Toronto Blue Jays: Handing out the internal awards for the 2021 season

The Toronto Blue Jays needed a little bit of luck from the out-of-town scoreboard yesterday to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Unfortunately, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees won both of their respective games and the Blue Jays will not be making an appearance in the AL Wild Card this season, seeing their campaign end with a 91-71 record and placing fourth in a very competitive AL East division.

The Blue Jays roster was full of impressive players with many different individuals setting themselves up for personal accolades like Vladimir Guerrero Jr for the AL MVP Award and Robbie Ray for the AL Cy Young later this off-season.

That being said, it is time to hand out the internal awards for the Blue Jays that range across a few different categories.

MVP Award

Winner: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Honourable Mentions: Marcus Semien & Robbie Ray

At 22 years old, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. entered the 2021 season leaner and stronger, shedding roughly 40 pounds during the off-season prior to entering Spring Training.

Dubbed the top prospect in all of Major League Baseball just a few years ago, Guerrero Jr. exploded this season at the plate, finishing the campaign with a .311/.401/.601 slash line along with 48 home runs and 111 RBI. He would finish the season with the highest AL OPS at 1.002 while also leading the AL in OBP and slugging, tying the home run tally with Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals. He would finish third in terms of batting average while finishing tied for fifth in terms of RBI and was arguably one of the top hitters in the league this year.

On the defensive side, Guerrero Jr. was solid at first base, finishing the season with a .993 fielding percentage with eight errors and 1026 putouts. His leaner figure allowed him to stretch and make plays close at the bag while also handling the tough shots up the line, making a few highlight-reel plays that turned potential extra-base hits into outs.

It is safe to say that the Blue Jays would not be anywhere near postseason contention if it wasn’t for Guerrero Jr. and his impressive batting stats. At a few different moments this season, it looked like the righty slugger had the potential to capture the Triple Crown but a minor slump late the last few weeks of September saw other players pull ahead in all three categories, eventually settling for a tie in the home run category and falling a few spots back in the other two.

While he wins the Blue Jays MVP award, he may come up just a bit shy when it comes to the official AL MVP designation, as two-way star Shohei Ohtani appears to have the upper hand on the Montreal-born slugger. One could argue that Guerrero Jr. contributed more towards the club attempting to make the postseason compared to Ohtani and his role with the Angels but it is hard to argue with a two-way player that sports a sub 4.00 ERA and a high OPS.

Cy Young Award

Winner: Robbie Ray

Honourable Mentions: Alek Manoah & Steven Matz

Signing with the Blue Jays on a one-year, $8 million dollar deal early in the 2020/2021 off-season, it is safe to say that the Robbie Ray signing was one of the top deals this past Winter across the entire Major Leagues.

Ray would finish the 2021 season as one of the top arms in the league, leading the American League in ERA (2.84), strikeouts (248), WHIP (1.04), and innings pitched (193.1) while finishing second in terms of opponents batting average with a minuscule .210.

The southpaw anchored the Blue Jays starting rotation and fans saw a vast improvement in his control on the mound, finishing the year with just 52 walks compared to the 45 he surrendered during just 12 starts last season and the 84 he allowed in 2019.

The Tennessee product also broke an impressive Major League record, striking out 1241 batters through 1000 innings pitched through his career, besting the previous record owner in Padres right-hander Yu Darvish with his 1222 strikeouts through the same amount of innings.

Ray only had four games this season where he allowed four or more earned runs through 32 games started and was able to mix up his pitches well, throwing a devastating slider that kept hitters on their toes and sending many back to the dugout with their heads hanging low.

Not only does Ray earn the Blue Jays Cy Young award but the southpaw should also win the AL Cy Young award later this off-season as he was one of the most dominant pitchers in the league and rightfully deserves the honour after his stellar campaign.

Rookie of the Year

Winner:  Alek Manoah

Honourable Mentions: Nate Pearson & Alejandro Kirk

The Blue Jays first-round pick back in 2019, West Virginia University’s Alek Manoah only had 35.0 innings in the minor leagues before making his Major League debut earlier this season.

Manoah entered the 2021 campaign as one of the top pitching prospects in the organization and would pitch well in Spring Training and with the Buffalo Bisons prior to his call-up to the active roster. The right-hander would only allow seven hits and one earned run through three starts and 18.0 innings with the Bisons this year and with fellow prospect Nate Pearson struggling to stay healthy early in the season, Manoah was needed in the big leagues sooner rather than later.

