Truly, this is a time for excitement in fantasy baseball! The regular season just finished and the playoffs are underway. Congratulations to all that made the postseason. Before we get too far into everything that goes into the fantasy championship rounds, I wanted to take a moment and look back on the just completed regular season. Without question, it was a memorable one! In this Fantasy Baseball Season Awards edition, I will share my winners of the MVP, Cy Young, rookie, and the biggest surprise and disappoints in 2024.

It has been my policy the entire season to tell my readers that debate and discussion are strongly encouraged. Of course, that is the case here as well. If there is something that you want to say, get it off your chest! I look forward to the responses. With all of that out of the way, let’s get to the awards.

Most Valuable Player

Unsurprisingly, this award came down to a simple selection. Despite the presence of two worthy challengers in Bobby Witt and Shohei Ohtani, the winner is clear. That player, obviously, is Aaron Judge. After all, Judge is a complete player. He can hit (.327), and he has power like no one else in the game (51 homers). Further, He drives in (123) and scores runs (105) like few others can. He can even steal an occasional base (7).

Without a doubt, Witt and Ohtani are having tremendous offensive seasons as well. Witt leads the majors in hitting (.340) to go along with 30 homers, 97 RBIs, 187 hits, 117 runs and 27 steals. The hits and runs lead the league. As for Ohtani, he is doing something that has never been done ( at least 43 homers and 43 stolen bases). As of now, he leads the National League in HRs (44), RBIs (98), runs (107) and slugging (.617). Despite only being a designated hitter this season, Ohtani has to be the odds on favorite to win the MVP in the NL. Being a DH is also not a deterrent in fantasy, either.

Even so, neither has put together the offensive numbers that Judge has. Meanwhile, in points leagues, Judge’s has a slight advantage there as well. Judge has 545 fantasy points to 533 for Witt and 515 for Ohtani. In the end, Judge’s season was too much for Witt or Ohtani to overcome. Just about any other year, those two could win the award and everyone would applaud the selection. Not this time, however. Judge reigns supreme as the 2024 Fantasy Player of the Year.

Cy Young Winner

Despite two hurlers battling it out for the Cy Young honor, a single start pushed a pitcher over the top. The pick was that close. In fact, at one time, both pitchers up for the award had the same number of wins and the exact same ERA. The question: who are the two under consideration? They are Tarik Skubal of the Tigers and Chris Sale of the Braves.

When the season began, who could have guessed that a Detroit pitcher would be up for such an award? Despite that, Skubal started the season on fire and never cooled down. For the year, he is 16-4 with a 2.51 ERA, with 201 strikeouts in 168.1 innings. Additionally, he posted a 0.933 WHIP, a 166 ERA+ and a 2.60 FIP. The Ks, ERA+ and FIP are the best marks in the American League. In ESPN standard leagues, Skubal has 479 fantasy points.

As for Sale, he is 15-3 with a 2.58 ERA and 197 Ks in 153.2 innings. Further, he a 1.022 WHIP, 164 ERA+ and a 2.07 FIP. Like Skubal, Sale’s ERA+ and FIP lead the National League. Obviously, if we were giving an award for fantasy comeback player of the year, Sale would be a shoe in. As for fantasy points, Sale currently has 437 in standard leagues.

If it weren’t for Skubal’s last start, just before the end of the fantasy season, picking a winner would be almost too close to call. However, on Saturday, Skubal pitched eight innings against Boston, allowing just one earned run on four hits in eight innings. He finished with eight Ks and no BBs. Ultimately, that performance pushed Skubal over the top and he is the winner of the 2024 Fantasy Cy Young Award.

Rookie of the Year

One would figure that coming to the decision that Paul Skenes was the rookie winner on this Fantasy Baseball Season Awards edition would be an easy one. Not so. Even though Skenes is in fact the award winner, Jackson Merrill made him earn it every step of the way. In fact, Merrill made a name for himself right out of the gate when the Padres opened their season in Korea. Since then he hasn’t missed a beat.

As of this moment, Merrill is hitting .289-21-79. Additionally, he has 16 steals to go along with 138 hits and 68 runs. At the mid summer All-Star game, Merrill was among the invited. As far as positional players go, no other rookie can compare with him.

Unfortunately for Merrill, Skenes is a pitcher and what a pitcher he has been this season. Going into Monday’s play, Skenes is 8-2 with a 2.23 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP. Of course, it is the strikeout that has driven him to such fame heights. In 109 innings, he has 136 Ks against 26 BBs. Pittsburgh has begun curtailing his innings, but that will have no effect on this award.

Of course, Merrill got the jump on Skenes, as he was in the Majors right from the start. Even so, Skenes wasn’t far behind as he made his debut on May 11. When it is all said and done, it comes down to your preference. In this case, I am going to go with Skenes. He burst on the scene like a supernova and stayed that way until the end of the fantasy season. For that, he is the winner of the Rookie of the Year Award.

Biggest Surprise

Without question, this was another intense battle to determine the winner. In the end, the choice was between two players: Jurickson Profar and Teoscar Hernandez. If it wasn’t for their late season swoons, Ranger Suarez and Seth Lugo would have also would have been considered.

When it comes to value on this Fantasy Baseball Season Awards edition, both Profar and Hernandez had it in spades. Profar could be found on the waiver wire and Hernandez was drafted 246th overall in my home fantasy league. Profar really came out of nowhere to find himself voted as a starter in the All-Star game. Hernandez didn’t shy from the spotlight, obviously, when he won this year’s home run derby.

 As of this writing, Profar is hitting .278-21-81 with 79 runs, 24 doubles and nine steals. Hernandez checks in at .270-28-87 with 29 doubles, 73 runs and 10 stolen bases. As for points leagues, Profar has 373 and Hernandez 307. To be sure, strikeouts were the big equalizer between the two. Profar has 86 and Hernandez 161. For what it’s worth, ESPN ranks Profar as the third best OF in fantasy and Hernandez fifth.

In the final analysis, Profar’s higher ranking and the value he brought as a waiver pickup seals the win. He is clearly worthy to be this season’s biggest fantasy surprise.

Biggest Disappointment

While there were numerous challengers for this dubious honor, this selection was an easy one. Right at the beginning of the season, I wrote an article stating that ESPN had Julio Rodriquez ranked far too low. My mistake. My very big mistake. Rodriguez began the season slow, carried that into the summer and it persisted into late August.

This past Thursday and Friday, Hernandez hit homers both days. That was nice. However, it is too little, too late to save him from this unfortunate award. As of Labor Day, Rodriguez is hitting (if you want to call it that) .258-13-46. Further, has has 19 steals, 52 runs and a .371 slugging percentage. For reference, last season, he put together a .275-32-103 stat line with 37 SBs, 102 runs and a .485 slugging percentage. The difference is abundantly clear.

The final indignity is that Rodriquez currently has 188 fantasy points. How awful is that? 157 hitters have more points than he does. Clearly, no other stat needs to be mentioned. No question, no one can possibly argue against Julio Rodriquez being the runaway winner of the Biggest Disappointment Award for the 2024 fantasy season.

The Last Word

Thank you for joining me for this Fantasy Baseball Season Awards edition! Follow me on X (formerly Twitter) @kevin62wilsea. Please feel free to share this article. Be sure to turn to bellyupsports.com/ and bellyupfantasysports.com/ for all the MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL happenings and the latest sports news!

I am a co-host of The Sports Stove Fantasy Baseball Show. The show will be live every Sunday at 8 pm Eastern from here to the end of the fantasy baseball season. Don’t miss a single episode! Check out our latest show, dedicated to fantasy baseball strategies, pickups, drops and more here.