Line Up Forms

Posts Tagged ‘baseball players’

As mentioned earlier, the Baseball Writers Association of America will declare this week the NL Most Valuable Player Award winner for this year. There were three great MLB players that were mentioned who will most likely be the MVP for the previous season – Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals, Colorado Rockies’ Carlos Gonzalez and Joey Votto of Cincinatti Reds. Among the three candinates, Reds’ first baseman – Pujols is the favorite and was expected by many to be the possible winner. However, it came out to be that Joey Votto is this year’s National League Most Valuable Player. Yes, the 27 year old Votto topped the two players and is recognized as the 10th Red to win the NL MVP Award which was announced last earlier this week.

Votto is the 1st awardee for the Cincinatti’s since Barry Larkin won in 1995. He won over the reigning 2-time MVP Albert Pujols and Carlos Gonzales, obtaining 31 out of 321st place votes for the award.

Votto, 27, hit .324 with 37 home runs and 113 RBI. Pujols led the National League in home runs (42) and RBI (118). However, this year’s winner led the league in on-base percentage (.424) and slugging percentage (.600). He ended 2nd in NL in batting average to Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez (.336) and third in home runs to Pujols and Nationals’ Adam Dunn (38) and 3rd RBI to Pujols and Gonzalez (117).

Votto was in just his 3rd full year in the major leagues. He was the Cincinatti’s 2nd round draft pick in 2002, out of Toronto. He ended up as 2nd the 2008 Rookie of the Year voting.

Votto hit .322 with 25 home runs and 84 RBI in 2009. However, he missed a total of 31 games and had to leave to others with issues of stemming from depression and anxiety. He was able to keep away from any such conditions this season.

Votto is driven, never satisfied.

“When I was in high school, I was never the best player,” Votto said earlier this year. “When I was in the minor leagues, I was never the best player. Even when I was called up, I didn’t get a lot of attention. Nothing was given to me. I’ve always earned it. I’ve always worked hard since I was very young.

“I learned that from my parents. I learned that from trial and error. I tried to get by before, and that didn’t work well for me. I’m driven. I want to be the best. I want to reach my potential. The times when I feel myself giving in, getting sluggish or lazy, that’s when I know I’m not doing the right thing.”

Job well done, Joey! Congratulations and we hope you join Cincinatti Reds legends – Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan as a 2-time winner next year!

Read the rest of this entry »

The Baseball Writers Association of America is expected to declare within this week the winner of the NL Most Valuable Player Award for this year. There are 3 top baseball players who are candidates to receive the title, however the favorite could possibly be Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals.

St. Louis first baseman took part in 159 games this previous season, finishing tied for 5th in the league with a .312 average while leading the league in both home runs and RBI with 42 and 118, respectively. Pujols already received a Silver Slugger for his work at the plate – the 6th of his career – and a Gold Glove for his work in the field – the 2nd of his career. He also batted .343 with runners in scoring position and .339 in clutch situations, just strengthening his case.

However, Pujols will face competition from Cincinnati Reds’ first baseman, Joey Votto and Colorado Rockies’ left fielder, Carlos Gonzalez. While the 30-year old Pujols posted a .312 average, a .414 OBP, and a .596 slugging percentage, Votto posted a .324 average, a .424 OBP, and a .600 slugging percentage. The 27 year old Votto also finished just behind Pujols with 37 home runs and 113 RBI, and Votto’s Cincinatti made the playoffs, which has historically helped athletes in the Most Valuable Player voting. Votto batted .369 with runners in scoring position and .355 in clutch situations, with the only real drawback being that he missed 12 games.

And CarGo (Carlos Gonzalez) rivaled both Pujols and Votto in average, slugging, home runs, and RBI and at the same time playing also center field for the Colorado. While the Little Pony (Gonzalez) will lose points for playing in a very hitter-friendly ballpark, he will obtain points for his defense and the fact that he batted .363 in the 2nd half of the season and, along with Troy Tulowitzki, nearly pushed the Rockies into the playoff picture. Gonzalez drew lots of attention to himself down the stretch, and even though Colorado eventually came up short, their brief run should only help CarGo’s case.

Other baseball players, like Phillie’s Roy Halladay and Padres’ Adrian Gonzalez, should end up pretty high on some ballots, but the MVP will end up being 1 of the 3 talked about above. If it is going to be Pujols, it will be his 3rd in a row and 4th overall. Votto and Gonzalez would be 1st time winners, with Barry Larkin being the last Cincinatti player to win way back in 1995, and Larry Walker being the only Colorado’s player to win in 1997.

Read the rest of this entry »

During the early months of the MLB previous season, it was assumed that Atlanta Braves’ right fielder, Jason Heyward and Detroit Tigers’ center field, Austin Jackson would be the tandem to win the Rookie of the Year Award for this year. Fast forward to November and the story is very different as Giants catcher Buster Posey and Rangers closer Neftali Feliz win the NL & AL Rookie of the Year Awards for 2010.

Based on ESPN, Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants’ catcher and Neftali Feliz, Texas Rangers’ closer have recognized and awarded as the 2010 Rookies of the Year in their respective leagues – American League and National League.

Posey of the Giants won the NL Rookie of the Year award by drawing 20 out of a possible 32 first place votes. San Francisco called up the 23-year old Catcher in late May and the blue chip prospect responded by hitting .305 with 18 home runs, 58 Runs, and 67 RBIs in 108 games during the 2010 World Series championships.

