This is my post regarding the Comeback Player of the Year Awards that I wrote in March. In the post I predicted that Matt Wieters of the Baltimore Orioles would win it for the American League and that Wil Myers would win it for the National League with the full knowledge that Major League Baseball only hands out one award for the entire league. I’m just nice like that and I want to hand out two. Here is the post with my predictions and explanations. It looks like I did a halfway decent job with these predictions if I don’t say so myself.
The Comeback Player of the Year, quite possibly the most
useless award in all of Major League Baseball’s set of awards? Why you may ask?
The league or whoever votes on these things focus too much, in my opinion, on a
guy who missed a chunk of the previous season due to injury and less on a
player that makes a true comeback. I was pretty on the fence about this award
before last year but when Alex Rodriguez did not win the award that solidified
it for me. Leaving my bias and opinions aside I wanted to take a stab at an
American League and National League Comeback Player of the Year Award winner
for the 2016 season.
In the American League I went a little off the script here
with my pick. This player is technically still coming back from an injury but
the injury did not keep him off the field for the majority of the 2015 season.
In fact this man played much of the 2015 season on the field and behind the
dish for the Baltimore Orioles, Mr. Matt Wieters. Wieters is entering the 2016
campaign in his second season removed from Tommy John surgery after playing in
75 games last season. Wieters struggled with the bat last season and struggled
to command the running game at times last season. They say positional players
need a year to recover from the injury while pitchers need two full years to be
fully back to themselves but everybody is different just like every injury is
different. Wieters has to throw the ball back to the pitcher a good 150-200
times a night, control the running game and bat on a surgically repaired elbow
that may or may not have been 100% when he did it all. Wieters should benefit
from a long winter off and should be back to form in 2016 winning the award
outright.
I considered going with Marcus Stroman here for the AL but
after that September and October he had I felt like he already came back, you
know?
In the National League I went with a “can’t miss” prospect
that has yet to live up to the expectations and hype over a 162-game schedule.
Wil Myers of the San Diego Padres was thought to be the next big thing when he
was with Tampa but after a trade to the West Coast and a wrist injury later we
fans were left wondering once again what could have been with Myers. 2016 may
finally be the year we see a full season and a productive season out of Myers
as he has yet to play in more than 88 games in a season during his career or
get more than 335 at bats. Myers started out last season hitting well with four
home runs and a .286 average in April as the leadoff man before hurting his
wrist again and ending his season. Myers, if he can finally stay healthy, might
not only win this award but may be in consideration for the NL MVP Award as
well. You never know.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)