Whicker: My 2025 MLB Award winners

Toronto Blue Jays DH/OF George Springer would get Mark Whicker’s vote for American League Comeback Player of the Year.

November 10, 2025

By Mark Whicker

Canadian Baseball Network

Herewith are one guy’s baseball awards for 2025, also known as the Abners. You may not agree with these, but you get only two challenges:

National League MVP: Shohei Ohtani makes it hard to consider anyone else even when he’s not pitching. He drove in 102 runs as a leadoff man and was the only National Leaguer to surpass 1.000 in the OPS column.

American League MVP: Not only did Cal Raleigh hit 60 home runs as a catcher, and as a switch-hitting catcher, and not only did he make only four errors in catching 121 games while helping one of the A.L.’s best pitching staffs, he pointed the way to a division championship.

National League Player of the Year: Ohtani.

American League Player of the Year: Aaron Judge led the A.L. in runs, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, intentional walks and total bases, and he handled himself on defence, too. More important, he handled baseball’s glamour position — top player on the New York Yankees — with his usual diligence and class.

National League Cy Young Award: Some voters will lean back, smile, and sip champagne if Paul Skenes wins this award with a 10-10 record. They’d erase pitcher’s wins if they could. But many of those voters sanctify WAR, or Wins Above Replacement. Skenes did lead the league in ERA and WHIP, but the Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez had more innings and more quality starts, and the top WAR in the league. He also pitched bigger games, particularly when Zach Wheeler got hurt and Aaron Nola flamed out.

American League Cy Young Award: Three lefties thunder to the finish line: Garrett Crochet, 2024 Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, and Max Fried. Fried led in wins, Skubal had the best ERA, strikeout/walk ratio and the best WHIP, and Crochet had the most innings and a slight edge in quality starts. Boston was 23-9 when Crochet started. He wins in a photo.

National League Manager of the Year: Aside from ex-Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara, every Miami Marlin is playing on a one-year contract and none is playing for more than $4.5 million. The Marlins were easily the most anonymous major league team, and one of the least experienced, in this decade. Did anyone foresee they would win 79 games, more than the Braves, Orioles and Cardinals? Clayton McCullough, the first-year manager, wins in a runaway. The fact that he wasn’t a finalist in the real balloting is the latest and largest in an endless line of BBWAA voting fiascos.

American League Manager of the Year: Seattle’s Dan Wilson will get support, and Boston’s Alex Cora deserves even more, but Cleveland gobbled up a 15 ½ game deficit to win the Central Division. That should be enough for Stephen Vogt.

National League Rookie of the Year: The Cubs’ Cade Horton emerged with an 11-4 record and a 2.67 ERA. He was tough down the stretch and gets the edge over Braves’ catcher Blake Baldwin.

American League Rookie of the Year: Nick Kurtz of the Athletics is the easiest pick of all. He homered four times in a game and hit .290 with 36 homers and a .619 slugging percentage. But two rookies give the White Sox faint hope for the future: Catcher Kyle Teel and infielder Colson Montgomery.

National League Reliever of the Year: Dennis Santana of the Pirates filled lots of roles, getting 16 saves and giving up 44 hits in 70 innings.

American League Reliever of the Year: Is throwing 100 mph all your life actually good for you? Aroldis Chapman had his best year at 37, with a .701 OPS with 32 saves for the Red Sox.

National League Executive of the Year: Matt Arnold is the front man for a Brewers’ front office that hardly ever misses a step. Milwaukee had the league’s best record even though Arnold’s moves made the club cheaper and younger.

American League Executive of the Year: The Blue Jays shocked the A.L. with 94 wins and the East title. Ross Atkins got more money and spent it wisely, especially the outsized check to Vladimir Guerrero Jr..

National League Mis-Manager of the Year: Dave Martinez doesn’t escape this honour even though Washington fired him on July 6. Things got worse with Miguel Cairo in charge. The Nationals lost 96 games and approached September like DOGE victims.

American League Mis-Manager of the Year: The Twins fired Rocco Baldelli for winning only 70 games, but he’s only part of the problem there.

National League Execu-Stiff of the Year: The Mets had a $332 million payroll and finished four games over .500, and nobody dodges the responsibility. Personnel man David Stearns went through 46 pitchers. Only three of them pitched 100 or more innings, and only one (Clay Holmes) won more than nine games.

American League Execu-Stiff of the Year: The Orioles had a brutal season. Is that because GM Mike Elias misjudged the young talent that shone in 2023 and 2024? Or is it because he continued to guess wrong on the starting pitching? The one thing he did was establish an even younger nucleus for next year.

American League Comeback Player: The Rangers’ Jacob deGrom made 30 starts for the first time since 2019 and had an 0.921 WHIP. but we’ll go with Toronto’s resurrected George Springer, who jacked up his OPS from .674 to .959.

National League Comeback Player: Milwaukee’s Freddy Peralta cut nearly a run off his ERA, reduced his WHIP to 1.075, and led the league in wins with 17.

American League Comedown Player: Anthony Volpe of the Yankees hit .212 with a .296 on-base percentage and led the A.L. with 19 errors. Believe it or not, some people in New York noticed.

National League Comedown Player: The Dodgers thought they’d signed their closer in Tanner Scott, but Scott blew 10 saves and gave up 11 homers in 57 innings.

American League Breakout Player: Tampa Bay has a gem in 21-year-old Junior Caminero, who bashed 45 home runs with 110 RBIs. He had played 50 major league games before 2025.

National League Breakout Player: Arizona’s Geraldo Perdomo splashed his way to 20 home runs and 100 RBIs and had an .851 OPS (.722 career). Also led shortstops in putouts and double plays.

American League Wind-Farmer: Maybe Cleveland’s Gabriel Arias should choke up a little bit. He somehow combined 162 strikeouts with 11 home runs.

National League Wind-Farmer: Jordan Beck of the Rockies hit 16 home runs, which doesn’t seem real economical when you consider his 174 strikeouts.

Innovation of the Century: The pitch clock just keeps on giving. This year’s MLB games averaged a crisp 2:38, and the 18-inning World Series Game 3 was 40 minutes shorter than the one in 2018.