The Toronto Blue Jays season has officially come to a close and it is time to hand out the internal awards for members on the active roster.

The Florida product would finish the campaign with a 3.22 ERA through 20 starts and 111.2 innings pitched, striking out 127 batters compared to 40 walks. His 1.05 WHIP and .192 opponents batting average are extremely impressive and while his control was a bit wild, evident by his 16 hit batters, Manoah was one of the biggest surprises of the season and was instrumental in helping the Blue Jays put themselves into playoff consideration late in the year.

While he is on the outside of the official AL Rookie of the Year award given his later start in the big leagues this season, he easily earns the honour internally with the Blue Jays, as he stepped up in a big way this season to help stabilize a starting rotation that was struggling to stay healthy and was not getting production from multiple members of the pitching staff.

He was even entrusted with a do-or-die game against the Baltimore Orioles this past Saturday and rose to the occasion, going seven innings while allowing only one earned run and one hit with 10 strikeouts and one walk.

It will be interesting to see how the fiery right-hander will fair with a full season under his belt next year but fans should be pretty excited to have Alek Manoah in the Blue Jays rotation for the next five to six years.

Newcomer of the Year Award

Winner:  Marcus Semien

Honourable Mentions: Steven Matz & George Springer

After the Blue Jays missed out on Fransisco Lindor earlier this off-season, they set their sights on another infielder in Marcus Semien.

The Oakland Athletics shortstop was coming off a down 2020 season and was looking to rebuild his stock in 2021, having not been tendered a qualifying offer from the A’s and looking for a fresh start elsewhere. The Blue Jays would scoop him up on a one-year deal worth $18 million dollars, complimenting a roster that already signed George Springer to a mammoth 6-year, $150 million dollar contract earlier that off-season and multiple pitchers in Kirby Yates, Tyler Chatwood, and David Phelps while also trading for southpaw Steven Matz.

The Toronto Blue Jays 2021 season has officially come to an end and it is time to hand out the internal awards for players on the active roster.

Semien would start out of the gates a bit slow but would find his rhythm in May, riding a hot bat throughout the season that would see him post solid numbers while also breaking numerous records along the way.

The righty infielder would finish with a .265/.334/.538 slash line and a .873 OPS with 45 home runs and 102 RBI. He would break the Major League record for home runs in a single season for a second baseman with his 45 dingers while also leading all AL second baseman in terms of home runs, RBI, slugging, and OPS while also stealing 15 bases and finishing with a .983 fielding percentage at the position. He would also bat leadoff when Springer was injured and would end up starting in all 162 games for the Blue Jays this year.

The California product was one of the best players in the Blue Jays lineup and with George Springer spending roughly half of the season on the injured list, Semien takes the Newcomer Award and will most likely be receiving some votes for the AL MVP award this off-season and potentially a Silver Slugger as well.

Top Reliever

Winner: Jordan Romano

Honourable Mentions: Tim Mayza, Adam Cimber, and Trevor Richards

After a solid sophomore campaign during the COVID shortened 2020 season, Jordan Romano entered the 2021 season as one of the potential closer options in the Blue Jays bullpen.

At first, it seemed like the club would be using a few different pitchers to close games in Romano, Rafael Dolis, and Kirby Yates, but with Yates missing the entire season after undergoing Tommy John surgery and Dolis being very unreliable, the role went to Markham, Ontario’s Romano in mid-May and he ran away with the closer position the rest of the way.

The right-handed fireballer would finish the season with a team-high 62 appearances and would pitch to a 2.14 ERA through 63.0 innings with 85 strikeouts and 25 walks. Romano would also convert 23 saves in 24 opportunities and would hold opponents to a .181 batting average and a 1.05 WHIP with 12.14 strikeouts through nine innings.

He did have two rough stretches in early July and September where he gave up a few earned runs in back-to-back outings but for the most part was solid in the high pressure situations this season. He was able to effectively use his fastball mixed in with his slider to limit the damage and give fans confidence that he would come in and shut down the opposing team and seal the win for the Blue Jays.

With the bullpen going through quite a few different pitchers and with Adam Cimber and Trevor Richards arriving in late July/early August, the only competition for this award for Romano was southpaw Tim Mayza, who was also impressive this season in his late-inning role. In the end, the award goes to the Ontario product and the Blue Jays appear to have a dependable closer for the foreseeable future.