Biggest Snubs, Surprises of the 1st Annual 2015 Esurance MLB Awards
This just hasn't been an awards season to remember for Zack Greinke.
After losing out for the National League Cy Young, the right-handed ace was snubbed for the Best Starting Pitcher honor in the inaugural edition of the 2015 Esurance MLB Awards.
Before taking a look at the biggest snubs and surprises of the Esurance Awards, let's break down how the voting process worked. Media, front-office personnel, retired MLB players, the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and fans determined the winners for each of the categories. Each of those five groups had an equal voice in the process, as each group accounted for 20 percent of the vote.
Now that all the votes have been tallied, it turns out that Greinke wasn't the only ace from the Los Angeles Dodgers who ended up getting snubbed.
Snub: Lorenzo Cain Loses Out for the Best Play, Offense
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Make no mistake about it. Jose Bautista, who won this award for his go-ahead three-run home run in Game 5 of the American League Division Series, authored one of the most memorable and coolest moments of the postseason.
But the distinction of best offensive play belongs to Lorenzo Cain.
In Game 6 of the AL Championship Series, the center fielder scored all the way from first base on a single off the bat of Eric Hosmer. According to MLB.com's Statcast, Cain topped out a speed of 20.7 mph as he scored the run that would send the Kansas City Royals on to the World Series.
Surprise: Wade Davis Named Best Major Leaguer, Postseason
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There's absolutely nothing wrong with Wade Davis winning this award. After all, the Kansas City Royals closer didn't give up a single earned run in eight October outings.
But it is somewhat surprising that Daniel Murphy didn't secure this honor. In 14 games, the New York Mets second baseman crushed seven home runs, which was one short of the all-time postseason record, as Paul Casella of MLB.com noted.
For his part, Murphy couldn't explain his crazy-good run.
“I don’t know,” Murphy told Dan Martin of the New York Post when asked what led to his outburst. “I wish I could explain it. I would have done it like six years ago. I can’t explain it."
Murphy's subpar glove provides the likely explanation for why the 30-year-old didn't end up winning this award, as the vet chipped in a couple of key errors in the World Series.
Snub: Clayton Kershaw Loses Out for Best Performance
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Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer should have shared this award.
Ultimately, Scherzer won out on the strength of his Oct. 3 no-hitter in the regular-season finale. The no-no against the New York Mets included 17 Ks and was his second no-hitter of the season. As dominant as Scherzer was, the outing was only a brilliant flourish to a trainwreck of a campaign for the Washington Nationals.
Meanwhile, Kershaw's shutout of the San Francisco Giants on Sept. 29 was not only a work of individual genius but also punched the Dodgers' ticket to the postseason, as the squad locked up its third consecutive NL West crown.
In one of the understatements of the season, then-manager Don Mattingly told Ken Gurnick and Oliver Macklin of MLB.com that Kershaw "was really crisp."
Really crisp, indeed.
Kershaw allowed just a single hit while tallying 13 strikeouts. Considering the stage and that Kershaw was pitching opposite of Madison Bumgarner, this was the best performance of the year.
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Surprise: Prince Fielder Named the Best Bounce-Back Player
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From Alex Rodriguez to Prince Fielder to Carlos Gonzalez and Matt Harvey, this field was stocked with deserving candidates.
The owner of a .305 average and a .841 OPS, Fielder certainly enjoyed a monster campaign after a neck injury wrecked his debut season with the Texas Rangers. However, it's still a surprise that Harvey didn't snag this award considering that postseason performance was factored into the equation.
In the Rangers' postseason run, Fielder was a dud, hitting just .150 as he collected three singles in five games. Harvey, meanwhile, was a star for the New York Mets. In four postseason starts, the righty piled up 27 punchouts and posted a 3.04 ERA.
Even though the outing proved to be the final contest of the year for the Mets, his most impressive work came in Game 5 of the World Series. Against the Kansas City Royals, Harvey put up eight scoreless frames before arguing his way onto the mound for the ill-fated ninth.
“If [manager Terry Collins had] taken him out, he'd have probably needed to fight 44,000 people,” David Wright said, per Howard Megdal of USA Today.
That's a spot-on assessment from the captain.
Snub: Zack Greinke Loses Out as the Best Starting Pitcher
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As was the case in the battle for the NL Cy Young Award, Jake Arrieta edged out Zack Greinke in the chase for Best Starting Pitcher.
Clearly, this was no easy choice.
When it came to picking the Cy, Greinke's teammate Brandon McCarthy perfectly summarized just how tricky the decision was, via Twitter: "NL Cy Young voters: no matter which of the three you vote for, you got it right. Congrats! And horribly wrong. Idiot."
Arrieta's second half was flat-out brilliant, as he served up just nine earned runs in 15 starts after the All-Star break. That's remarkable, but Greinke was historically nasty all season. Per the Stats Twitter account, Greinke's 1.66 ERA was the lowest mark for a starter since Greg Maddux reeled off a 1.63 ERA way back in 1995.
Note: All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and MLB.com.
If you want to talk baseball, find me on Twitter @KarlBuscheck.
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