1 big question for each award this week
David Adler
@_dadlerWe've reached MLB's awards season. These are the big storylines to watch this year.
The?2023 award winners will be announced this week on MLB Network, on the following days at 6 p.m. ET.?
- Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year: Monday
- Manager of the Year: Tuesday
- Cy Young: Wednesday
- Most Valuable Player: Thursday
Here are the four biggest questions for Awards Week 2023.
1) Could Shohei Ohtani be the unanimous MVP бн again?
Ohtani is the overwhelming favorite to win his second career MVP Award after another historic season. The two-way superstar became MLB's first Japanese home run king after leading the American League with 44 homers. He hit over .300 for the first time as a Major Leaguer, he led the Majors with a 1.066 OPS, and he went 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA and 167 strikeouts as a pitcher. Ohtani is by far the frontrunner over fellow AL MVP finalists Corey Seager and Marcus Semien.
He might well be in unanimous MVP territory -- for a second time. Ohtani received all 30 first-place votes when he won his first MVP Award in 2021. That season, he hit 46 home runs, stole 26 bases, collected 100 RBIs and went 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA and 156 K's as a pitcher. His 2023 season was arguably even more impressive.
If Ohtani is the unanimous MVP again, he'll make MLB history. He's already one of just 19 players to win an MVP Award unanimously. No player has ever won multiple unanimous MVPs.
2) Is Gerrit Cole finally about to get his Cy Young?
Cole has been so close so many times, but he's still looking for his first career Cy Young Award. This could be the year he finally gets it. The Yankees ace went 15-4, led the AL with a 2.63 ERA and 209 innings pitched -- it's his second ERA crown -- and racked up 222 strikeouts.
Cole has finished in the top five of Cy Young Award voting five times prior to this season -- in 2015 with the Pirates, 2018 and '19 with the Astros and 2020 and '21 with New York. His best finish was as the runner-up in 2019, when he led the Majors with 326 strikeouts but placed second to teammate Justin Verlander. He also finished second in 2021, but received only one first-place vote to winner Robbie Ray's 29.
Cole's five top-five finishes would be the most by any Cy Young winner before their first career award. Dennis Eckersley had three top-five finishes before he won the AL Cy Young Award with the A's in 1992, and only seven other pitchers have even had multiple top-five finishes before winning the Cy Young Award for the first time: Verlander, Randy Johnson, Orel Hershiser, Jim Palmer, Catfish Hunter, Mike Marshall and Fergie Jenkins.
3) Can MLB's top-prospect duo sweep Rookie of the Year?
MLB's top two prospects at the start of 2023? Gunnar Henderson and Corbin Carroll. The two Rookie of the Year favorites at the end of 2023? Gunnar Henderson and Corbin Carroll.
Henderson, the Orioles' 22-year-old slugging infielder, was ranked the No. 1 prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline before the season. Carroll, the D-backs' electric 23-year-old power-speed outfielder, was No. 2. Henderson made good on his top prospect ranking with 28 home runs and 82 RBIs for the 101-win O's. Carroll hit 25 homers, stole 54 bases and led Arizona to the National League pennant.
A Rookie of the Year trophy in the AL for Henderson and in the NL for Carroll would mark a wire-to-wire run for the two young stars -- and put the duo in rare company.
Going back to the start of MLB Pipeline's prospect rankings in 2004, only one top prospect duo has swept the two Rookie of the Year Awards: Shohei Ohtani and Ronald Acu?a Jr. -- who it just so happens are now the two 2023 MVP favorites. That was in 2018, when Ohtani was the No. 1 overall prospect as he jumped from Japan to the Majors, and the 20-year-old phenom Acu?a was No. 2.
The only other times that two preseason top-five prospects won the two Rookie of the Year Awards were in 2015, when Kris Bryant (No. 2) and Carlos Correa (No. 3) won, and in 2012, when Bryce Harper (No. 2) and Mike Trout (No. 3) won.
4) Will Bruce Bochy cap his return with Manager of the Year history??
Bochy's storybook season, where he returned to managing for the first time since 2019, led the Rangers to their first World Series championship and earned his own fourth ring, could have one more chapter written this week.
Bochy is a Manager of the Year finalist in the AL, alongside the Orioles' Brandon Hyde and the Rays' Kevin Cash. Texas' skipper first won that award all the way back in 1996 with the Padres.
If Bochy wins the Manager of the Year Award for a second time, several aspects would be historic. His 27 years between winning would be the longest gap in the award's history by far. The current longest period between Manager of the Year wins since the award was first given out in 1983 is the 15 years Davey Johnson went between winning with the Orioles in 1997 and the Nationals in 2012.
Bochy would also become just the eighth different manager to win the World Series and Manager of the Year in the same season, and the first since Ozzie Guillen with the White Sox in 2005. He'd be the ninth manager to win Manager of the Year in both leagues -- Buck Showalter, Lou Piniella, Bob Melvin, Joe Maddon, Jim Leyland, Tony La Russa, Johnson and Bobby Cox are the only skippers to win in both the AL and NL.