Toronto BBWAA Award Winners

TORONTO – The Toronto division of the North American Baseball Writers Association (BBWAA) met Tuesday for the Blue Jays’ annual 2021 awards vote.

In addition to the traditional recognition for the best player, pitcher, rookie and the most improved, the Toronto division also awarded the John Cerutti Award to the individual who best represents goodwill, cooperation and character. Here, the winners.

Best Player: 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
The Dominican finished second in AL MVP voting, second only to Shohei Ohtani, and won the AL Hank Aaron Award and a Silver Bat. The 22-year-old hitter hit .311, butted 48 home runs and had a 1,002 OPS over 161 games. He was named the MVP of the 2021 All-Star Game.

Pitcher of the Year and Most Improved Player: LZ Robbie Ray
Ray unanimously won the Pitcher of the Year award, an easy decision after the southpaw scooped the AL Cy Young Award. He was also recognized as the Most Improved Player, after recovering from a 6.62 ERA in 2020 to being one of the best pitchers in 2021. Ray finished with a 2.84 ERA, striking out the most opponents in MLB. with 248. The monticular signed for five years and US $ 115 million with the Mariners on December 1.

Rookie of the Year: RHP Alek Manoah
Beginning training, it seemed that the best scenario for Manoah would be to move up to the big team at the end of the year. But the mountaineer accelerated the process by posting a 0.50 ERA with 27 strikeouts in 18 innings at Triple-A. Including his MLB debut on May 27 against the Yankees, Manoah was 9-2 with a 3.22 ERA in 20 starts (111.2 innings) with 127 strikeouts.

John Cerutti Award: The 2B Marcus Semien
The “Good Guy Award” is now named after former Blue Jays player and storyteller John Cerutti and was presented to Marcus Semien, after a season in Toronto that took him to third place in the AL MVP award, behind Guerrero and Ohtani. Along with his Silver Bat and All-Star call, Semien won the Gold Glove at second base, a position he had not regularly defended since 2014. The 31-year veteran hit .265 with 45 home runs (a new record for a second baseman in the American and National Leagues). On December 1, he signed a seven-year, $ 175 million deal with the Rangers.