Mariners pitchers Felix Hernandez and Chris Young won Major League Baseball Players Choice Awards Monday, Hernandez as the American League’s Most Outstanding Pitcher and Young as the league’s Comeback Player of the Year. Hernandez and Young were recognized by a vote of their fellow players.
The 28-year-old Hernandez, also a strong candidate for the AL Cy Young Award, is a Players Choice Award winner for the first time in his 10-year career. He led the AL with a 2.14 ERA and a 0.915 WHIP while yielding a league-low 6.5 hits per nine innings over 34 starts. Hernandez went 15-6 with 248 strikeouts.
Young, 35, acquired by the Mariners from the Washington Nationals near the end of spring training, went 12-9 with a 3.65 ERA (67 ER, 165.0 IP) in 30 games, including 29 starts. The 6-foot-10 right-hander did not pitch in the majors in 2013 after undergoing surgery on his right shoulder. From 2009-2012, Young made just 42 starts battling various shoulder injuries.
Young also won the Comeback Player of the Year award from The Sporting News.
These are the first Players Choice awards for a Mariners player since Ichiro was selected as the AL Outstanding Player in 2004.
The Players Choice Awards, presented by PlayStation, benefit the Major League Baseball Players Trust, a charitable foundation created and run by the players themselves. Players Choice Awards have been presented each year since 1992.
