From a strong pitching staff to the players in the field, the Oakland A’s found great success during the first half of 2014, and some of those players continued to succeed throughout the entire season. Even though the Oakland A’s season was in the end disappointing, there were some stars on their team that deserve to be recognized. Here are the Oakland A’s 2014 season awards.
Josh Donaldson
Offensive Player of the Year – Josh Donaldson
This one is easy. By the end of the season, Donaldson led the lead in batting average, home runs, RBI, OPS, and hits. He was probably the only player who continued to produce once Yoenis Cespedes was traded. Donaldson always played with heart and looked at every at bat as a chance to win for his team. With 155 hits and 29 home runs over 158 games played, Donaldson deserves to win the Oakland A’s offensive player of the year award.
Defensive Player of the Year - Stephen Vogt
Even though Vogt was only brought up from the minor leagues in early June, he quickly made an impact on offensive and defensive. What makes him the defensive player of the year is that fact that he played four different positions throughout the season in addition to playing with an injured foot. To see a catcher run and dive for line drives out in left and right field, as well as guard first base, was pretty impressive. Additionally, he was not that bad at the other positions he played and maintained a .998 fielding percentage for the 2014 season.
Starting Pitcher of the Year – Scott Kazmir
Yes, the Athletics had Jon Lester. Yes, they had Jeff Samardzija. But Kazmir spent the entire season with the Oakland A’s and was the most consistent throughout the entire season. With a 15-9 record, he not only lead the starting rotation with the most wins, but he also had the best WHIP out of the five starters with a 1.16. Kazmir’s starts were so impressive that he also made the American League All-Star team. To see Kazmir growing and excelling after struggling from 2009-2011, and ultimately taking a year off in 2012, is great. If he continues on this upward trend, Kazmir will continue to be a great starter for the Oakland A’s in 2015.
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Reliever of the Year - Sean Doolittle
Doolittle really stepped up to the mound for the Oakland A’s this year. After Jim Johnson was demoted from the closer position, Doolittle stepped in to fill the position. With 22 saves this season, Doolittle demonstrated that he had what it took to be an MLB closer. In addition, he had 89 strikeouts over 62.2 innings pitched and a 0.73 WHIP this season. Doolittle even suffered an injury but only missed about 15 days. As soon as he recovered, he was still strong and continued to have great command over the ball.
Overall Best Player of the Year – Josh Donaldson
How could Donaldson not be the best overall Athletic player of the year? Donaldson was really the bright light for the Oakland A’s when everything was dark. He was great offensively, great defensively, and even played through two injuries throughout the season. He was beat up and knocked down numerous times, but continued to play true green collar baseball and do anything in his power to help his team win.
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This article The Oakland A’s 2014 season awards appeared first on isportsweb by Sam Riley