 18 starts. His whiff rate also went up to 36.6 percent, marking a career high. Not only that, but so little was expected of the Giants that 64 percent of the money bet on that line came in on the under. The team still believes in him and now, with Alex Reyes out, they need him. It shouldnt be overlooked that Betts sparked the Dodgers when he became the full-time leadoff hitter, a spot in the order that Los Angeles has struggled to fill for years. We were in unanimous agreement on five of the 10 awards, and there was a three-fourths agreement on four of the other five. The greater came a few months before that when his son was born. He turns 27 on Nov. 19, so he is young enough to still have many great seasons ahead of him. If he makes the Leap in 2021 without missing a beat, his odds to win NFL Comeback Player of the Year just increased substantially from the +800 that you see above. The Washington right-hander is one of the best pitchers in the game when he is healthy as he showed in 2019 in lifting the Nationals to the first World Series title in franchise history with his October heroics. But that begs the question -- has he already returned, and can he still win? The 2021 Major League Baseball season begins this week, and with it comes a new group of young players looking to make names for themselves in the majors. ORIOLES: Trey Mancini, AL Comeback Player of the Year Fully recovered from Stage 3 colon cancer, Mancini aims to be back on the field by Opening Day 2021. He still finished with a 167 ERA+ and he figures to only get better with experience. He still has the smarts and precision to return to himself, though. White Sox: Dallas Keuchel, LHPKeuchel has the sort of stuff that has to be perfect: Weve seen him dominant and we've seen him get knocked around. He has been a solid player for two years, but hardly anything resembling a superstar. Mets: Dominic Smith, 1B/OFIn 2019 and 2020, Smith finally turned into the player of Mets fans dreams, getting on base regularly and showing considerable pop. And then the six-time (now seven-time) All-Star catcher opted out of his age-33 season. Now, he will be working with new pitching coach Ethan Katz, his coach at Harvard-Westlake High School in California who also helped Giolito make significant changes to his repertoire and delivery in the offseason prior to the 19 campaign. But one of the unique benefits of being a human, after things havent gone well, after youve been knocked down, is that you can pick yourself back up and get back after it again. The White Sox (-115) have leapfrogged the Twins (+140) as pre-season Central favorites, and there are several key questions the Twinkies have heading into the 2021 campaign. Five starts into the season, Rodon was a perfect 5-0 with a 0.58 ERA and a 0.68 WHIP. Alcantaras four-seam fastball averaged 96.8 mph this year and his sinker sat at 96.2 mph. Fully recovered from Stage 3 colon cancer, Mancini aims to be back on the field by Opening Day 2021. To make it through the whole season and not go on the injured list, to make it to the end, Im really happy to be here, Mancini told MLB.com in October. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (+1400) 8. The Ravens won 14 games with a second-year quarterback under center. Visit: DraftKings >> Claim a $50 free bet and a 20% deposit match bonus up to $1,000. This lineup is stacked now, but he could raise it even higher and hey, while hes at it, can he catch every ball in the field too? There have only ever been four 50-HR/20-SB seasons in MLB history: Willie Mays in 1955, Brady Anderson in 1996, Ken Griffey Jr. in 1998 and Alex Rodriguez in 2007. Orioles: Anthony Santander, OFSantander was a Rule 5 pick from Cleveland who was one of the happy stories of the Orioles 2020 season -- a year in which the Orioles were in second place a third of the way through the season! He barely saw the field in 2019. Check out the full list of player odds for the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award in 2021, courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook. Both Darvish and Snell finished with ERAs above 4.20, so that ended up being a moot point. All-time MLB Comeback Player of the Year winners. Not even an offseason, halted Spring Training, shutdown period or short Summer Camp could disrupt Darvishs rhythm. Red Sox: Jackie Bradley Jr., OFThere was a time, I swear, when it looked like Jackie Bradley Jr. was going to be a superstar in this league. Only four guys (Brandon Crawford, Wilmer Flores, Austin Slater and Mike Yastrzemski) have played in at least 75 percent of the team's games (67 games). Four months ago, it wasn't even clear if Carlos Rodon would be a part of Chicago's 2021 starting rotation. When in doubt for a Manager of the Year pick, it never hurts to compare a team's actual record to its Pythagorean record. The Yankees are banking on Kluber to be a key part of their rebuilt rotation behind ace Gerrit Cole and fellow newcomer Jameson Taillon, who is making his own comeback after missing last season with the Pirates while recovering from Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery. The Comeback Player of the Year Award was awarded by The Sporting News every season from 1965 to 2006, with one award given in each league every season. He should be the Comeback Player of the Year, Cora said all the way back on April 4. The No. So, yeah, Gabe Kapler for NL Manager of the Year (to date) was a rather easy decision. But I would rather bet on him for Comeback Player of the Year than MVP. Seemingly everyone likes a comeback story. From April 20 through the end of May, Tatis triple-slashed .359/.431/.845 with 14 homers and 12 steals in just 29 games, earning NL Player of the Month honors for May. Simply put, he was one of the top three or four players in the game. He had a 35.5 whiff percentage on the pitch in '20, an improvement from 31.6 percent in 19. Thats what Ill remember the most.. Until last year, it was much more of the former. Mancini won the American League Comeback Player of the Year Award after beating colon cancer and returning to Baltimore to post the fourth 20-home run season of his career. The 21-year-old was expected to make his MLB debut this past year, but with only 21 games above Class A under his belt, the Mariners opted to keep Kelenic at their alternate training site in the shortened campaign. Posey will be back in '21 and he should be poised for a bounceback season now that hes further removed from August 2018 hip surgery that sapped his power and hampered his production in each of his previous two seasons. Had it not been for the pandemic eliminating the 2020 minor-league season, Rogers probably would have spent last year in either Double-A or Triple-A. Mancini missed all of the 2020 season as he underwent treatment for Stage 3 colon cancer, which he was diagnosed with in March of that year after a colonoscopy revealed a malignant tumor. The Orioles' Trey Mancini and the Giants' Buster Posey were named MLB's Comeback Players of the Year for 2021 on Monday. In five September starts, Castillo went 4-1 with a 2.20 ERA, 37 strikeouts and nine walks. After a Silver Slugger season in 2020, he hit .220 and slugged only .388, in a season where he only played 60 games. As a hitter, Ohtani is easily one of the best in the majors, if not definitively the best. He signed a one-year, $11-million contract as a free agent in the offseason.