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Blue Jays 2022 BBWAA Awards: Ethan & Mitch’s Picks
The Toronto Chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) released its year-end Blue Jays awards Thursday.
In a fractured vote, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. narrowly won the 'Position Player of the Year' award. Starting pitcher Alek Manoah unanimously won the 'Pitcher of the Year' hardware, and Ross Stripling won the 'Most Improved Player' award.
Additionally, Mark Budzinski and Buck Martinez were named winners of the John Cerutti Award for displaying goodwill, cooperation, and character.
The player voting was a little more challenging this season. Manoah was a lock for top pitcher, but other awards weren't so easy to decide on. For transparency's sake—and for a little bit of fun—Mitch and Ethan will reveal and defend their picks for the top position player, as that vote was the least decisive.
Ethan's Ballot
1) Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
2) Bo Bichette
3) George Springer
After careful examination, my vote for top spot came down to Bichette or Guerrero. While Springer posted a 131 OPS+ and led Jays position players with a 4.0 bWAR, I felt like his 29 games out of the lineup and his 40 appearances at designated hitter reduced his value to the club just a smidge. It was a solid season for Springer, but Bo and Vladdy were more valuable.
So, why Guerrero? After a near MVP season in 2021, some might deem his 2022 performance to have been a little below expectations. Personally, I thought Guerrero had a fine year. He was an All-Star again and won his first Gold Glove at first base. Sure, the walks and OBP took a big hit—he also led all of baseball in GIDPs (yikes)—but he was still the most valuable hitter, in my opinion, over the course of the season.
At the end of the day, Vladdy was the guy you wanted at the dish with men on base. His Gold Glove defense at first base also pushed me over the edge when I had a hard time deciding between him or Bichette.
Speaking of Bo, why not pick the guy who batted .406 with a 1.105 OPS in September, nearly singlehandedly assuring Toronto would win the top wild-card spot? Well, Bichette's .293 OBP through the first two months of the season held me back a little. His numbers evened out near the end of the season—he led the AL in hits for the second straight year—but the slow start hampered the Blue Jays' success.
Defensively, I saw Bichette get much better, even if the metrics don't love him at shortstop. I'm not entirely sold on his future at shortstop, but I'm not ready to pull the plug and move him to the keystone either.
It was a tough vote, but Vlad was my guy for Position Player of the Year.
Mitch's Ballot
1) Bo Bichette
2) George Springer
3) Alejandro Kirk
This vote was rightfully close, and there's a reason five different players got first-place votes. For me, I seriously considered a group of four players deserving of Toronto’s top position play this year—Bichette, Springer, Guerrero Jr., and Kirk.
With most value metrics pretty close among the four, what pushed Bichette to the top were two things: his position and his moments. Defensive metrics still aren't convinced by Toronto’s shortstop, but he plays one of the hardest positions on the field and is among the best offensively. Add in that he was then a comparable hitter to Springer, Kirk, and Guerrero this season (by wRC+) and I defer to the shortstop.
Among all shortstops, Bichette ranked fourth in OPS and was one of just four who had an OPS over .800 this year. For first basemen, Guerrero ranked sixth, with nine MLB 1B posting OPS over .800. Bichette’s offensive production this year came from a position where it’s rare to find.
As for the moments, it seemed Toronto’s success this season was almost directly tied to Bichette’s, at least in the second half. The shortstop’s best month (September) was also the Blue Jays’ best, finishing the season 22-11. When Toronto entered a contentious Wild Card battle with the Orioles for a moment there late in the season, Bichette raised his game. When Kirk, Chapman, and Guerrero were all average or below hitters in the final month of the season, Bichette posted one of the best months in franchise history. Narratives and hot streaks don’t drive award voting (or at least shouldn’t), but Bichette’s final month of the season sealed his spot atop my ballot.
As for having Guerrero off my top three entirely, it came down to a similar case for positional value. Playing 160 games, and leading Toronto in GP, is no small feat. But on a per-game basis, Springer, Kirk, and Bichette were simply more valuable this season, and all three play premium defensive positions. I don’t live and die by numbers like WAR, but Guerrero Jr. ranked fifth among Toronto hitters in fWAR this year and third in bWAR. Again, the tier of four at the top was extremely close this year, with Guerrero narrowly my odd man out.
