St. Louis Cardinals: End of season team awards

The end of a season is often sad especially when the St. Louis Cardinals aren’t playing in October. With the end, though, comes a recognition of successes during the season.

Now that the St. Louis Cardinals baseball season is over, it’s time to give out our team awards for the season. Even though there’s not a trophy or money in it for the winners, they do get clubhouse bragging rights for the entire 2019 season.

These awards go to the players who have stood out from the others in each aspect. The entire Redbird Rants staff carefully picked who should win each award, so this is coming from the entire site, not just a kid who picked names out of a hat.

There are a few Cardinals who are competing for the league-wide awards, such as Yadier Molina, Kolten Wong, and Harrison Bader competing for Gold Glove awards in their respective positions. Bader will also finish high on NL Rookie of the Year ballots along with Jack Flaherty.

Now, let’s see who are your award winners for your St. Louis Cardinals.

Minor League Player of the Year : Dakota Hudson

Dakota Hudson has quite the season for both the Memphis Redbirds and the St. Louis Cardinals. He put up a very solid 2.50 ERA with a 13-3 record in Memphis. He was also named the starting pitcher for the AAA All-Star Game, which usually goes to the best pitcher in the entire league.

In the second in a start against the Salt Lake Bees, Redbirds manager Stubby Clapp walked to the mound and pulled Hudson out of the game, and gave him an official Major League baseball. He was officially called up the next morning in a bullpen shakeup by the front office.

He also will be getting a championship ring for his participation with your AAA CHAMPION MEMPHIS REDBIRDS. Dakota Hudson will never forget 2018 from both a Minor and Major league standpoint.

Dakota Hudson did well in the Majors, totaling a 2.63 ERA over 27 innings pitched. He could potentially be a part of the 2019 rotation if he can show out in Spring Training, but even though he is your Redbird Rants Minor League Player of the Year, I don’t see him going back to the Minor Leagues anytime soon.

The end of a season is often sad especially when the St. Louis Cardinals aren’t playing in October. With the end, though, comes a recognition of successes during the season.

Now that the St. Louis Cardinals baseball season is over, it’s time to give out our team awards for the season. Even though there’s not a trophy or money in it for the winners, they do get clubhouse bragging rights for the entire 2019 season.

Reliever of the Year: Carlos Martinez

I’m not going to lie, I was tempted to throw you guys off and give this award to new manager Mike Shildt, who has done a fantastic job since taking over as manager for the Cardinals just before the All-Star break. Though he has done a great job, Carlos Martinez was excellent out of the bullpen this season.

If you told me on Opening Day that Carlos Martinez would win this award, I would have laughed, then laughed even more. Injuries played a huge cause in sending Martinez to the bullpen to end 2018, but he definitely stepped up when needed.

After his second trip to disabled list, Mike Shildt announced that Martinez would return to the bullpen instead of the rotation. Coming out of the bullpen, he had a very impressive 1.47 ERA, and when Bud Norris started to fall off a cliff and lose his role as closer, Martinez stepped up in the closer role and went five-for-five in save opportunities.

The bullpen was very shaky for the Cardinals this season. Though Martinez will return to the rotation in 2019, he did an excellent job and stepped up when we needed it the most. Hence why he is your Redbird Rants Reliever of the Year.

The end of a season is often sad especially when the St. Louis Cardinals aren’t playing in October. With the end, though, comes a recognition of successes during the season.

Now that the St. Louis Cardinals baseball season is over, it’s time to give out our team awards for the season. Even though there’s not a trophy or money in it for the winners, they do get clubhouse bragging rights for the entire 2019 season.

Rookie of the Year: Harrison Bader

Between Harrison Bader and Jack Flaherty, this was a very tough decision, but Bader has the upper hand here. Bader has taken the baseball world by storm with his eye-opening catches and speed on the diamond. Even the ladies of Cardinals Nation are starting to take notice, giving him the nickname “BAE-der”. Bader finishes the 2018 season with 12 home runs and a .264 BA, which are both very solid for a rookie.

The best part of his game though is his fascinating defensive play. He accumulated a 2.0 dWAR on the season, which is second out of all outfielders in the National League, behind Lorenzo Cain.

The crazy thing is he logged 200 less innings in the field than Cain, so his dWAR could have been higher, but the outfield was jammed before the Cardinals traded Tommy Pham and placed Dexter Fowler on the DL, freeing a full-time outfield spot for Bader.

