Atlanta Braves’ 2017 End of the Season Awards
Although the Braves didn’t have players in talks for the National League’s top awards, they had some guys in 2017 that played their butts off, and those guys deserve to be recognized in some way.
2017 was not very kind to the Atlanta Braves. The team was plagued by the injury bug all around, and it seemed like the offense and pitching staff just couldn’t get going at the same time. However, the Braves had a few guys who stood out and stepped up when they needed to.
After finishing with a 72-90 record, the Braves are right where they were expected to be in the middle of the rebuilding process, but it took one heck of a roller coaster season just to get to that meager mark.
Let’s get straight to business and take a look at the guys who deserve special recognition for their contributions throughout the 2017 season:
Most Valuable Player – Freddie Freeman
(117 G, 514 PA): .307.403/.586, 35 2B, 2 3B, 28 HR, 71 RBI, 61 BB, 91 SO
Was this one really a surprise? I figured it’d be best to get the easy one out of the way first.
Any way you look at it, Freddie Freeman is the Atlanta Braves’ MVP. Even though he missed 43 games with a fractured wrist, Freddie gave opposing pitchers nightmares in the 117 games he did play this year.
Here’s what Freddie’s numbers this season would have looked like through 162 games:
.307/.403/.586, 48 2B, 3 3B, 39 HR, 98 RBI, 84 BB, 126 SO
That stat line would have put him in the NL MVP talks for sure, but let’s not forget the regression that came following his wrist injury, and the fact that Freeman admittedly was playing with his wrist at just 80-85 percent.
Freddie was hitting at a torrid pace before breaking his wrist, posting a 1.209 OPS and edging Ryan Zimmerman in the MVP race at the time. Freddie Freeman will come back healthy in 2018, and you better believe he’s going to shove his name into MVP conversation.
Cy Young Award – Arodys Vizcaino
(62 G, 57.1 IP): 2.83 ERA,14 SV, 17 HLD, 42 H, 18 ER, 64 SO, 21 BB, 1.099 WHIP
People will scoff at the idea of a reliever winning a Cy Young Award, even if it’s just on some 20-year-old’s blog post, but no qualified starting pitcher had an ERA better than 4.26 (R.A. Dickey). The Cy Young Award is given to the best pitcher in each league, and Arodys Vizcaino was the Atlanta Braves’ best pitcher in 2017.
Arguments can definitely be made for Dickey being the Braves’ best pitcher, as he did lead Atlanta’s staff with a 1.6 WAR, but Vizzy was right behind him at 1.5.
Vizcaino served in multiple roles throughout 2017, and thrived in each. Brian Snitker used him as the team’s setup man for the majority of 2017, but Vizzy assumed the closer role when Jim Johnson forgot how to pitch. He did blow three saves in 2017, but two of those were in the 8th inning, and the other came against a very good Nationals offense.
Arodys Vizcaino will likely remain the Atlanta Braves’ closer until A.J. Minter is ready to take on the high-stress duties, and he’ll be even better in 2018 than he was this season.
Rookie of the Year – Ozzie Albies
(57 G, 244 PA) : .286/.354/.456, 9 2B, 5 3B, 6 HR, 28 RBI, 21 BB, 36 SO
There’s a strong case for Johan Camargo being the Atlanta Braves’ top rookie in 2017, but for me, there were a few small details that propelled Ozzie Albies past Camargo.
Camargo batted .403 against LHP, while putting up just a .253 average against RHP, while Ozzie’s respective .327 & .273 splits were far less dramatic, and showed that he was the more complete hitter.
Ozzie came up from Gwinnett at the beginning of August and took on a starting job immediately, but the kid never missed a beat. He gave the fans exactly what they wanted in two months of above-average baseball, and even then, it was only a glimpse of what he’ll be capable of in five years.
Like I did with Freeman’s numbers, here are Ozzie’s stats stretched across 162 games:
.286/.354/.456, 26 2B, 14 3B, 17 HR, 80 RBI, 60 BB, 102 SO
Those numbers are impressive for any rookie, but let’s not forget that Albies is 20 years-old!! The kid can play three more seasons, and he’ll still be around the same age as most rookies breaking into the MLB in 2021.
Ozzie Albies has the potential to become a Jimmy Rollins-type player who hits for a better average, and he’ll tap into that potential as early as next season. Get excited for this kid now, and be thankful he wasn’t traded before he had a chance to prove himself in the MLB.
Comeback Player of the Year – Sam Freeman
(58 G, 60 IP): 2.55 ERA, 3 SV, 12 HLD, 48 H, 59 SO, 27 BB, 1.250 WHIP
After giving up 11 earned runs in just 7.2 innings throughout all of 2016, Sam Freeman knew he had a tough road ahead of him back to success in the MLB. Little did he know that he would have the best season of his Major League career at 30 years-old in 2017.
Atlanta signed Sam Freeman to a minor league contract in hopes that he’d pitch well and eventually add depth to the big league ‘pen. No one expected him to be one of the team’s most dependable relievers, but he beat the odds.
From July 18th through the end of the season, Freeman posted a 0.91 ERA, and opponents were hitting just .157 against him. That’s as dominant as any Atlanta Braves reliever was at any point during the 2017 season, and those numbers helped him put together the best year of his career.
Sam Freeman is eligible for arbitration this off-season, and you better believe the Atlanta Braves are going to give him every penny he deserves to be this bullpen’s anchor next year.
Peering into next season…
While Freddie Freeman is surely a lock for the team’s MVP award next season, the others remain a mystery. We’ll see several rookie pitchers and position players throughout 2018 trying to make an impact in Atlanta, and you should expect many of them to stick with the club for years.
In short, my predictions for next year look like this:
- MVP: Freddie Freeman
- Cy Young: Sean Newcomb
- Rookie of the Year: Ronald Acuña
- Comeback Player of the Year: Dansby Swanson
We’ve got a busy off-season ahead of us, but when Opening Day 2018 gets here, expect the Atlanta Braves to see contributions from areas where the team lacked in 2017. We’re in store for quite a season… especially given recent events.