The honors already are rolling in for Mookie Betts after his amazing regular season with the Boston Red Sox.
Betts on Thursday was named the winner of Baseball Digest’s Major League Baseball Player of the Year award. The All-Star right fielder is the first Red Sox position player to win the award since its inception in 1969.
New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom was selected as Baseball Digest’s MLB Pitcher of the Year, while Oakland Athletics closer Blake Treinen was named MLB Relief Pitcher of the Year.
The selections were made based on votes from a 15-member “blue-ribbon” panel of longtime baseball writers, broadcasters, former players and executives. Betts received 12 of 15 first-place votes and totaled 40 points, finishing ahead of Mike Trout (19), Christian Yelich (17), J.D. Martinez (10), Javier Baez (3) and Jose Ramirez (1). Trout, Martinez and Baez each received one first-place vote.
Betts led the majors in WAR (10.9) and batting average (.346). He became the first major leaguer ever to win a batting title in a season in which he also hit 30-plus home runs and stole 30-plus bases.
