Indians: Every award won by a Tribe player in 2020

The Cleveland Indians won five different awards in the 2020 season and we’re going to go through them all, to remind you how great 2020 was for the Tribe.

The Cleveland Indians have a team of hardware winners. While they came up short in the 2020 playoffs, the Tribe did a great job of managing a team full of underperforming stars, malcontents who couldn’t follow the rules, and the rest being a group of guys that ground out every win they could so they would see the postseason. It was a season of ups and downs, filled with highlights and some lowlifes. Through it all, however, the cream rose to the top and the Indians get to have another year of post-season accolades to add to the old treasure chest.

Its impressive what this team was able to do considering how many holes, struggles, and constant changes they went through. So each of these award winners not only deserved their wins but so much more. This group of guys was truly special.

So with that, let’s run down each post-season award winner the Indians had.

AL Comeback Player of the Year: Carlos Carrasco

The second starter in the rotation, Carlos Carrasco had a really good year following 2019 where he had to deal with a life-threatening illness. He came back mid-way through the 2019 season and won the Comeback Player of the Year Award for 2019. In 2020, he was back to his old dominant ways. Record wise you can see how much the Indians offense struggled, only going 3-4 but he had a 2.91 ERA, with 82 strikeouts, 27 walks, and gave up only one more home run than Shane Bieber, finishing with eight.

Golden Glove Winners at Catcher and Second:  Roberto Perez, Cesar Hernandez

What Roberto Perez did, winning a gold glove after missing nearly half the season is a testament to how good he is as a defensive catcher and as a man who calls the pitches. Offensively he’s nothing to write home about, as he struggled in the batter’s box but he’s arguably the greatest defensive catcher in Indians history. Cesar Hernandez on the other hand was supposed to fill the gap left by Jason Kipnis and he did just that. Not only was good at the plate (.288/.355/.408) but he was an absolute magician on the field with his glove. For a one-year-rental, Hernandez was fantastic.

AL Cy Young & 4th place in AL MVP vote – Shane Bieber

Shane Bieber was the unanimous AL Cy Young winner and completed the rare Triple Crown win by leading the league in wins, strikeouts, and ERA. He went 8-1 on the year, with 122 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.63 – all tops in the league. This was good enough to get him fourth in the AL MVP race, which frankly is a bit low considering how good he was. The last AL pitcher to post these types of numbers was Justin Verlander, and he won the AL MVP that year. Perhaps a recount is in order?

Silver Slugger at 3B and 2nd in AL MVP vote – Jose Ramirez (third base)

To be clear, Jose Ramirez got robbed in the AL MVP voting. Despite being one of two consistent hitters on the team, the other being Franmil Reyes, Ramirez dragged this Indians offense all season and even had several late-inning hits that won the Tribe games, which helped him win the AL Silver Slugger for third base. Despite this, he falls short in his third attempt at an MVP trophy. A clear sign that he’s a top-five player in baseball. No one else, in either league, has finished in the top three for MVP three of the last four seasons. Only Ramirez. If that’s not the sign of a superstar, what is?