All-Star utilityman Chris Taylor of the Los Angeles Dodgers has been named the National League Player of the Week, while his counterpart and former teammate Enrique Hernandez earned the American League honors.
The three National League MVP finalists were named Monday afternoon, and Mookie Betts is among them. Betts, who already has won MVP honors in the American League, will look to become just the second player in Major League history to win MVP in both leagues after Frank Robinson.
In what promises to be one of many honors earned by players of the Dodgers this year, infielder Justin Turner on Friday night was named the winner of the 15th annual Roy Campanella Award, which is given to the Dodger player who best exemplifies the spirit and leadership of the late Hall of Fame catcher.
In almost every trade scenario for the Los Angeles Dodgers over the past two years, Cody Bellinger‘s name has been brought up as a potential player the other team coveted. The Dodgers always said no, he’s non-negotiable. That insistence to keep him has paid off. Monday, Cody Bellinger has been named the Jackie Robinson NL Rookie of the Year for the 2017 season. He becomes the 18th Rookie of the Year in the Dodgers organization.
The Dodgers announced on Monday afternoon that third baseman Justin Turner was named the winner of the 12th annual Roy Campanella Award. This honor is given to the Dodger player who best exemplifies the spirit and leadership of the late Hall of Fame catcher. The award, which was voted upon by Dodger uniformed personnel, will be presented to Turner by Campanella’s daughter, Joni Campanella Roan, and his grandson, Cary Bell, during pregame ceremonies on Tuesday night.
The Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday afternoon named right-handed pitcher Walker Buehler as the Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year and catcher Keibert Ruiz as the Branch Rickey Minor League Player of the Year.
Admittedly, being that we generally stay away from posts involving game recaps, I was still a bit torn as to whether to write a story regarding Cody Bellinger‘s monumental evening on Saturday against the Marlins. Furthermore, I thought there would be a small chance that Bellinger would capture his third NL Player of the Week award on Monday, so I figured I’d put something together then, oblivious to the series that Washington’s Anthony Rendon had against the Reds over the weekend. Regardless, I figured it’s about time to give the latest rookie sensation of the Dodgers some well-deserved ink. And considering it’s been awhile since we’ve cited some witty song lyrics, I was even gonna drop a few lines from the 1999 Fatboy Slim hit song, but I decided to save those for a point later in the year when the more prestigious awards began to roll in.
If you’re a Dodgers fan of a certain age, you well remember the string of Rookie of the Year Awards that the Dodgers had won, starting in 1979 with Rick Sutcliffe and ending in 1982 with Steve Sax. The end of this string was the beginning of the Dodgers being on my radar, and Steve Sax was my first love (I was 6 years old). Later, LA had another string of Rookies of the Year starting in 1992 with Eric Karros and ending with Todd Hollandsworth in 1996. In fact, the Dodgers now have 17 ROYs, more than double of any other club.