Baseball America has been awarding a MiLB Player of the Year honors since 1981. In the 45 times we’ve handed out the award, we have honored multiple Hall of Famers (Derek Jeter, Frank Thomas and Joe Mauer) as well as future Hall of Famers such as Mike Trout.
Scan across today’s MLB rosters, and you’ll see it’s an award that’s been given to many of the game’s biggest stars, with Bobby Witt Jr., Gunnar Henderson, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Ronald Acuña among past winners.
So, to commemorate the announcement of Pirates shortstop Konnor Griffin as our latest MiLB Player of the Year, we wanted to give our readers useful trip down memory lane. In addition to listing out all of our past winners, we’ve also included the statistics from each award-winning season, so you can compare how Griffin stacks up historically.
We’ve broken up the statistic tables into hitters and pitchers, beginning with Mike Marshall all the way back in 1981.
MiLB Player Of The Year Hitting Statistics
| Year | Player | POS | ORG | AGE | AVG | OBP | SLG | AB | R | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | CS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Mike Marshall | 1B | Dodgers | 21 | .373 | .445 | .678 | 467 | 114 | 25 | 7 | 34 | 137 | 57 | 80 | 21 | 8 |
| 1982 | Ron Kittle | OF | White Sox | 24 | .345 | .442 | .752 | 472 | 121 | 22 | 10 | 50 | 144 | 74 | 109 | 5 | 3 |
| 1985 | José Canseco | OF | Athletics | 20 | .333 | .424 | .649 | 444 | 88 | 26 | 3 | 36 | 127 | 70 | 121 | 11 | 0 |
| 1986 | Gregg Jefferies | SS | Mets | 18 | .353 | .401 | .549 | 521 | 96 | 32 | 11 | 16 | 111 | 44 | 41 | 57 | 9 |
| 1987 | Gregg Jefferies | SS | Mets | 19 | .367 | .423 | .598 | 510 | 81 | 48 | 5 | 20 | 101 | 49 | 43 | 26 | 10 |
| 1989 | Sandy Alomar Jr. | C | Padres | 23 | .306 | .358 | .474 | 523 | 88 | 33 | 8 | 13 | 101 | 42 | 58 | 3 | 1 |
| 1990 | Frank Thomas | 1B | White Sox | 22 | .323 | .487 | .581 | 353 | 85 | 27 | 5 | 18 | 71 | 112 | 74 | 7 | 5 |
| 1991 | Derek Bell | OF | Blue Jays | 22 | .346 | .424 | .532 | 457 | 89 | 22 | 12 | 13 | 93 | 57 | 69 | 27 | 13 |
| 1992 | Tim Salmon | OF | Angels | 23 | .347 | .469 | .672 | 409 | 101 | 38 | 4 | 29 | 105 | 91 | 103 | 9 | 7 |
| 1993 | Manny Ramirez | OF | Guardians | 21 | .333 | .417 | .613 | 489 | 105 | 44 | 0 | 31 | 115 | 72 | 103 | 3 | 3 |
| 1994 | Derek Jeter | SS | Yankees | 20 | .344 | .410 | .463 | 540 | 103 | 27 | 11 | 5 | 68 | 58 | 61 | 50 | 8 |
| 1995 | Andruw Jones | OF | Braves | 18 | .277 | .372 | .512 | 537 | 104 | 41 | 5 | 25 | 100 | 70 | 122 | 56 | 11 |
| 1996 | Andruw Jones | OF | Braves | 19 | .339 | .421 | .652 | 445 | 115 | 27 | 5 | 34 | 92 | 60 | 97 | 30 | 10 |
| 1997 | Paul Konerko | 3B/1B | Dodgers | 21 | .323 | .407 | .621 | 483 | 97 | 31 | 1 | 37 | 127 | 64 | 61 | 2 | 3 |
| 1998 | Eric Chavez | 3B | Athletics | 20 | .327 | .388 | .603 | 529 | 104 | 45 | 1 | 33 | 126 | 54 | 93 | 14 | 7 |
| 2002 | Rocco Baldelli | OF | Rays | 20 | .331 | .370 | .521 | 478 | 86 | 28 | 3 | 19 | 71 | 23 | 97 | 26 | 13 |
| 2003 | Joe Mauer | C | Twins | 20 | .338 | .398 | .434 | 509 | 73 | 30 | 2 | 5 | 85 | 49 | 49 | 3 | 0 |
| 2005 | Delmon Young | OF | Rays | 19 | .315 | .354 | .527 | 558 | 92 | 26 | 7 | 26 | 99 | 29 | 99 | 32 | 12 |
