The Mets tweeted out their Sterling Award winners for 2013, and the players will be honored at Citi Field tonight. Here’s a list of all the Mets’ Sterling awards for your viewing pleasure…
MiLB Co-Players of the Year: Allan Dykstra and Kevin Plawecki
Pitcher of the Year: Gabriel Ynoa
Triple-A (Las Vegas) – RHP Rafael Montero
Double-A (Binghamton) – RHP Noah Syndergaard and RHP Jeff Walters
Advanced-A (St. Lucie) – 3B/OF Dustin Lawley
Single-A (Savannah) – Jayce Boyd
Short-Season A (Brooklyn) – RHP Robert Gsellman
Rookie League (Kingsport) – RHP Robert Whalen
Rookie League (Gulf Coast) – Dominic Smith
DSL I – OF John Mora
DSL II – LHP Jose Medina
So the main awards are basically the equivalent of MVP awards and a Cy Young — which went to Dykstra, Plawecki, and Ynoa. The Mets then hand out an award to an MVP on each affiliate. No surprises on these picks, honestly. I’m trying to hold back my excitement about Ynoa because everyone around here know he’s my guy. The stud pitcher won 15 games for Savannah after posting a 2.72 ERA over 135.2 innings with a 106/16 K:BB ratio.
Allan Dykstra really was an excellent pick-up for Eddie Kunz — he’s turned into quite the young player. Some even want him in the conversation as a stop-gap first baseman — I say stop-gap only because I think Dominic Smith is going to turn into a star. Smith won an award of his own — in his first professional season — which is a step in the right direction. Dykstra slashed .274/.436/.503 for Double-A Binghamton with 22 doubles, 21 home runs, and 82 RBI. Is it wrong for me to note that Cesar Puello might have been more deserving of the award? However, I’m sure the organization feels it would be a PR nightmare to award it to him in a season where he just finished serving a 50-game suspension. The whole situation is cloudy to me, though…
Anyway, it’s also nice to see Plawecki get love from the organization, which runs alongside the love he gets here at MMN. Wouldn’t it awesome to see Plawecki turn into a solid MLB catcher? It’s always good to have depth at premium positions. Plawecki posted a .294/.391/.392 and banged out 12 doubles and two home runs.
We saw a lot of talented arms get honored here as well — with Rafael Montero, Noah Syndergaard, Jeff Walters, and Robert Whalen earn team awards. I’d say that’s pretty good, no? Congratulations to all our winners!