TORONTO — Kevin Gausman, a Cy Young Award finalist, and all-star shortstop Bo Bichette were unanimous picks as Toronto Blue Jays pitcher and player of the year in voting by the Toronto chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday.
Infield slugger Davis Schneider picked up 21 of the 22 first-place votes to earn rookie of the year honours while lefty Yusei Kikuchi was the decisive selection as most improved player. Third-base coach Luis Rivera, who retired after 13 years on the big-league staff, and longtime travel director Mike Shaw were named co-winners of the John Cerutti Award, which goes to someone associated with the day-to-day workings of Blue Jays’ baseball who displays goodwill, co-operation and character, as exemplified by the late left-hander.
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Gausman finished third in Cy Young voting behind winner Gerrit Cole and runner-up Sonny Gray after fronting the Blue Jays rotation with a 3.16 ERA over 185 innings while striking out a league-leading 237 batters. Chris Bassitt, who threw a career-high 200 innings, was the runner-up for Blue Jays pitcher of the year.
Bichette was the club’s driving force at the plate, batting .306/.339/.475 with 20 homers and 73 RBIs while leading the team with 175 hits and 271 total bases, despite playing in only 135 games due to patellar tendinitis in his right knee. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., whose 26 homers and 94 RBIs were tops on the team, finished second.
Schneider hit eight homers, 12 doubles and walked 21 times in only 35 games after breaking through to the majors in early August, providing some punch for an offence that needed a jolt. Bowden Francis, who quietly posted a 1.73 ERA in 36.1 innings over 20 appearances as an up-and-down reliever, received the other first-place vote to finish second.
Kikuchi pitched 167.2 innings over 32 starts at a 3.86 ERA after struggling through a 2022 season in which he lost his rotation spot, earning 16 first-place votes. Five of the remaining first-place votes went to runner-up Jose Berrios, another starter who also bounced back last year after a rough season the year previous, while Tim Mayza received the other.
Rivera, who turns 60 in January, first joined the Blue Jays in 2010 as the manager at double-A New Hampshire and was promoted to the big-league staff in 2011. When John Farrell left for the Boston Red Sox after the 2012 season and took third base coach Brian Butterfield with him, Rivera remained and moved over into the third-base role under manager John Gibbons, where he’s been since.
Shaw, born in Halifax and raised in Montreal, just completed his 28th season with the Blue Jays, beginning with a part-time role in the club’s ticket office, moving on to the communications staff and finally settling in as the head of team travel since 2004. He’s twice been selected as Travel Secretary of the Year in voting by his peers.
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