Ranger beats Astro for manager award
The Astros-Rangers rivalry extended to awards season as Astros manager A.J. Hinch finishes second in the American League Manager of the Year race to the Rangers’ Jeff Banister.
The Astros-Rangers rivalry extended to awards season Tuesday night when Astros manager A.J. Hinch finished second in the American League Manager of the Year race to Texas’ Jeff Banister.
“I’m proud and humbled to be considered,” Hinch, one of three finalists, said by phone after the announcement on MLB Network. “We’ve gotten a lot of recognition for a successful season, and that’s great. I congratulate Banny.
“I don’t really view it as a disappointment because it’s a great honor to be recognized this way. I’m proud of where our organization is and the strides we made.”
Minnesota’s Paul Molitor came in third in the voting, which was conducted by 30 members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America who ranked their top three skippers in the AL on a ballot that had to be submitted before the start of the postseason.
All three finalists were in their first year managing their respective clubs.
Banister, who played high school baseball at La Marque before attending the University of Houston, totaled 112 points while Hinch had 82 points and Molitor 33. Banister received 17 first-place votes,
Hinch eight and Molitor two.
Hinch’s second-place Astros (86-76) and Banister’s division-winning Rangers (88-74) ultimately had similar performances but followed different trajectories. The Astros led the AL West almost all season after an 18-7 start but lost their grip on the division in September as the Rangers rose to the top and stayed there with the infusion of newly healthy players and timely outside additions, like Mike Napoli.
Decisive series
A four-game Rangers sweep in mid-September in Arlington was too much for the Astros to overcome in the division race, but they did hold on for a wildcard playoff spot.
“The utmost respect for A.J.,” Banister said of his Astros counterpart. “A.J. and I are close friends and our friendship has continued to grow stronger.
“It’s the tip of the iceberg (for the rivalry), and it’s a great thing I believe for the state of Texas, and also baseball, to have two teams within close proximity of each other, to have that type of rivalry.”
The Rangers were just the sixth team in the division era (since 1969) and the first since 2006 to win a division after trailing by at least eight games in August.
At the same time, the Astros’ 16-game improvement in regular-season wins from 2014 was the largest for a first-year manager in franchise history. Even without winning the award, Hinch’s top-three finish in the award bal-
loting highlights how the conversation around the 41-year-old manager has flipped dramatically in a year’s time.
When Hinch took over the Astros, his second managerial job, there were questions about his time as the Arizona Diamondbacks manager from 200910. This year has provided validation, although he has long sidestepped questions whose answers would lead to tooting his own horn.
“So validation, I don’t know, I don’t need validation,” he said. “I need the players’ respect. I need the players to play well. I need a team identity and a team culture to show up every day to win.”
Hinch was 34 when he was given the reins in Arizona and moved from the Diamondbacks’ front office into the big chair without any managing experience. It wasn’t hip in those days to install managers who hadn’t coached professionally,
Impressed new star
but those hires are now common. “A.J. helped me in a big way. He’s a great manager,” Carlos Correa said Monday on his conference call after winning the AL Rookie of the Year. “As soon as I got there, he called me to his office and he said, ‘Hey kid, you’re going to hit sixth tonight, just go out there and have fun. Don’t try to do too much, just be yourself. … Your best is going to be good enough for us.’ ”
“I will never forget that, when he said, ‘Your best is going to be good enough for us.’ ”
The Astros still can win two of the four BBWAA awards in the AL for 2015 if lefthander Dallas Keuchel captures the Cy Young award as expected on Wednesday.