Which of these five will find an award underneath the tree?
Excellent discussion in the nominations thread, with some names put forward that I would not necessarily have though of, which I guess is the point! So there are six worthy candidates below for your consideration, as you work through the post-food sloth!
Randall Grichuk
Nominated by Diamondhacks. “We’d all agree that he hit well, but you dont hear people talking about him much either. It’s Ketel, Joc, Geno, even Pavin. 91 PAs at DH, another 188 bouncing around the outfield. 140 OPS+. Fourth highest WPA, trailing only three starters (Ketel, Joc, Corbin) who got twice the playing time. 46 RBIs in 279 total PAs. That is a crapload of RBIs.” Grichuk posted 2.2 bWAR in what was really only about half a season’s worth of playing time. It was not far short of what Christian Walked produced (2.6 bWAR) as an everyday player, and more than Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (2.0). There weren’t many better ways to spend $1.5 million in the majors this year.
Jose Herrera
Nominated by ArizonaAZ88. “Even though he doesn’t seem like a very good player at first glance, he is better than most people might think. He did a fabulous job as backup catcher in 2024. He only played in 42 games last year, but he did have 13 RBI, a sort of respectable .227 batting average, better than his career .207 batting average. He also hit his first major league homer (woo-hoo! go Jose!) There was also the one game I went to when they were playing the Blue Jays on July 13, and he had one of the top three best batting averages on the team at that point, it was I think around .285. It doesn’t mean much because he isn’t qualified for rate stats, but it’s still pretty good.”
Joe Mantiply
Nominated by 1AZfan1. “Torey turned to him more than any other pitcher during the year with 75 appearances. Produced an ERA- of 93 and you could legitimately say that was unlucky as all his ERA estimators were better, including a FIP that was better than everyone but AJ Puk. He had the third best WPA in the bullpen, ahead of guys like Ginkel, Thompson and JMart and the third most WAR among relievers. Less Meltdowns than JMart, Ginkel and Thompson as well. A pretty good data point is that he will undoubtedly be the lowest rated player by the Snakepit season reviews than anyone else who will be nominated. That and his nickname is STILL Joe Multiply.”
Ryne Nelson
Nominated by Brett_Johnson44 and DbacksEurope. Brett: “Really stepped up when our starters were either injured or being batting practice to the opposing hitters and won us some games that definitely kept us in the hunt to the end. He showed some great signs with his progression and gave me a lot of hope that he can continue this stretch in 2025 and beyond.” Europe: “A great month of July and second half of the season. He then continued the climb up after the All Star Break. It is probably not a coincidence that the rise of the Diamondbacks went hand in hand with Ryne Nelson’s performances. He provided much needed innings and solid back-of-the-rotation performance.”
Kevin Newman
Nominated by Justin27. “From NRI, to filling in for Perdomo when he was injured, and stayed on the roster the rest of the way (I don’t remember any demotions or IL stints, anyway). He ended up 9th on the team in WAR with 2.2… ahead of Gurriel and McCarthy among others.” As Justin notes, he wasn’t even expected to make the roster out of spring training, but became an integral part of the team, appearing in 111 games. The man was a true utility player, starting games at all four infield positions, and even seeing time in left field. He made only five errors all season, while batting .278 and also stole eight bases in nine attempts.
Ryan Thompson
Nominated by ercil. “Ryan Thompson had a career year, and was a solid arm in late innings.” Over four seasons and 126 appearances for Tampa Bay, Thompson had barely been above replacement level (0.1 bWAR), and was released in August 2023. But since signing with the D-backs, he has posted a 2.84 ERA and been worth 1.7 bWAR, over less than eighty innings. This year, he picked up seven wins, two saves and 24 holds, and was regularly Torey Lovullo’s go-to guy for the eighth inning with a lead. He lead the bullpen in Shutdown apperances (WP >= +6%), and it wasn’t even close with Thompson’s 27 half a dozen more than anyone else.
Poll below, feel free to explain your choice in the comments, if you can summon up the energy! Results will follow on Saturday.