On Thursday, Major League Baseball named Rockies right-hander Daniel Bard and Royals catcher Salvador Perez the recipients of the 2020 National League and American League Comeback Player of the Year awards, respectively. For Perez, the honor comes a day after being selected a six-time All-MLB All-Star.
Rockies right-hander Daniel Bard and Royals catcher Salvador Perez were announced on Thursday by Major League Baseball as the recipients of the 2020 National League and American League Comeback Player of the Year awards, respectively.
For Perez, the honor comes a day after he was selected as a six-time All-MLB First Team six-time All-Star. Perez not only sat through the entire 2019 season after Tommy John surgery, but missed the start of summer camp in July – after testing positive for Covid-19 – and another three weeks during the season due to eye delays. It causes blurred vision.
Despite all this, the 30-year-old has managed to post career highs in the batting average (.333), slugging percentage (.633) and OPS (.986), while accelerating 11 home runs and 32 RBIs in 37 games. . Perez also won the Silver Slugger Award for the third time in his career.
Come Come Comeback Player of the Year Award -L-Time Winners
“This award is about the hard work and gratitude of all the people who helped me get back on the field,” Pelઝ said on the MLB network. “I am grateful to my family for all the support and training they have given me.”
Bard, meanwhile, completed a miraculous comeback by returning to the big leagues after a six-year hiatus.
A former light-out reliever who scored 1.93 ARA in 73 performances in 2010, Bard began dealing with injuries and mechanical issues during the ’12 season. He introduced only two MLBs in ’13, instead pitching primarily in the minor, where he will spend several years advancing a serious case of Yips.
Bard eventually retired in 2017 and spent the next two seasons working as a player mentor for De Beck. He was planning to stay in that role until the third season until he decides before spring training to join on an unlikely comeback run.
“When I decided to play again it was more than I expected. Retiring two years and moving on to a really different career was not an easy decision,” Bard said. “This is something my wife did and I talked about it and she supported me in it. I knew I was throwing the ball well, but I’m hoping to get one more game in the big league – one more pitch – and It turned out. A lot more than that. So I’m just so thankful. “
-Right-year-old Wright not only returned to the big leagues this season as a member of the Rockies Opening Day roster, but he did so in style with a win in an uninterrupted relief outing in his July 25 season debut. Bard was scoreless in 14 of his 23 appearances, saving 6 of 14 runs and ending the score-2 with an ERA of 65.6565.
“There’s just the ability to let go and re-entertain. I put so much pressure on myself to get back to the high level that I landed,” Bard said. “I think I had to retire. I retired for two years, and I think that was the only thing that allowed me to move forward in my own mind and just have the freedom to play on the field and throw a baseball like me.” I am. ‘
Bard is the second Rockies player to win the NLC Comeback Player of the Year award, along with fellow reliefman Greg Holland, who received the award in 2017. The only other Royals winner before Perez also came in ’17, when Mike Moustakas took over. AL Comeback Player of the Year honors.
The Comeback Player of the Year Awards, presented annually in each league since 2005, are selected from the original list of 30 candidates (one from each team) by MLB.com’s 30 Club Beat journalists.
Paul Cassella is a journalist / editor for Philadelphia-based MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter paul_casella.
.
