TBNL: MLB's awards season, the AFL

The 2025 Arizona Fall League wrapped up its six-week season on Friday, with the Surprise Saguaros coming from behind to win the AFL Championship Game over the Peoria Javelinas, 9-4. Surprise scored seven runs in the 8th inning to secure their third championship in the last four seasons.

The Saguaros roster was made up of prospects from the Brewers, Guardians, Phillies, Rangers, and Royals (plus one pitcher who was traded earlier in the week from KC to San Francisco).

Detroit’s Kevin McGonigle was named the AFL MVP, slashing .362/.500/.710 while finishing second in home runs (5) and runs scored (22) in 19 games. The infielder is the No. 2 prospect on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 and finished the 2025 season at Double-A. He could be an option for the Tigers as soon as the 2026 season.

Houston’s James Hicks was named the AFL Pitcher of the Year, pitching 14.0 scoreless innings across four outings (two starts) with 19 strikeouts and just 2 walks allowed. The right-hander held opposing hitters to a .130 batting average. Hicks is No. 26 on the Astros’ Top 30 prospect list.

Pittsburgh’s Esmerlyn Valdez was named the AFL Offensive Player of the Year, hitting .368/.513/.842 while leading the league in home runs (8). The outfielder is the Pirates’ No. 15 prospect.

Baltimore’s Enrique Bradfield Jr. was named the AFL Defensive Player of the Year. The outfielder is the Orioles’ No. 4 prospect.

Colorado’s Cade Denton was named the AFL Reliever of the Year, posting a 3.46 ERA over 15.2 IP with 18 strikeouts, four walks allowed, while keeping opposing hitters to a .156 batting average.

MLB’s awards season has wrapped up. For the sake of time, I’m not going to get into each award-winner in great detail. None of the races were really very compelling this year, which sucked some of the drama out of the announcements.

Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes won the AL and NL Cy Young Awards, respectively, but I already covered that this week.

Oakland, err, West Sacramento …. the Athletics’ Nick Kurtz was a unanimous winner of the AL Rookie of the Year Award. The first baseman arrived in the A’s lineup less than a year after being drafted 4th overall out of Wake Forest University and wasted little time impressing, slashing .290/.383/.619 (173 OPS+) in 489 PA while leading all rookies with 36 HR, 86 RBI, 90 runs scored, and WAR (by both FanGraphs’ version, 4.6, and Baseball Reference’s, 5.4).

Kurtz’s teammate, infielder Jacob Wilson, finished second in voting, making them just the ninth pair of teammates to finish 1-2 in ROY voting.

Atlanta’s Drake Baldwin won the NL Rookie of the Year Award, picking up 21 of 30 first-place votes. A 3rd-round pick in 2022, Baldwin took advantage of Sean Murphy’s prolonged injury absence to establish himself as one of the few positives from a miserable Braves season. The catcher hit .274/.341/.469 (125 OPS+) in 446 PA with 18 doubles, 19 HR, and 80 RBI, though he did allow a league-high 88 steals (some of this is on the Braves’ pitchers).

Chicago’s Cade Horton received the other nine first-place votes after going 11-4 with a 2.67 ERA (144 ERA+) over 118.0 IP.

Kurtz, Baldwin, Wilson, and Horton all landed on MLB Pipeline’s All-Rookie Team.

Boston’s Aroldis Chapman won the Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year Award. Chapman posted a 1.17 ERA (351 ERA+) over 61.1 IP with 85 strikeouts (12.5 K/9, 37.3 K%) and 32 saves. His ERA and 0.70 WHIP led all qualified relievers.

New York’s Edwin Díaz was the Trevor Hoffman NL Reliever of the Year Award. Díaz had a 1.63 ERA (248 ERA+) over 66.1 IP with 98 strikeouts (13.3 K/9, 38.0 K%) and 28 saves.

Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt and Milwaukee’s Pat Murphy were named the AL and NL Managers of the Year, both repeating as winners from 2024. Kevin Cash (2020-21) and Bobby Cox (2004-05) had been the only previous managers to win the award in back-to-back seasons.

Texas’ Jacob deGrom was named the AL Comeback Player of the Year, going 12-8 with a 2.97 ERA (123 ERA+) in 172.2 IP while striking out 185 (9.6 K/9, 27.7 K%) after returning from Tommy John surgery.

Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr. was named the NL Comeback Player of the Year, slashing .290/.417/.518 (163 OPS+) in 412 PA with 21 HR and just nine stolen bases after returning from a torn ACL in his left knee.

The AL MVP race proved to be the only one with any real drama, but there really wasn’t a wrong choice between New York’s Aaron Judge and Seattle’s Cal Raleigh. Judge appeared to be the favorite early on, but the vote ultimately proved closer than many expected. Judge received 17 first-place votes, while Raleigh got 13.

Judge won his first batting title, hitting .331/.457/.688 (215 OPS+) in 679 PA with 30 doubles, 53 HR, 114 RBI, and an AL-leading 137 runs scored and 124 walks. This is his third MVP win in the last four seasons.

Raleigh hit .247/.359/.589 (169 OPS+) in 705 PA while leading the league with 60 HR and 125 RBI.

Los Angeles’ Shohei Ohtani was a unanimous winner of the NL MVP, giving him back-to-back wins in the NL, three straight overall, and four wins in the last five seasons. Only Barry Bonds has more MVP Awards (seven) than Ohtani’s four. The two-way star slashed .282/.392/.622 (179 OPS+) in 727 PA with 55 HR, 102 RBI, and 20 stolen bases, while also posting a 2.87 ERA (145 ERA+) in 47.0 IP with 62 strikeouts (11.9 K/9, 33.0 K%).

Ohtani has been a unanimous choice each of the four times he has won the MVP Award. No other player has been a unanimous choice more than once.

Judge and Ohtani also won the Hank Aaron Award, for the best offensive player in each league.

Brewers general manager Matt Arnold was named MLB Executive of the Year for a second straight season.

A pair of notable players have elected to pursue opportunities to continue their careers abroad in the NPB. The Tampa Bay Rays released first baseman Bob Seymour so that he could sign with the Orix Buffaloes. The Colorado Rockies also released right-hander Roansy Contreras so that he could sign with the Rakuten Golden Eagles.

Seymour, a 13th-round pick in 2021, has spent his whole pro career with Tampa Bay. He’s shown a ton of power in the minor leagues, but also strikes out frequently. He made his debut in The Show this season, hitting .205/.253/.282 (50 OPS+) in 83 PA with a single home run and 32 strikeouts.

Contreras, an international amateur free agent signing by the Yankees who was traded to Pittsburgh as part of the return for Jameson Taillon in 2021, has pitched for four teams (Pirates, Angels, Orioles, Rockies) over parts of five big-league seasons. He has a 4.77 ERA (90 ERA+) over 247.1 IP with a below-average 19.2 K%.

Seymour turned 27 in October. Contreras turned 26 just last week.

Oscar Marin, who was somewhat surprisingly not retained by the Pirates, has joined the Cincinnati Reds as their new bullpen coach.

Pete Crow-Armstrong and Corbin Carroll are the latest players to commit to playing for Team USA in the upcoming World Baseball Classic.