Atlanta Braves’ “heart & hustle” nominee at least has both going for him
You may have heard the fuss about certain nominees of this odd award, but at least the Braves representative is beyond reproach
Nick Markakis was named as the Atlanta Braves‘ recipient of the 2018 Heart & Hustle during an announcement made Tuesday in Colorado Springs. He and 29 other nominees will now be thrown into the mix for an overall winner to be selected near season’s end, with the announcement made on November 8th.
This award is a bit different from most other post-season tributes, but it does appear to be gaining in momentum overall. You may not realize (I didn’t) that this has been an annual event now since 2005.
The award is a contrivance (that sounds sinister, but isn’t intended to be) of the MLB Players Alumni Association for the purpose of raising funds for their free Legends for Youth Baseball Clinics.
The group annually conducts 185 such clinics that include the participation of over 18,000 children. Part of the draw, of course, is the direct participation in many of these former major league players.
Though they’ve been operating such clinics for upwards of 19 years, this will be the 14th time that they have added this Heart & Hustle award as part of their fund-raising efforts.
Oops…
They say that no publicity is bad publicity, and that might still apply to the MLBPAA since the award got a lot of mention yesterday, but one team’s nominee may beg to differ.
It was all about the Nationals’ Trea Turner. First off, here’s the play in question:
This was Monday night – before the announcements were made the next day. You’ll note that old friend Jhoulys Chacin not only had a bewildered reaction to Turner’s inaction, but that the home plate umpire finally just called Turner out after he completely abandoned the play… requiring not even a tag or throw by Chacin.
Of additional note, Turner was benched on Tuesday for this … uh, effort … though he was called upon to pinch run during the 10th inning with 2 outs after Ryan Zimmerman had singled.
He then got picked off of first base to end the inning.
You just can’t make this stuff up.
I’m gonna just go out on a limb here and assume that Turner isn’t going to be the final winner of this H&H title.
The Selection
The MLBPAA’s press release indicates that they are attempting to recognize “active players who demonstrate a passion for the game of baseball and best embody the values, spirit and traditions of the game”. Demonstrable work ethic and desire are also part of the selection criteria.
The voting that nomination the 30 finalists came from the votes of 30 groups of MLBPAA members with “established” connections to each team. A full list of the 30 nominees/team award recipients is available here.
The Braves have never had an overall winner, but there’s at least a fair chance that this could change here in 2018. The MLBPAA will be joined by the active MLBPA members to vote for the final winner… and somehow I don’t think that will hurt Markakis’ chances.
Hazarding a guess, the stiffest competition will likely come from one of these nominees:
There are other well-respected nominees – Trout (who won in 2012), Matt Kemp, Brandon Crawford, J.T. Realmuto, and Christian Yelich among them. But in trying to set bias aside, Markakis would seem to have as good a shot as this as anyone.
Professional Hitter
I don’t know if he’s more suited for this award or the ‘Comeback Player of the Year’ award, but Nick Markakis would seem to be well positioned for either one right now.
He has continued to turn back the clock this season, batting .319 to lead the National League (Corey Dickerson, Freddie Freeman both a single point behind). He has 123 hits – on pace for 205 – with 64 games remaining. That also leads the NL and is 3rd overall (Freeman 121).
In terms of total value as measured by fangraphs’ WAR, Markakis has already exceeded the whole season numbers for each of his years from 2009-2017. His 2.5 fWAR is on pace to slide in between his top 2 years ever: 2007 (4.1) and 2008 (6.0).
But this award isn’t solely about performance – i.e., Mike Trout hasn’t retired the award – it’s more about the example set for others, and Markakis is embodying that on a daily basis.
Given the Braves’ clubhouse full of impressionable youngsters, that’s going to be vital as they learn from veterans like himself and Freeman about how the game should be played.
We congratulate Nick Markakis and thank him for his role in this Atlanta Braves’ clubhouse. It’s working.