Major League Baseball Reliever of the Year Award explained

Reliever of the Year Award
Sport:Baseball
League:Major League Baseball
Description:Best relief pitcher in the American League and National League
Presenter:Major League Baseball
Year:2014
Holder:Félix Bautista (AL)
Devin Williams (NL)

Major League Baseball (MLB) annually honors its best relief pitchers in the American League (AL) and National League (NL) with the Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year Award and Trevor Hoffman NL Reliever of the Year Award, respectively. The awards are named after former relievers Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman, who played their entire careers in the respective leagues.[1] First issued in 2014, the awards replaced the Delivery Man of the Year Award, which had been presented since 2005.[2]

The Reliever of the Year Awards are based on the votes of a panel of retired relievers. Each voter selects three pitchers for each league based solely on their performance in the regular season; a 5-3-1 weighted point system is used to determine the winner. At its inception in 2014, the panel consisted of the top five relievers in career saves at the time—Rivera, Hoffman, Lee Smith, John Franco, and Billy Wagner—and the four living relief pitchers who were in the Hall of Fame: Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, and Bruce Sutter.

The Reliever of the Year Award winners had all been closers until 2018 when Josh Hader of the Milwaukee Brewers won as a setup man; he later won the NL title in 2019 and 2021 as a closer. In 2019, both winners of the awards were also named in the inaugural All-MLB teams. In 2020, the Brewers' Devin Williams became the first rookie, and the first reliever with no saves, to win the award in either league.

Since 2017, MLB has also issued a Reliever of the Month Award.[3]

Winners

Trevor Hoffman NL Reliever of the Year

YearPlayerTeamSVERAWHIPKIPRef
2014Atlanta Braves471.610.9195data-sort-value="61.67" [4]
2015Pittsburgh Pirates512.230.9362data-sort-value="76.67" [5]
2016Los Angeles Dodgers471.830.67104data-sort-value="68.67" [6]
2017Los Angeles Dodgers411.320.75109data-sort-value="68.33" [7]
2018Milwaukee Brewers122.430.81143data-sort-value="81.33" [8]
2019
Milwaukee Brewers372.620.81138data-sort-value="75.67" [9]
2020
Milwaukee Brewers00.330.635327[10]
2021
Milwaukee Brewers341.230.84102data-sort-value="58.67" [11]
2022New York Mets321.310.83911862[12]
2023Milwaukee Brewers361.530.92087IP data-sort-value="58.67" [13]

Mariano Rivera AL Reliever of the Year

YearPlayerTeamSVERAWHIPKIPRef
2014Kansas City Royals461.440.9190data-sort-value="62.33"
2015New York Yankees362.040.86100data-sort-value="61.67" [14]
2016Baltimore Orioles470.540.847467
2017Boston Red Sox351.430.6812669
2018Seattle Mariners571.960.79124data-sort-value="73.33"
2019
New York Yankees372.211.118557
2020
Oakland Athletics141.780.6737data-sort-value="25.33"
2021Chicago White Sox382.540.7311371
2022Cleveland Guardians421.360.72977data-sort-value="72.67"
2023Baltimore Orioles331.480.91811061

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Awards named after retired closers. ESPN.com. ESPN.com news services. April 9, 2014. April 24, 2014.
  2. News: Fordin. Spencer. Yearly relief awards named after Rivera, Hoffman. Major League Baseball. April 9, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140413131219/http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140409&content_id=71466376&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb. April 13, 2014.
  3. News: Relievers of the Month: Allen, Holland . Mark . Newman . MLB.com . May 3, 2017 . May 21, 2021.
  4. Greg Holland, Craig Kimbrel named 2014 Relievers of the Year . October 22, 2014 . MLB.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20141025211711/http://m.mlb.com/news/article/99306568/greg-holland-craig-kimbrel-named-2014-relievers-of-the-year . October 25, 2014 . dead .
  5. Web site: Pirates notebook: Melancon named NL's top reliever. TribLIVE.com. October 28, 2015.
  6. Web site: Britton, Jansen earn Reliever of Year honors. MLB.com. October 30, 2016.
  7. Web site: Kimbrel, Jansen named Relievers of the Year. Mark. Newton. mlb.com. October 28, 2017. October 28, 2017.
  8. Web site: Edwin Díaz, Josh Hader Named 2018 Relievers of the Year Presented by the Hartford. apnews.com. October 27, 2018. October 27, 2018.
  9. Web site: Chapman, Hader named Relievers of the Year. MLB.com. October 26, 2019. October 26, 2019.
  10. Web site: Hendriks, Williams named Relievers of Year. MLB.com. October 24, 2020. October 24, 2020.
  11. Web site: Hendriks, Hader earn Reliever of Year honors. MLB.com. November 10, 2021. November 16, 2021.
  12. Web site: Díaz, Clase named 2022 Relievers of the Year . MLB.com.
  13. Web site: Strikeout artists Bautista, Williams named Relievers of the Year . MLB.com.
  14. Web site: Yankees' closer Andrew Miller wins AL Reliever of the Year Award. NJ.com. October 28, 2015.