Jacob deGrom, Ronald Acuna Jr. named MLB Comeback Players of the Year

The main event of Thursday’s award revelations came with the BBWAA’s announcement that Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge repeated as MVP winners. Major League Baseball also conducted its award ceremony, revealing a handful of honors that are not decided by the writers.

Most notably, the league named Jacob deGrom and Ronald Acuna Jr. the respective Comeback Players of the Year. deGrom’s comeback from Tommy John surgery technically occurred at the end of the 2024 season. The two-time Cy Young winner made three late-season appearances last year. He took the ball 30 times this past season with the Texas Rangers and worked to a 2.97 earned run average with 185 strikeouts across 172 2/3 innings. He earned his fifth All-Star nod and finished eighth in AL Cy Young balloting in his age-37 season.

Acuna bounced back from the second ACL tear of his career. The 2023 NL MVP had suffered the season-ending left knee injury on May 26, 2024. He made it back almost one year to the day later. The Atlanta Braves activated Acuna from the injured list on May 23. He’d return to superstar form, hitting .290/.417/.518 with 21 homers in 95 games. Acuna went back on the injured list around the trade deadline with right Achilles tightness. He only missed a couple weeks and came back to hit .268/.402/.437 down the stretch despite an injury-riddled Atlanta team being well out of contention. It’s the second straight season in which a Brave was named NL Comeback Player of the Year. Chris Sale received that honor last season.

MLB announced a few other honors. Ohtani and Judge repeated as the respective Hank Aaron Award winners as the league’s best hitters. Ohtani yet again won the Edgar Martinez Award as MLB’s best designated hitter. Aroldis Chapman and Edwin Diaz won the respective Reliever of the Year honors. Diaz is free agency’s top reliever coming off a 1.63 ERA across 62 appearances with the New York Mets. Chapman turned in a 1.17 ERA over 61 1/3 frames in what is arguably the best season of his fantastic career. He re-signed with the Boston Red Sox on a $13M deal in August. The BBWAA will reintroduce its own Reliever of the Year Award in 2026.

Milwaukee Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold was named Executive of the Year for the second consecutive season. Milwaukee won an MLB-best 97 games and advanced to the NL Championship Series despite having an Opening Day payroll around $115M. That was the eighth-lowest mark in the majors.

MLB also announced its first and second teams. These are not league specific and are designed to honor the best players at each position. Those are as follows:

First Team

• Catcher: Cal Raleigh, Mariners
• First Base: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays
• Second Base: Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks
• Third Base: Jose Ramirez, Guardians
• Shortstop: Bobby Witt Jr., Royals
• Outfield: Aaron Judge, Yankees
• Outfield: Julio Rodriguez, Mariners
• Outfield: Juan Soto, Mets
• Designated hitter: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
• Starting Pitcher: Tarik Skubal, Tigers
• Starting Pitcher: Paul Skenes, Pirates
• Starting Pitcher: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers
• Starting Pitcher: Garrett Crochet, Red Sox
• Starting Pitcher: Max Fried, Yankees
• Relief Pitcher: Aroldis Chapman, Red Sox
• Relief Pitcher: Jhoan Duran, Twins/Phillies

Second Team

• Catcher: Will Smith, Dodgers
• First Base: Nick Kurtz, Athletics
• Second Base: Brice Turang, Brewers
• Third Base: Junior Caminero, Rays
• Shortstop: Bo Bichette, Blue Jays
• Outfield: Cody Bellinger, Yankees
• Outfield: Corbin Carroll, Diamondbacks
• Outfield: Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs
• Designated Hitter: Kyle Schwarber, Phillies
• Starting Pitcher: Cristopher Sanchez, Phillies
• Starting Pitcher: Hunter Brown, Astros
• Starting Pitcher: Zack Wheeler, Phillies
• Starting Pitcher: Freddy Peralta, Brewers
• Starting Pitcher: Bryan Woo, Mariners
• Relief Pitcher: Edwin Díaz, Mets
• Relief Pitcher: Andres Munoz, Mariners