Toronto Blue Jays closer Louis Varland and San Diego Padres relief ace Mason Miller were named the winners of the inaugural BBWAA Reliever of the Year Awards in their respective leagues Wednesday.
Varland earned 16 first-place votes to beat out runner-up Cade Smith of the Cleveland Guardians in a tight AL vote. Tampa Bay Rays closer Bryan Baker finished third.
| Pitcher | Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Louis Varland | Blue Jays | 16 | 4 | 5 | 146 |
| 2 | Cade Smith | Guardians | 7 | 15 | 8 | 133 |
| 3 | Bryan Baker | Rays | 6 | 8 | 11 | 111 |
| 4 | Aroldis Chapman | Red Sox | 1 | 3 | 36 | |
| 5 | Josh Hader | Astros | 1 | 22 |
Miller was the unanimous winner of the NL award. Jhoan Duran of the Philadelphia Phillies finished second, and Trevor Megill of the Milwaukee Brewers placed third.
| Pitcher | Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mason Miller | Padres | 30 | 210 | ||
| 2 | Jhoan Duran | Phillies | 24 | 4 | 110 | |
| 3 | Trevor Megill | Brewers | 4 | 12 | 66 | |
| 4 | Adrian Morejon | Padres | 4 | 12 | 64 | |
| 5 | Raisel Iglesias | Braves | 2 | 17 |
Varland, who came into the season having never recorded a big-league save, proceeded to save 35 contests after taking over ninth-inning duties for Toronto in April. He led qualified AL relievers in both ERA (1.27) and FIP (1.83) while tallying 97 strikeouts, a 1.00 WHIP, and allowing only two homers in 78 innings.
The 28-year-old is the first Blue Jays reliever to win any type of regular-season bullpen award during the franchise's 50-year history.
Miller authored a historic campaign in San Diego. His 16.6 K/9 was the third-highest single-season mark for a reliever in a 162-game season. The 28-year-old also saved an NL-best 38 games while leading NL relievers with a 1.67 ERA and 1.17 FIP. He allowed more than one run in just three of his 66 appearances.
Miller also received four fifth-place votes in NL Cy Young voting.
The Reliever of the Year Award is the first new postseason honor handed out by the BBWAA since Manager of the Year was created in 1983. However, it's not the first reliever-exclusive award in league history. The Rolaids Relief Man Award was handed out from 1976 until 2012 using a statistical points system. MLB then created its own reliever awards named after Hall of Famers Mariano Rivera (AL) and Trevor Hoffman (NL) beginning in 2014.
