The Baltimore Orioles’ Brandon Hyde ran away with the American League Manager of the Year honor on Tuesday, while Skip Schumaker won a close vote for the National League award in his first season managing the Miami Marlins.
Schumaker is the fourth Marlins manager to win the honor from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, joining Jack McKeon (2003), Joe Girardi (2006) and Don Mattingly (2020).
He won a congested NL vote with 72 points — eight votes apiece for first, second and third place. Five points are awarded for first place, three for second and one for third.
Milwaukee’s Craig Counsell (now with the Chicago Cubs) was second with 51 points (five first-place votes), Atlanta’s Brian Snitker was third with 48 (eight first-place votes), Arizona’s Torey Lovullo was fourth with 42 (four first-place votes) and Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers was fifth with 41 (four first-place votes).
Winning tight contests is nothing new for Schumaker, whose Marlins compiled an MLB-best .702 winning percentage (33-14) in one-run games this season. Miami went 84-78 — a 15-game improvement from 2022 — in qualifying for the postseason for the fourth time in franchise history and the first in a non-shortened season since 2003.
Schumaker said of receiving the honor, “I just believe that the staff around me created this culture, and to have really good players who bought in early on. … I just feel like all these guys deserved this award, not just me.”
The Marlins lost two straight to the Philadelphia Phillies in their NL wild-card series.
The Orioles went an American League-best 101-61 to win the East Division and were not swept in 52 series the entire regular season, becoming the first in club history and fourth in the MLB since 2000 to accomplish this feat.
Baltimore, among the youngest teams in the majors, went down in a three-game ALDS sweep to the World Series champion Texas Rangers.
Hyde, who was runner-up to Cleveland’s Terry Francona in 2022, guided the Orioles to their 10th AL East crown and first since 2014, and their first playoff berth since 2016.
Hyde led the AL vote with 144 points, with 27 first-place votes and three for second place. He was the only manager named on every ballot.
“I’m so fortunate for the coaching staff I have and how positive they are, and how they helped me along the way and made me better,” Hyde said. “Along with that, too, the patience that (general manager Mike Elias) and the front office have shown to me. They were more patient than me — I’ve said that lot — through those tough few years.”
Bruce Bochy of Texas was second with 61 points (three first-place votes), Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash was third (52 points), Minnesota’s Rocco Baldelli was fourth (eight) and Houston’s Dusty Baker was fifth (four).
Hyde, in his fifth season, is the fourth Orioles manager to receive the award, joining Buck Showalter (2014), Davey Johnson (1997) and Frank Robinson (1989). The awards for each league began in 1983.
–Field Level Media
