Aaron Judge and Francisco Lindor win top honors in 2022 Players Choice Awards

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Aaron Judge and Francisco Lindor win top honors in 2022 Players Choice Awards

NEW YORK,Nov. 4 AaronJudge was named overall Player of the Year and American League Outstanding Player, and Francisco Lindor received the Marvin Miller Man of the Year award in balloting for the 2022 Players Choice Awards.

Steve Rogers, a tireless player advocate for almost 50 years as a major-league pitcher and Major League Baseball Players Association executive, is the 2022 recipient of the Curt Flood Award, which goes to “a former player, living or deceased, who in the image of Flood demonstrated a selfless, longtime devotion to the Players Association and advancement of players’ rights.”

In addition to Judge, AL Players chose Justin Verlander as Outstanding Pitcher and Comeback Player and Julio Rodríguez as Outstanding Rookie. National League Players selected Paul Goldschmidt as Outstanding Player, Sandy Alcantara as Outstanding Pitcher, Spencer Strider as Outstanding Rookie and Ronald Acuña Jr. as Comeback Player.

The Players Choice Awards have special significance to players because the winners are chosen by their peers. This year’s balloting took place throughout the major leagues in September. The winners were revealed this evening during the 6 p.m. ET ESPN SportsCenter broadcast.

Judge made history in September when he broke the American League single-season home run record. He helped carry the Yankees to a division title, while leading the majors in runs scored (133), RBIs (T-131), on-base percentage (.425) and slugging percentage (.686).

Angels pitcher and designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Goldschmidt, St. Louis’ All-Star first baseman, were the other Player of the Year finalists.

2022 Marvin Miller Man of the Year

In balloting for Marvin Miller Man of the Year, players were asked to vote for the player “whose leadership most inspires others to higher levels of achievement.” Curtis Granderson, who retired after the 2019 season, won the award four times. Other recent honorees include Marcus Semien (2021), Nelson Cruz (2020), Anthony Rizzo (2017), Adam Jones (2015) and Clayton Kershaw (2014).

The award is dedicated to Marvin Miller, who served as the MLBPA’s first full-time executive director, from 1966 through 1982, and guided its emergence as one of the country’s strongest and most cohesive labor unions.

Francisco Lindor, a former team player representative in Cleveland, has assumed additional responsibilities in player leadership with the Mets as an Alternate Association Player Rep. A Puerto Rico native, Lindor follows Carlos Villanueva and Elvis Andrus as the third Latin-American born player to serve on the union’s Executive Subcommittee. Beyond his advocacy for players, Lindor has lent his time and effort to numerous charities and causes in the community.

Semien, the Rangers’ starting second baseman, and Brewers reliever Brent Suter were the other Marvin Miller Man of the Year finalists.

2022 Curt Flood Award

 

The Curt Flood Award commemorates Flood’s historic judicial fight against baseball’s reserve system, which paved the way for free agency in the 1970s. The 2022 nominating committee, made up of seven former and current MLBPA executives, selected Steve Rogers, who joined the Players Association full-time as a Special Assistant in 1999 and continues to serve the PA and players with his institutional knowledge and encyclopedic grasp of the pension fund and benefit plans.

Here are the individual on-field award winners:

Aaron Judge – Player of the Year and AL Outstanding Player

Aaron Judge captivated the baseball world with his power and all-around hitting acumen in 2022. His 62 home runs broke Roger Maris’ 61-year-old American League record. He led the majors by 16 home runs, the largest gap at the top of the home run leader board since Jimmie Foxx outpaced the pack by 17 in 1932. Judge’s MLB-leading 391 total bases were the most by an AL player since Alex Rodriguez recorded 393 for the Texas Rangers in 2001.

Paul Goldschmidt – NL Outstanding Player

In his fourth season with St. Louis, Paul Goldschmidt won the NL Player of the Month Award in May and kept on producing. He led the league with a .578 slugging percentage and a .981 OPS while driving in 100 runs for the fourth time in his career. A four-time Gold Glove Award winner at first base, Goldschmidt was an NL finalist at the position again this season.

Justin Verlander – AL Outstanding Pitcher and Comeback Player

Justin Verlander enjoyed an incredible resurgence at age 39 after missing two seasons following 2020 Tommy John surgery. He led the American League in wins (18), ERA (1.75), WHIP (0.83), opponents OPS (.498), opponents batting average (.186) and hits per nine innings (6.0). Verlander’s ERA was the lowest by an AL starting pitcher in a full season since Pedro Martinez posted a 1.74 ERA for Boston in 2000.

Sandy Alcantara – NL Outstanding Pitcher

Sandy Alcantara (14-9, 2.28) solidified his credentials as one of baseball’s premier workhorses with a major-league high six complete games and 228 2/3 innings pitched. He lasted at least eight innings in 14 starts this season, the most by a major-league pitcher since Chris Sale did it 13 times in 2016. Alcantara notched his second straight season with 200 or more innings and 200-plus strikeouts.

Julio Rodríguez – AL Outstanding Rookie

Julio Rodríguez, 21, played a feature role in leading Seattle to the postseason for the first time since 2001. He led major-league rookies in homers (28), total bases (260), slugging percentage (.509) and OPS (.853) and joined Chris Young of the 2007 Diamondbacks and Mike Trout of the 2012 Angels as the third rookie to amass at least 25 homers and 25 steals.

Spencer Strider – NL Outstanding Rookie

Spencer Strider, a 2020 fourth round pick out of Clemson University, posted dominant numbers in 20 starts and 31 appearances. He went 11-5 with a 2.67 ERA, struck out 202 and allowed only 86 hits in 131 2/3 innings. Strider’s average of 13.8 strikeouts per 9.0 innings surpassed the previous mark of 12.6 for a rookie pitcher held by Kerry Wood of the 1998 Cubs.

Ronald Acuña Jr. – NL Comeback Player

Ronald Acuña Jr., 24, appeared in his third All-Star Game this year while making an impressive comeback from a torn ACL in his right knee that he suffered in July 2021. He hit 15 homers, logged a .764 OPS and ranked third in the National League with 29 stolen bases despite missing the first three weeks of the season in the final stages of his recovery.

For more information on the 2022 Players Choice Awards, be sure to visit the link here.

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David Keech
Author: David Keech

David Keech is a retired teacher and works as a sportswriter, sports official and as an educational consultant. He has reported on amateur sports since 2011, known as 'KeechDaVoice.' David can be reached at [email protected]