CLEVELAND, Ohio — Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti is the Major League Baseball Executive of the Year according to The Sporting News, which released its postseason awards Thursday.
Antonetti was the overwhelming choice in a survey of 29 baseball executives, garnering more than twice as many votes as anyone else. Other top awards in the American League went to Aaron Judge (MVP), Julio Rodriguez (AL Rookie of the Year), Brandon Hyde (AL Manager of the Year) and Justin Verlander (AL Comeback Player of the Year. The Sporting News has handed out postseason awards since 1936.
Antonetti, who also won the award in 2017, engineered a remarkable season in Cleveland with the youngest roster in baseball. The Guardians won 92 games and the AL Central Division title and advanced to the AL Division Series before falling in five games to the Yankees.
Along the way, Antonetti and his staff partnered closely with manager Terry Francona to navigate the debuts of 17 rookie players and win despite a roster that featured few traditional power hitters. He saw past trades of Corey Kluber and Mike Clevinger pay off with players who were vital to the team’s success and locked up franchise superstar Jose Ramirez to the richest contract in Cleveland baseball history during the first week of the season.
As the season drew to a close, Antonetti also laid the framework for Francona’s return next season with an “open-ended” contract situation. Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff worked with Francona to ensure that Cleveland’s winningest manager remains in the best possible situation to keep him healthy and productive at the helm of the Guardians.
“We want Tito to manage as long as it makes sense for him, on his end, to continue to manage here,” Antonetti said last week. “I’m confident with the relationship we have that we’ll be able to figure that out as we move forward.”
Francona, meanwhile, finished behind Hyde and Houston’s Dusty Baker in the manager’s vote, despite posting more wins than the Orioles’ skipper and taking his team to the postseason while Baltimore watched from home. Hyde got 50 percent of the vote from managers and coaches surveyed and is the first O’s manager to win the award since Buck Showalter in 2012.
Rodriguez was named by 80 percent of the 133 players who voted in the survey as the AL’s top rookie, an award that he is almost certain to win ahead of Cleveland’s Steven Kwan when the Baseball Writers’ Association of America reveals its totals Nov. 14.
Josh Naylor’s 20 home runs and 79 RBI were not enough to impress voters in the AL Comeback Player of the Year category. Of 116 votes cast, Verlander was named on 78 percent of the ballots. The favorite to win the AL Cy Young Award will start game one of the World Series on Friday after missing last year with reconstructive elbow surgery.
Antonetti joins Mark Shapiro (2007), John Hart (1994, 1995) and Bill Veeck (1948) as Cleveland baseball executives who won the award.
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