Field Level Media
23 Nov 2022, 06:25 GMT+10
St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols and Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander earned Comeback Player of the Year honors for the National League and American League, respectively, on Tuesday.
Pujols won the NL honor after closing out his career with the St. Louis Cardinals. Verlander took AL honors just six days after unanimously winning the AL Cy Young Award.
Pujols, 42, batted .270 with 24 homers and 68 RBIs in 109 games in the final season of his 22-year career. It was his second tour of duty with St. Louis as he previously spent 11 seasons with the franchise (2001-11) before also playing for the Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Pujols was released by the Angels in May 2021 before finishing the season with the Dodgers. But he rebounded in 2022 and hit his most homers since 2016 during his return to the Cardinals and completed his career ranked fourth in homers (703), second in RBIs (2,218) and ninth in hits (3,384).
Verlander, 39, missed the entire 2021 season due to Tommy John surgery but recovered to go 18-4 with a major-league-best 1.75 ERA in 28 starts. He also led the AL in wins, WHIP (0.83) and opponents' batting average (.186).
Verlander struck out 185 in 175 innings while winning the Cy Young Award for the third time in his 17-year career. His ERA was the lowest in Astros history and the best in the AL since Boston's Pedro Martinez had a 1.74 ERA in 2000.
The winners were determined by voting from the 30 beat reporters from MLB.com.
--Field Level MediaGet a daily dose of San Jose Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to San Jose Sun.
More Information(Photo credit: Rafael Suanes-Imagn Images) Trevor Story and Ceddanne Rafaela each homered to help the visiting Boston Red Sox complete...
(Photo credit: Rafael Suanes-Imagn Images) Trevor Story and Ceddanne Rafaela each homered to help the visiting Boston Red Sox complete...
(Photo credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images) Trey Sweeney and Riley Greene each belted homers in the 10th inning and Tarik Skubal threw...
(Photo credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images) Aaron Judge hit his 33rd home run of the season and finished with three RBIs to help...
(Photo credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images) The Washington Wizards completed a three-team trade on Sunday, acquiring guard CJ McCollum,...
(Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images) Bo Bichette homered, Kevin Gausman struck out nine in 5 2/3 innings and the Toronto Blue...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: With just weeks to spare before a potential government default, U.S. lawmakers passed a sweeping tax and spending...
PARIS, France: Fast-fashion giant Shein has been fined 40 million euros by France's antitrust authority over deceptive discount practices...
PALO ALTO/TEL AVIV: The battle for top AI talent has claimed another high-profile casualty—this time at Safe Superintelligence (SSI),...
FRANKLIN, Tennessee: Hundreds of thousands of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles are being recalled across the United States due to a potential...
REDMOND, Washington: Microsoft is the latest tech giant to announce significant job cuts, as the financial strain of building next-generation...
LONDON UK - U.S. stock markets were closed on Friday for Independence Day. Global Forex Markets Wrap Up Friday with Greeback Comeback...