On the other hand, Rangers’ Feliz established an MLB rookie record by recording 40 saves on the season and was a key cog in the Rangers run to the World Series. The Rangers’ righty reliever finished first on 20 out of a possible 28 ballots. The 22-year old AL Rookie 2010 Awardee finished the season with a 4-3 record, 2.73 ERA, 40 saves, and struck out 71 batters in 69.1 innings.

Voting was completed by two BBWAA members in each league city after the conclusion of the 2010 regular season.

Read the rest of this entry »

The American Gold Glove awards were announced yesterday. Some of the awards are surprises, others are not!

For instance, Ichiro Suzuki, Carl Crawford, and Franklin Gutierrez all won an award for their OF play. I cannot question much with this, as the three of them are most likely the best defensive OF in the American League. Brett Gardner of New York was a great choice as well, but again, it is difficult to argue with the three who did win. For the popular right fielder – Ichiro Suzuki, this is his tenth award, tying an AL record. Only Roberto Clemente and Willy Mays have won more.

Yankees former Shortstop, Derek Jeter is the big surprise – sort of. 2009 was a surprisingly powerful MLB season for Jeter in the field, but this recent 2010 season was maybe a “makeup” for the previous season’s better fielding. This is Jeter’s fifth Gold Glove, 4 more than he should have, if Rob Neyer has anything to say about it. It makes you wonder what managers are looking at, and it makes me quiver in fear for Troy Tulowitzki’s chances tomorrow.

Below are the AL Gold Glove Awardees and their number of awards received:

Joe Mauer, Twins, 3
Mark Teixeira, Yankees, 2
Robinson Cano, Yankees, 1
Evan Longoria, Rays, 2
Derek Jeter, Yankees, 5
Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners, 10
Carl Crawford, Rays, 1
Franklin Gutierrez, Mariners, 1
Mark Buehrle, White Sox, 2

Read the rest of this entry »

On his 11 years with the Chicago White Sox as first baseman is Paul Henry Konerko who went to high school in Scottsdale and still makes his offseason home in the area, and if the Arizona Diamondbacks have their way he will be playing there year-round too. Bruce Levien of ESPNChicago.com reported Henry Konerko will be an offseason priority for the D-Backs once the free agency period starts in another week or so.

Diamondbacks received good but not excellent production out of Adam LaRoche this year (.261/.320/.468 with 25 homers), and this report appears to indicate that they’ll acquire out his $7.5MM mutual choice for $1.5MM instead of pick it up. Konerko had a great mlb season, hitting .312/.393/.584 with 39 home runs in 631 plate appearances. New General Manager Kevin Towers has shown interest in cutting down on his team’s strikeouts, something Konerko would definitely support with; he struck out 62 fewer times than LaRoche in 16 much more plate appearances.

The 34-year-old first baseman informed the reporters back in September that he could retire if he is not happy with the way his offseason shakes out, but I am confident playing close to home will be an interesting choice. Konerko also said that contract length is not significant priority since he is not certain how much longer he wants to play. He just wrapped up 5-year deal that paid him $12MM annually.

Read the rest of this entry »

Robert Joseph “Bobby” Cox born on May 21, 1941, in Tulsa, Oklahoma is the previous manager of the Atlanta Braves, and a former third baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB). As frustrating as it was to go out within the NLDS nothing will tarnish this man’s legacy. For 21 years he handled hundreds of players to an incredible 14 straight division titles. Positive he was tossed far more than any other manager, but his players will tell you that time and again it was to protect them. He was his players’ biggest so long as they played the “Braves way”. If not, well, ask Yunel Escobar what happens. Although he was honored in each and every city the Braves visited (except Florida, but you’d expect practically nothing different from the farcical Jeffrey Loria), the biggest honor was final night when the Giants’ athletes paused their celebration long enough to show respect to Cox when he appeared one last tie on the field despite the fact that Edgar Renteria was the only Giant to have played for him. McGraw, McCarthy, Mack, Huggins, Martin, Weaver, Alston and now Cox, who joins an elite cluster of revered managers who have stood the test of time.

Lou was considered to be one of the greatest players of all time in baseball. Despite his parents contradiction with him pursuing the sport, he still pushed for it and ended up with a baseball scholarship. In 1923, he began playing for the New York Yankees.

He was recognized to be the American League Most Valuable Player which gave him the nickname the “Iron Horse”. He was able to play for a total of 14 years without missing any single game. He played for 2,000 games – a record which no one was able to break for five decades.

He quit baseball when he found out he had a spinal disorder called ALS.

Photo via gardenofpraise.com

Also known as Randy Johnson, this great baseball pitcher was born on September 10, 1963 in California. He was famous because despite his being left handed, he still greatly stood out in baseball history as an amazing and talented pitcher.

He currently plays for Arizona Diamondbacks in the world of Major League Baseball. He has also achieved a lot of baseball exploits with being a Cy Young Award Winner for five consecutive times. He has always been celebrated for his fastballs in every game he worked hard in which he regularly approaches with a ball that travels for a hundred miles per hour.

He retired from the Major League Baseball on January 5, 2010.

Photo via askmen.com

Born on November 21, 1969 in Pennsylvania, Ken is an MLB players for the Cincinnati Reds team. It was in 1987 when he was first drafted as an amateur for the Seattle Mariners and then he became an asset for the team.

His debut in the MLB world was on April 3, 1989. His combined perseverance and natural talent on the field made him one of the most recognized players in the baseball scene. He even collaborated with Nike and came up with the Nike Air Griffey Max.

He was Baseball Digest Magazine’s Rookie All Star Team in the 1989 issue and he will remain forever a legend in the history of baseball.

Photo via worldatlas.com