I'm actually giving out three different awards here with very little elaberation. The Comeback Player of the Year award is for a player that has at least five years of MLB experience, previously played at a high level of quality, and had a sub-par or injury plagued 2002. So, the AL Comeback Player of the Year is Frank Thomas of the White Sox. While Thomas is still far from his MVP-type seasons of the early/mid-90's, he did rebound from 2002's .252 average, 28 home runs and 92 RBI's with .262/41/100 in 2003.
The AL Breakthrough Player of the year goes to a player that has at least one year of MLB experience and played at a mediocre level in 2002 and has played excellently in 2003. There are a lot of good choices in the AL this year, but Red Sox third baseman Bill Mueller (pronounced Miller) is my hands down choice. Mueller's previos career highs were .292/10/59 all in different years, while in 2003 he's at .329/19/82. That .329 should be good enough for him to win the AL batting title.
The AL Unsung Hero Award really needs little explanation and is mostly just an excuse for me to bring Aubrey Huff of the Devil Rays to your attention. Huff has hit .306 with 31 homers and 102 RBI's in a largely anemic Tampa Bay offense. By the way, this is not Huff's first good year, and he plays three positions.
Posted by at September 21, 2003 10:20 PM