Mike Trout is the first-ever Baseball America Rookie and Player of the Year in the same year. Teenager Bryce Harper is right on his heels in the competition for 21st century superstardom.
Angels center fielder Mike Trout wowed the baseball world with an all-around rookie season the likes of which we may never see again. He was overqualified for the Baseball America Rookie of the Year award, which he won in a unanimous vote. Trout also won the BA Major League Player of the Year award, though in that case other players received first-place recognition in the balloting. Chief among the other vote-getters were Giants catcher Buster Posey and Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera, who with a .330 average, 44 homers and 139 RBIs won the American League's triple crown, the first in 45 years. And while Cabrera has gotten his share of attention in postseason debates, less attention has been paid to how good a season Posey had.
Matt Kemp batted .324/.399/.586 and led the National League with 39 home runs, 126 RBIs, 115 runs scored and 353 total bases. He made his first all-star team. He stole 40 bases in 51 attempts.The 27-year-old Kemp performed so well, in fact, that he won the Baseball America Major League Player of the Year award.
Roy Halladay got our attention with a perfect game in May. He solidified his spot in the record books five months later with just the second no-hitter in postseason history.
Joe Mauer is more than the heartbeat of the Twins, the frontrunner for the American League Most Valuable Player award and Baseball America's 2009 Major League Player of the Year. In this most impressive and illustrious of seasons, he's the poster boy for the phrase, "All's well that ends well."
Lefthander C.C. Sabathia, who led the Milwaukee Brewers to the postseason for the first time since 1982 after a midseason trade, is Baseball America's 2005 Major League Player of the Year, as selected by the magazine's staff.
C.C. Sabathia cost the Brewers a lot in a June trade, but our 2008 Major League Player of the Year paid the Brewers back by carrying them to the playoffs.
Cliff Lee had his mind set. He was not going back to the minor leagues. "I absolutely have no desire to pitch in Buffalo ever again,'' the Cleveland Indians lefthander defiantly said in spring training as the 2008 season got under way, promptly drawing the line in the sand. He was a new Lee, and this was a new season.
Alex Rodriguez' outstanding season has earned him his third Baseball America Player of the Year award.
Johan Santana's dominance in 2006 earns him Baseball America's 2006 Major League Player of the Year Award.
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