hello, Brantley fans! it's been a rough week for Michael, his loved ones, and his fans between the shoulder surgery and losing out on the Silver Slugger Award, but today i have some happy news! on November 12, the Cleveland chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America honored Michael Brantley with the 2015 Bob Feller Man of the Year Award, although the formal public announcement of this career first didn't come until this morning on November 15. congratulations, Michael! you deserve it, especially after the year you had!
the Bob Feller Award is a local Indians MVP award. some form of Man
of the Year has been given out since 1937, when Johnny Allen was selected by Cleveland BBWAA writers as the first winner. the award title started as
Most Valuable Player (1937-1943), then changed to Indians Man of the Year
(1944-2009), before it became Bob Feller Man of the Year (2010-present).
Michael has been nominated for the Man of the Year Award for four consecutive years. he lost to Corey Kluber in 2014, Justin Masterson in 2013, and Vinnie Pestano in 2012. this year, he was up against
Jason Kipnis, Francisco Lindor, and Carlos Carrasco. i remember when i found out that Michael lost this award last season, i was pretty upset because i thought if he could lose after having such a brilliant career year, then he may never win. so i am extremely pleased he finally won! in fact, i predicted that if Michael came close to putting up the same numbers in 2015 as he did in 2014, then he'd have to be the favorite to win. looks like i was right. fourth time's the charm i guess lol
no offense to any other Indians' players, but i absolutely agree that Michael was the best player on the team this past season. i've never seen anyone else perform as well as he did while dealing with all the injuries that he had. despite a lower back strain, left shoulder inflammation, and torn labrum in his right shoulder that eventually shut him down early and later resulted in surgery, Michael finished 2015 with 164 hits, an MLB high 45 doubles, 15 home runs, 84 RBI, 68 runs, career high 60 walks, 15 stolen bases, career low 51 strikeouts, team high .310 batting average, and .324 BA with runners in scoring position. phenomenal!
now please heal up that shoulder and have another outstanding season in 2016!
No comments:
Post a Comment