The recipients of the Texas Rangers 2020 individual awards were announced Tuesday. Voting for the annual awards is conducted by the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa was named Player of the Year. He batted .280 with 3 home runs and 10 RBI in 58 games this season, leading the team in hits (59), runs (28), and multi-hit games (16). He also ranked among American League leaders in triples (T2nd, 3) and stolen bases (T7th, 8). He combined for an overall .967 (5 E/159 TC) fielding percentage at third base and shortstop, and finished as the A.L. leader at third base in Statcast's outs above average (4 - Statcast), FanGraphs' defensive runs saved (8), and Baseball Info Solutions' defensive runs saved (8). Kiner-Falefa finished with a 1.8 wins above replacement mark, second among Rangers according to baseball-reference.com.
Lance Lynn was named Pitcher of the Year. He finished with a 6-3 record and 3.32 ERA over 13 starts in 2020, finishing among American League leaders in innings (1st, 84.0), quality starts (T1st, 10), wins (T4th), strikeouts (5th, 89), opponent batting average (5th, .206), WHIP (7th, 1.060), and ERA (10th). He registered 2.3 wins above replacement according to baseball-reference.com, the highest figure of any Texas player this season. Lynn went 4-1 with a 1.93 ERA over his first 8 starts through the end of August, a span which included a complete-game 2-hitter on Aug. 14 at Coors Field. Lynn has 37 straight outings with 100-or-more pitches, a Rangers club record and tied for the 3rd-longest such streak in MLB since pitches were first tracked in 1988.
Jonathan Hernández was named Rookie of the Year. He went 5-1 with a 2.90 ERA (10 ER/31.0 IP) in 27 relief appearances this year, leading MLB with 31.0 innings as a reliever. His 5 relief wins were T3rd-most in MLB and ranked 2nd among Rangers to only Lynn (6). He also ranked among American League relief leaders in games (T6th) and strikeouts (T12th, 31). From Aug. 2 to Sept. 1, Hernández allowed runs in just two of 14 outings, going 4-0 with a 1.04 ERA (2 ER/17.1 IP) in that span along with just 3 walks and 19 strikeouts.
The Harold McKinney Good Guy Award was given to Manager Chris Woodward, who was appointed to the position on Nov. 3, 2018. Woodward became just the second Rangers manager to be selected in the 48-year history of the Good Guy Award, joining Ron Washington in 2008.
The Richard Durrett Hardest Working Man Award was presented to Jose Trevino. The award has been presented since 2014 to the player who represents significant improvement over the previous season or seasons through hard work. It is named for Rangers beat writer Richard Durrett, who passed away in June 2014. Trevino batted .250 with 2 home runs, 8 doubles, and 9 RBI over 24 games with the Rangers this season before ending the year on the Injured List with a left wrist impingement. He finished among team leaders in doubles (T2nd) and extra-base hits (T5th, 10) despite appearing in less than half of the club's games in 2020. In a span of 10 games from Aug. 15 to 26, Trevino batted .342 with team highs in extra-base hits (7), hits (13), and total bases (22) over that stretch.
Lastly, Kyle Cody has been selected as the Texas Rangers September Player of the Month in voting by the writers and broadcasters who cover the team on a regular basis. Cody went 1-1, 1.96 (4 ER/18.1 IP) in five September starts, issuing one or fewer runs in all five outings. That included his first Major League victory on Sept. 20 at the Los Angeles Angels. Cody is the first rookie to win a Rangers' monthly award since RHP Tommy Hunter in July 2009.
