Minnesota Twins announce Diamond Award winners
The Minnesota Twins might not be in the World Series but they announced some team hardware on Tuesday.
While the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers are playing for the World Series, the Minnesota Twins are announcing the winners of their Diamond Awards. It’s the 13th Annual edition of the awards that are voted on by the local press and the award ceremony is shown over and over and over again on Fox Sports North. So let’s look at who won some of the awards.
Brian Dozier won two awards and two of the biggest ones. Dozier was bestowed the Calvin G. Griffith Award for being the Most Valuable Twin and the Bob Allison Award which is the team’s leadership award.
To no surprise, Ervin Santana was announced as the Joseph W. Hayes Award as the Twins Pitcher of the Year. Fellow pitcher Trevor Hildenberger was bestowed the Bill Boni Award which goes to the Most Outstanding Rookie.
Byron Buxton joined Dozier in the two award club. Buxton was given the Charles O. Johnson Award for the Most Improved Twin and the Jim Kaat Award for Defensive Player of the Year.
The Dick Siebert Award was given to Joe Mauer in recognition of his solid season for the Twins. That award is given to the Upper Midwest Player of the Year which can, and has, gone to players outside of the Twins organization.
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The flamboyant Chris Gimenez was given the Mike Augustin Award which is the Media Good Guy Award. His occasional battery-mate Kyle Gibson was named the winner of the Carl R. Pohlad Award which is the Community Service Award.
Mitch Garver was named the Twins Minor League Player of the Year with the Sherry Robertson Award while Aaron Slegers was named the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year with the Jim Rantz Award. Former Twins and current Fox Sports North analyst Tim Laudner was given the Alumni Community Service Award which is known as the Kirby Puckett Award. Rick Stelmaszek was given the Herb Carnel Award or the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Next: Starting pitching options for the Twins
The awards will be formally given out at a banquet this winter. That event will be held on January 18, 2018 at The Depot Minneapolis. Proceeds of the event will be given to the University of Minnesota to continue their research on various conditions like such as ALS, Parkinson’s disease and more.