| 2006 | Alex Gordon | 3B | Royals | 22 | .325 | .427 | .588 | 486 | 111 | 39 | 1 | 29 | 101 | 72 | 113 | 22 | 3 |
| 2007 | Jay Bruce | OF | Reds | 20 | .319 | .375 | .587 | 521 | 87 | 46 | 8 | 26 | 89 | 47 | 135 | 8 | 7 |
| 2008 | Matt Wieters | C | Orioles | 22 | .355 | .454 | .600 | 437 | 88 | 22 | 2 | 27 | 91 | 82 | 76 | 2 | 2 |
| 2009 | Jason Heyward | OF | Braves | 20 | .323 | .408 | .555 | 362 | 69 | 25 | 4 | 17 | 63 | 51 | 51 | 10 | 1 |
| 2011 | Mike Trout | OF | Angels | 19 | .326 | .414 | .544 | 353 | 82 | 18 | 13 | 11 | 38 | 45 | 76 | 33 | 10 |
| 2012 | Wil Myers | OF | Royals | 21 | .314 | .387 | .600 | 522 | 98 | 26 | 6 | 37 | 109 | 61 | 140 | 6 | 3 |
| 2013 | Byron Buxton | OF | Twins | 19 | .334 | .424 | .520 | 488 | 109 | 19 | 18 | 12 | 77 | 76 | 105 | 55 | 19 |
| 2014 | Kris Bryant | 3B | Cubs | 22 | .325 | .438 | .661 | 492 | 118 | 34 | 1 | 43 | 110 | 86 | 162 | 15 | 4 |
| 2016 | Yoan Moncada | 2B | Red Sox | 21 | .294 | .407 | .511 | 405 | 94 | 31 | 6 | 15 | 62 | 72 | 124 | 45 | 12 |
| 2017 | Ronald Acuña | OF | Braves | 19 | .325 | .374 | .522 | 557 | 88 | 31 | 8 | 21 | 82 | 43 | 144 | 44 | 20 |
| 2018 | Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | 3B | Blue Jays | 19 | .381 | .437 | .636 | 357 | 67 | 29 | 1 | 20 | 78 | 37 | 38 | 3 | 3 |
| 2019 | Gavin Lux | SS | Dodgers | 21 | .347 | .421 | .607 | 458 | 99 | 25 | 8 | 26 | 76 | 61 | 102 | 10 | 6 |
| 2021 | Bobby Witt Jr. | SS | Royals | 21 | .290 | .361 | .575 | 497 | 99 | 35 | 4 | 33 | 97 | 51 | 131 | 29 | 11 |
| 2022 | Gunnar Henderson | SS | Orioles | 20 | .297 | .416 | .531 | 407 | 101 | 24 | 7 | 19 | 76 | 79 | 116 | 22 | 3 |
| 2023 | Jackson Holliday | SS | Orioles | 19 | .323 | .442 | .499 | 477 | 113 | 30 | 9 | 12 | 75 | 101 | 118 | 24 | 9 |
| 2024 | Kristian Campbell | 2B/SS | Red Sox | 21 | .330 | .439 | .558 | 430 | 94 | 32 | 3 | 20 | 77 | 74 | 103 | 24 | 8 |
| 2025 | Konnor Griffin | SS | Pirates | 19 | .333 | .415 | .527 | 484 | 117 | 23 | 4 | 21 | 94 | 50 | 122 | 65 | 13 |
And here are the statistics for the pitchers who were our Player of the Year.
MiLB Player Of The Year Pitching Statistics
| Yr | Player | Pos | ORG | AGE | W | L | ERA | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Dwight Gooden | RHP | Mets | 18 | 19 | 4 | 2.50 | 191 | 121 | 58 | 53 | 11 | 112 | 300 |
| 1984 | Mike Bielecki | RHP | Pirates | 24 | 19 | 3 | 2.97 | 188 | 162 | 70 | 62 | 11 | 88 | 162 |
| 1988 | Tom Gordon | RHP | Royals | 20 | 16 | 5 | 1.55 | 186 | 96 | 36 | 32 | 4 | 75 | 263 |
| 1999 | Rick Ankiel | LHP | Cardinals | 19 | 13 | 3 | 2.35 | 138 | 98 | 43 | 36 | 9 | 62 | 194 |
| 2000 | Jon Rauch | LHP | White Sox | 21 | 16 | 4 | 2.66 | 166 | 138 | 67 | 49 | 14 | 49 | 187 |
| 2001 | Josh Beckett | RHP | Marlins | 21 | 14 | 1 | 1.54 | 140 | 82 | 29 | 24 | 8 | 34 | 203 |
| 2004 | Jeff Francis | RHP | Rockies | 23 | 16 | 3 | 2.21 | 155 | 108 | 42 | 38 | 12 | 29 | 196 |
| 2010 | Jeremy Hellickson | RHP | Rays | 23 | 9 | 2 | 2.42 | 114 | 72 | 35 | 31 | 8 | 29 | 132 |
| 2015 | Blake Snell | RHP | Rays | 23 | 15 | 4 | 1.41 | 134 | 84 | 24 | 21 | 7 | 53 | 163 |
The post How Konnor Griffin Compares To Every Baseball America MiLB Player Of The Year Since 1981 appeared first on College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects – Baseball America.