Bader has a realistic chance of winning the Gold Glove in center field and will also finish very high on Rookie of the Year, and is your Redbird Rants Rookie of the Year.

The end of a season is often sad especially when the St. Louis Cardinals aren’t playing in October. With the end, though, comes a recognition of successes during the season.

Now that the St. Louis Cardinals baseball season is over, it’s time to give out our team awards for the season. Even though there’s not a trophy or money in it for the winners, they do get clubhouse bragging rights for the entire 2019 season.

Gold Glove: Kolten Wong

Though Yadier Molina and Harrison Bader will have a shot at Gold Gloves in their positions, this answer is obvious. Out of all second baseman in the MLB, Kolten Wong has the highest dWAR, totaling 3.2 on the season. He also leads all second baseman in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) with 21.

Throughout his career, Wong has always had a solid glove, but in 2018, his defense was on another level, making big-time diving catches and showing off his range all season long.

According to sabremetrics,  Kolten Wong is the obvious Gold Glove winner at second baseman. Wong even said he should be the one to take home the Gold Glove. So, in my opinion, KoWo Gold Glove or we all riot.

He finished the season ranked SIXTH out of the ENTIRE MLB in dWAR, and that is why he is your Redbird Rants Gold Glove winner.

The end of a season is often sad especially when the St. Louis Cardinals aren’t playing in October. With the end, though, comes a recognition of successes during the season.

Now that the St. Louis Cardinals baseball season is over, it’s time to give out our team awards for the season. Even though there’s not a trophy or money in it for the winners, they do get clubhouse bragging rights for the entire 2019 season.

Silver Slugger : Matt Carpenter

A few Cardinals were worthy of this award, but Matt Carpenter was the guy with the best bat on the team this season.

He started out the season hitting below .170, which is absolutely horrific. Some fans wanted the Cardinals front office to trade him or even DFA him. Once Matt Carpenter started to actually heat up, he was hitting home runs in bunches.

He finished the season with 36 home runs, which finished second out of the entire National League. He had the lead until the final day of the season, when Nolan Arenado hit two out to claim the National League Home Run crown. Before 2018, his season high for home runs was 28, so this is for sure a career year for him from the power side of things.

He also finished the year with 81 RBIs, which was third on the team. Considering he was a lead off hitter and therefore did not have as many RBI oppurtunities as some of his other teammates, 81 RBIs is very solid.

Matt Carpenter has a chance to win Silver Slugger as a first baseman, and is your Redbird Rants Silver Slugger winner.

The end of a season is often sad especially when the St. Louis Cardinals aren’t playing in October. With the end, though, comes a recognition of successes during the season.

Now that the St. Louis Cardinals baseball season is over, it’s time to give out our team awards for the season. Even though there’s not a trophy or money in it for the winners, they do get clubhouse bragging rights for the entire 2019 season.

Team MVP: Matt Carpenter

Seems like you were just reading about him, right? Well, Matt Carpenter seems like the obvious choice for the Team MVP award.

He finished the season with a 4.9 WAR, which is eighth in the National League in that category. He will likely finish top-10 in the NL MVP ballots, though he did seem like a legit MVP choice before going on a cold streak in September.

You might hate him for his cold streaks, but let’s be honest, if it wasn’t for him, we would have went nowhere near 22-6 in August. He delivered with big time home runs and clutch hits. He even took home NL Player of the Month back in July when it seemed like he could not stop hitting dingers.

After he was out for a couple of days with a wrist injury in mid August though, his bat went dead silent, and it seemed like nothing could go right for Carpenter. Some fans believe that it was a broken wrist, and he lost power trying to hit on it instead of taking time for it to heal. Others believe that the “Magic Salsa” wore off for Carpenter.

Even though he was streaky and went silent when the Cardinals were pushing heavily for a playoff spot, the Cardinals would have not been in the position they were in if it wasn’t for Matt Carpenter.

Let’s go back to Mid-July, after losing two straight games to the Cincinatti Reds, the St. Louis Cardinals fired manager Mike Matheny. Two weeks later, the Cardinals sold MLB talent including Tommy Pham at the trade deadline for prospects. It seemed like the Cardinals were starting to shift towards 2019 early, but Carpenter played a huge role in shifting the Cardinals momentum forward and leading them to that historic August.

That is why Matt Carpenter is your Redbird Rants TEAM MVP.

Do you agree with the choices? Do you think that your list is better than ours? Leave your thoughts and put your award winners in the comments below! Thank you for reading.