Chris Sale, Garrett Crochet win 2024 MLB Comeback Player of the Year Awards
All-Star left-handed pitchers Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves and Garrett Crochet of the Chicago White Sox have been named the recipients of the 2024 National League and American League Comeback Player of the Year Awards, respectively, Major League Baseball announced this evening. The winners were unveiled at the 2024 All-MLB Awards Show presented by MGM Rewards from All-MLB Weekend at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. The Comeback Player of the Year Awards are officially sanctioned by Major League Baseball and have been presented annually since 2005 to one player in each League who has re-emerged on the field during the season. The winners were determined following a vote by the 30 Club beat reporters from MLB.com, the official website of Major League Baseball.
In his first season with the Braves, Sale earned the first pitching Triple Crown in the NL since Clayton Kershaw accomplished the feat with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2011. The 35-year-old Sale, who was limited to just 31 total starts over the previous four seasons with the Boston Red Sox, went 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts over 177.2 innings pitched in 29 starts during the 2024 campaign as Atlanta reached the Postseason for the seventh consecutive year. Sale¡¯s 18 victories established a new career-best, eclipsing his 17 wins in 2012, 2016 and 2017. The Florida native allowed no more than two earned runs in each of his last 18 starts of the season dating back to June 7th. The stretch marked the longest single-season streak by a traditional starter in history since earned runs became an official statistic in both leagues in 1913, surpassing 17-game runs by Hall of Famer Walter Johnson (1919) and Seattle Mariners great F¨¦lix Hern¨¢ndez (2014). Sale, who was the 13th overall selection in the 2010 MLB Draft by the White Sox, was named an All-Star for the eighth time in his career and for the first time since his 2018 season in Boston. Sale becomes the fourth Braves recipient of the award, joining Tim Hudson (2010), Jonny Venters (2018) and Josh Donaldson (2019). The Braves went 22-7 in Sale¡¯s 29 starts on the season, and Atlanta is now the first organization to have four Comeback Player of the Year winners.
Crochet, who missed the entire 2022 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, pitched in just 13 games of relief during the 2023 campaign. The 25-year-old moved into the starting rotation for 2024 and made a team-high 32 starts while posting a 3.58 ERA and career-highs of 209 strikeouts and 146.0 innings pitched. The Mississippi native became just the eighth left-hander to reach 200 strikeouts in a single season, and the first since Sale in 2016, while doing so in the fewest innings pitched among that group. Crochet, who was named to his first All-Star Game, recorded 150 strikeouts before the All-Star Break, tying former teammate Dylan Cease (2022) for the second-most in team history. The University of Tennessee product ranked fourth in the AL in strikeouts for the season overall and became the only Major League pitcher since at least 1901 to record at least 200 strikeouts with 32 walks-or-less over his first 31 career starts. Crochet, who was the 11th overall selection in the 2020 MLB Draft, is the second consecutive White Sox pitcher to win the AL Comeback Player of the Year following Liam Hendriks in 2023. The White Sox have now had three recipients of the award (also Hall of Famer Jim Thome in 2006), matching the Red Sox for the most among AL Clubs.
Other players who received votes for NL Comeback Player of the Year included closer Edwin D¨ªaz of the New York Mets (6-4, 3.52 ERA, 54 G, 20 SV, 53.2 IP, 84 SO, 20 BB), who missed the entire 2023 season due to injury; pitcher Erick Fedde of the St. Louis Cardinals/White Sox (9-9, 3.30 ERA, 31 GS, 177.1 IP, 154 SO, 52 BB), who spent the 2023 season pitching in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO); infielder/outfielder Oneil Cruz of the Pittsburgh Pirates (.259, 21 HR, 76 RBI, 34 2B, 3 3B, 72 R, 22 SB, .773 OPS), who suffered a season-ending leg injury after just nine games of the 2023 season; pitcher Luis Severino of the Mets (11-7, 3.91 ERA, 31 GS, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 182.0 IP, 161 SO, 60 BB), who posted a 6.65 ERA over 19 games for the Yankees in 2023; infielder/designated hitter Rhys Hoskins of the Milwaukee Brewers (.214, 26 HR, 82 RBI, 14 2B, 59 R, 3 SB, .722 OPS), who missed the entire 2023 season with Philadelphia due to injury; and catcher Joey Bart of the Pirates (.265, 13 HR, 45 RBI, 11 2B, 38 R, .799 OPS), who set career-highs in several offensive categories after playing in just 30 games for San Francisco in 2023 while splitting the season between the Major and Minor Leagues.
Other players who received votes for AL Comeback Player of the Year included pitcher Tanner Houck of the Red Sox (9-10, 3.12 ERA, 30 GS, 1 CG, 1 SHO, 178.2 IP, 154 SO, 48 BB), who was an All-Star for the first time in his career after posting a 5.01 ERA in 2023; pitcher Carlos Rod¨®n of the New York Yankees (16-9, 3.96 ERA, 32 GS, 175.0 IP, 195 SO, 57 BB), who was limited to just 14 games started in his first season with New York in 2023; outfielder Tyler O¡¯Neill of the Red Sox (.241, 31 HR, 61 RBI, 18 2B, 74 R, 4 SB, .847 OPS), who recorded nine home runs and 21 RBI in just 72 games and 238 at-bats in 2023 for the Cardinals; and outfielder JJ Bleday of the Oakland Athletics (.243, 20 HR, 60 RBI, 43 2B, 4 3B, 74 R, 2 SB, .762 OPS), who hit .195 with 27 RBI in 82 games during the 2023 season.
This marks the first time since 2018, and the fifth time overall, that two pitchers have been awarded with the Comeback Player of the Year Awards in the same season.
For a complete list of Comeback Player of the Year winners, click here.