Blue Jays’ Justin Smoak finalist for Comeback Player of the Year

Toronto Blue Jays slugger Justin Smoak has been recognized for his outstanding 2017 campaign as the 30-year old has been nominated as one of three finalists for the Comeback Player of the Year award.

Justin Smoak proved his naysayer’s wrong rebounding from an awful 2016 season asserting himself as one of the league’s best power hitters in 2017. Smoak connected for 38 round trippers while batting .270/.355/.529 catapulting himself as the teams Most Valuable Player.

In 2016, Smoak struggled immensely hitting just over the Mendoza Line slashing .217/.314/.391 with 14 home runs. Nominated along with Smoak is Mike Moustakas and Jason Vargas both of the Kansas City Royals.

The National League finalists have former Blue Jays outfielder Eric Thames who returned from South Korea to connect for 31 home runs with the Brewers, Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals and Greg Holland of the Rockies up for the honour.

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The winners will be announced this coming Wednesday during the MLB Players Choice Awards on the MLB Network. The players from every MLB clubhouse voted for the winners who will also receive a $20,000 grant to be donated to the charity of their choice.

Smoak signed a team friendly extension during the 2016 season that will keep the first-baseman firmly entrenched in Toronto until after the 2019 season. The defensive savvy Smoak should have gotten the nod as a Gold Glove finalist after posting betting defensive metric numbers than Eric Hosmer who was a finalist with Mitch Moreland and Carlos Santana.

Both Kevin Pillar and Marcus Stroman will find out about their Gold Glove fates later this week as hopefully, a third-time nominated is a charm for “Superman”. Stroman who is a former infielder was nominated for the first time in his young major league career.

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Good luck to “Smoakie” who hopefully can take home the honour of Comeback Player of the Year as he definitely displayed Persistence and Perseverance in 2017.