Kris Bryant, Kyle Hendricks, Jon Lester, Addison Russell among nominees for 2016 Esurance MLB Awards
Voting is underway for the 2016 Esurance MLB Awards. And three Cubs are among the nominees recognizing the best players and moments on and off the field from the 2016 season.
Fans can currently vote for the Best Major Leaguer, Best Hitter, Best Pitcher, Best Rookie and Best Defensive Player. Other categories such as Best Manager and Best Executive will be available soon.
Voting for all 19 categories runs through Nov. 11. Winners will be announced on a MLB Network telecast, Nov. 18 (7:00-8:00pm CST).
Kris Bryant is currently up for two categories, Best Major Leaguer and Best Hitter.
Bryant is up against Jose Altuve (Astros), Mookie Betts (Red Sox), Josh Donaldson (Blue Jays) and Mike Trout (Angels) for the Best Major Leaguer Award.
As for Best Hitter, Bryant finds himself in the same category as Jose Altuve (Astros), Daniel Murphy (Nationals), David Ortiz (Red Sox) and Mike Trout (Angels).
Bryant is batting .294/.388/.559 with 35 doubles, three triples and 38 home runs for a .947 OPS. Bryant has a good shot at being the first player in history to be the College Player of the Year (2013), Minor League Player of the Year (2014), NL Rookie of the Year (2015) and NL MVP (2016) in consecutive seasons.
The Cubs lead the way in the Best Pitcher category.
Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks are nominated for the Esurance Award along with Madison Bumgarner (Giants), Corey Kluber (Indians) and Max Scherzer (Nationals).
Rotation mates Lester and Hendricks are considered favorites for the NL Cy Young Award. Both Lester and Hendricks have had a sensational season. Hendricks and Lester are one-two in all of baseball in ERA.
Lester is 19-4 in 31 starts with a 2.28 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 3.34 FIP. Lester has allowed 52 runs, 50 earned, on 148 hits with 49 walks and 191 strikeouts in 197 2/3 innings.
Hendricks is 15-8 with a 2.06 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 3.26 FIP. Hendricks has given up 49 runs, 41 earned, on 129 hits with 43 walks and 161 strikeouts in 179 innings.
Addison Russell is up for Best Defensive Player along with OF Mookie Betts (Red Sox), SS Brandon Crawford (Giants), OF Adam Eaton (White Sox) and SS Francisco Lindor (Indians). Russell has had an incredible season in the field and this year his bat started to catch up with his glove. Russell is just so smooth at shortstop, making both the routine and spectacular plays seemingly on a daily basis.
This season, the Cubs did not have any rookies garner the national exposure as was the case a year ago. Michael Fulmer (Tigers), Tyler Naquin (Indians), Gary Sanchez (Yankees), Corey Seager (Dodgers) and Trea Turner (Nationals) are the nominees for Esurance’s Best Rookie Award.
• Click Here to Vote for Kris Bryant, Kyle Hendricks and Jon Lester for 2016 Esurance MLB Awards
This year’s Esurance MLB Awards includes a category just for the fans. Voting for the MLB Fans of the Year concluded last week and Natalie Adorno was voted on as the Chicago Cubs Fan of the Year.
Natalie is a regular at Wrigley Field, the 14-year old dedicates her Twitter account to sharing Cubs-related messages and photos. (Click Here for Video)
Esurance is in its second year of a multi-year partnership with MLB as the exclusive auto insurance partner for the league and is the title sponsor of the Esurance MLB Awards and the all-digital Esurance MLB All-Star Game Ballot.