While the big awards given out by the Baseball Writers Association of America, including AL and NL MVPs and Cy Youngs have yet to be released, other groups and publications are starting to come out with their postseason award winners.
On Monday, one group, The Sporting News, awarded Texas Rangers designated hitter Prince Fielder with AL Comeback Player of the Year honors after his stellar 2015 season that followed a 2014 season marred by a fairly serious cervical fusion procedure on his neck.
Fielder was acquired via trade from Detroit in November 2013 for Ian Kinsler, and the immediate return was questioned pretty severely when the hefty slugger played in just 42 games in 2014. He subsequently had a lot to prove in 2015 and was a big question mark, but it didn't take him long to easy any concerns over his health.
Fielder immediately got hot at the plate, and pretty much stayed that way all year as he was really the one Ranger who consistently was good at the plate throughout the season. He finished the year with a .305 batting average, 23 homers and 98 RBIs for the AL West champion Rangers.
The award was chosen by American League players, who opted to give Fielder the nod over another strong candidate in Alex Rodriguez, who has likely hurt his chances for any player-voted awards for the rest of time.
