(AP Photo/David J. Phillip), Hickey looks on, before the team's spring training baseball game against the Houston Astros, Tuesday, March 9, 2021, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky), solo home run against the Houston Astros in the third inning of a baseball game in Seattle, in this Tuesday, June 4, 2019, file photo. He looks a lot different this spring, from all accounts, and he might be ready to unlock what got everybody so excited about him in the first place. The awardees, in collaboration with the MLB Players Trust, will have an opportunity to donate $70,000 to their choice of charity. Over his first seven starts, the right-hander was 0-5 with a 4.10 ERA. That also meant he didnt appear with the other qualifying pitchers as voters perused statistical leaderboards while filling out their ballots. Joe Burrow (+700) 4. Considering his five-tool skill set, theres no reason to believe Tatis wont be in the forefront of the MVP discussion next year -- and in the future. The greater came a few months before that when his son was born. But it sure feels like it has been a while since he was finishing second in MVP voting? Trout is the best player in the game and is always in the conversation for AL MVP, winning the award three times and finishing in the top 5 in each of the past nine seasons. A case in point came on the first day of Major League Baseballs exhibition season last month. The Bills' safety is given very short +250 odds to win the award after announcing his goal is to return to the NFL after an extremely scary incident where his heart stopped on the field. Posey will be back in '21 and he should be poised for a bounceback season now that hes further removed from August 2018 hip surgery that sapped his power and hampered his production in each of his previous two seasons. Sixto Sanchez was supposed to be Miami's NL ROY candidate, but he has not pitched this season and has already undergone season-ending shoulder surgery. Not even an offseason, halted Spring Training, shutdown period or short Summer Camp could disrupt Darvishs rhythm. The Yankees are banking on Kluber to be a key part of their rebuilt rotation behind ace Gerrit Cole and fellow newcomer Jameson Taillon, who is making his own comeback after missing last season with the Pirates while recovering from Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery. He's nearly three years removed from being an All-Star, but the Mariners believe that with Haniger now full healthy he can once again be that caliber of player. But he had the worst year of his career since 2013 in 2021, putting up a 5.28 ERA just a year after he had a 1.99 ERA that ended with him fifth in Cy Young voting. His whiff rate also went up to 36.6 percent, marking a career high. He may be leading off this year, so a step forward would be handy. He's nearly three years removed from being an All-Star, but the Mariners believe that with Haniger now full healthy he can once again be that caliber of player. Haniger appeared in just 63 games in 2019 then missed the entire 2020 season. He signed a one-year, $11-million contract as a free agent in the offseason. He went two games below .500 in his two seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and finished two games below .500 with the Giants last year. I'd be lying if I said that was the first thing that came to mind. 2022 could be a bounce-back fantasy season for Adalberto . The 29-year-olds cancer is now in remission. ORIOLES: Trey Mancini, AL Comeback Player of the Year Fully recovered from Stage 3 colon cancer, Mancini aims to be back on the field by Opening Day 2021. And Manny Machado finished third in NL MVP voting in '20. And even after his spectacular season, Bieber said he has plenty of room left to grow, including perfecting his changeup. teammate and person could make him . However, Strasburg has also had 10 stints on the injury list during his 11-year career. 2 prospect in the organization and No. Major League Baseball on Tuesday night announced the two winners of the Comeback Player of the Year award for 2022: Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League and Justin . The award was created for a player who was once a star, but had to come back from either injury or ineffectiveness to reclaim his status. The Ravens won 14 games with a second-year quarterback under center. Gallen had just two poor innings in '20 -- he allowed four runs in the sixth inning on Sept. 7 and four runs in the first inning on Sept. 12. Six different pitchers have tallied at least one save. Despite both a slow start (Tatis was batting .118 as late as April 19) and missing 17 of the team's first 43 games (minor shoulder injury and a stint on the COVID-19 list), El Nino has hit 28 home runs and stolen 20 bags. In just 87 games, he had 27 homers and 78 RBIs while hitting .313/.412/.655. The naysayers love to complain about his errors in the field, but if Tatis is able to do something that hasn't been done in more than a century, it's going to be mighty hard to argue against him for NL MVP. At 27, this is theoretically his prime. Or that the Blue Jays' Robbie Ray would be the AL Cy Young winner. In fact, its fair to say that Hayes will enter '21 as the favorite to take home the award after slashing .376/.442/.682 with five homers, seven doubles and two triples on his way to winning NL Rookie of the Month honors in September. Now, he will be working with new pitching coach Ethan Katz, his coach at Harvard-Westlake High School in California who also helped Giolito make significant changes to his repertoire and delivery in the offseason prior to the 19 campaign. Rick Scuteri/USA Today Sports Mookie Betts has the next-best odds at +900 after slugging a career-high 35 home runs in 2022. Hed spent it fighting for his life. (2019, anyway.) Theyare 19-8 in one-run games and 10-1 in extra-inning games, boasting the best winning percentage in the majors in both of those categories. What Ill remember most is the Spring Training reaction, the fan reaction in our first home game, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. Who's to say he would've even been in the big leagues this year were it not for Sanchez's shoulder injury? For the most part, there was minimal debate. Thats MVP stuff. Houston Astros' Yordan Alvarez (44) gestures as he walks back to the dugout after hitting a [+] three-run home run against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, Aug. 14, 2020, in Houston. The other was Ty Cobb (9 HR, 76 SB) in 1909. He started to turn it around in the postseason, and if he can return to his MVP-caliber self, sheesh, this lineup just shoots off into the stratosphere. Cubs: Kyle Hendricks, RHPHendricks was the nominal ace for the Cubs, but he also was their North Star who was going to prove you could have a rotation that didnt throw hard but still won. Analyzing the betting odds for MLB's major awards, including Cy Young, MVP, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year. . He remains an elite player and will be only 27 years old on Opening Day. Each part of his triple-slash line is a bit below his previous career levels, but he's, like, two good games away from matching those averages. He had a 35.5 whiff percentage on the pitch in '20, an improvement from 31.6 percent in 19. He won four games in a row with a 1.26 ERA before dropping his final regular-season outing. Anderson's 1996 season will forever be one of baseball's biggest oddities, but the other three members of that club rank among the best hitters of all time. He would join Indians righty Carlos Carrasco as fellow cancer survivors to win the honor. Five months later, he was on the field again, receiving a standing ovation at the Orioles Spring Training complex in Sarasota, Fla. He is also still a bargain as his salary will be close to the major league minimum of $570,500 this season as he does not yet have the requisite service time to be eligible for salary arbitration. It was a resurgent season even compared to the last one he played, 2019, when Posey batted a career-low .257 with only seven home runs and a .688 OPS. Behind Posey's .304 batting average, 18 home runs, 56 RBIs and .889 OPS, the Giants set a franchise record with 107 wins. Since the start of 2018, Cole leads all AL starters in fWAR, innings, wins and strikeouts and ranks second in ERA and FIP. NFL Comeback Player of the Year Odds 1. An MVP race likely is in his future. Then, Darvish flipped an incredible switch. With his intriguing combination of power, speed and competitive drive, Kelenic ranks as the No. The Pirates focus for now is on building a better future, and theres no doubt Hayes will be a part of it. PIRATES: KeBryan Hayes, NL Rookie of the Year. He placed fourth in AL Cy Young voting in 2020, going 7-3 with a 2.84 ERA and 94 strikeouts in 12 starts, owning a share of the big league lead in both complete games and shutouts. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File). He put up a 1.022 OPS over his 23 games in the regular season, and when you combine his potential to put up excellent counting stats with his all-around game and his knack for performing in big moments, he could be chasing some other awards down the road, too. The 22-year old shortstop has had an impressive season so far. Posey elected not to play in 2020, and the Giants' longtime catcher returned to lead San Francisco to the best record in baseball in '21. The No. While winning AL Rookie of the Year in 2018, he had a 3.31 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 11.0 K/9 in 10 starts. Saquon Barkley (+700) 5. Cardinals: Ryan Helsley, RHPThe Cardinals looked like they had the next dominant relief pitcher during the 2019 playoffs, but Helsley, who throws hard and has had moments of looking downright incredible, has now had two down seasons in a row, with a walk rate of more than 5 per nine in that span. He had a 4.99 ERA to go with an 11.7 percent walk rate in 137 innings in that time period, which had been defined by injury issues and command troubles. Then consider how he finished: .225/.386/.442. He usually gets one of those goals: He had an ERA under 2.70 every year from 2018-20. Castillo has established one of the best changeups in baseball to go with his near triple-digit fastball velocity. But that begs the question -- has he already returned, and can he still win? He wasn't just the Rookie of the Year in 2021; it wasn't even close. Bumgarner is still, somehow, only 32 years old. Betts surprised team leader Justin Turner with a tone-setting Spring Training address that rivaled Kirk Gibsons eye-black meltdown in 1988. He tore a shoulder muscle in his Rangers debut. Mancini is the first Orioles player to claim the honor; he also earned the same distinction from his peers in October. Until he takes a step back -- and hes shown no indications of doing so to date -- he will remain a perennial Cy Young favorite. If he does, he could help the Phillies offset any potential losses to the lineup, including J.T Realmuto and/or Didi Gregorius, and win his second NL MVP Award. Soto already became the youngest player to win the NL batting title when he hit .351 in his age-21 season in 2020. He's batting .328 and slugging .547, which are the highest marks of his career with the exception of his 2012 NL MVP year (.336 and .549, respectively). And it's not like Kapler came into the year with a stellar managerial track record. But it was rough sledding getting to that point, and he ended up with 106 strikeouts in 377 plate appearances. His numbers fell off a cliff last year, providing 665 plate appearances of a .297 OBP with only two homers basically making just about as many outs as anyone in the sport. American League National League And the best player on the roster (Buster Posey) has only played in 58 games. But before the action really gets intense, Chloe Davey delivers her preview and tips for the season ahead. Burnes managed to finish sixth in 2020 NL Cy Young Award balloting after his candidacy took a painful hit in his final regular-season start, when an oblique injury not only spoiled his bid to be the first Brewers pitcher to win an ERA title, but left him one-third of an inning -- thats right, one measly out -- shy of qualifying for the honor. So to project a Coach of the Year, you have to look at teams who will absolutely dominate or be surprisingly good. He spent the winter reconfiguring his deep arsenal and returned in '20 with a lethal cut fastball, producing a 2.11 ERA and 13.3 strikeouts per nine innings. Assuming Major League Baseball ends its lockout in time to actually have a season in 2022, more than a few stars will go in hoping to have a better year than they did in 2021.. Rather than talk .