Bob Melvin guided the Oakland Athletics to the playoffs for the first time in four years, earning him the American League Manager of the Year award.
Melvin earned 18 of the 30 first place votes and appeared on all but one ballot to easily outpace Alex Cora of the Red Sox and Kevin Cash of the Tampa Bay Rays for the award.
Oakland Overcomes Injuries to Reach Playoffs
Despite the fact that the Athletics started the year with the lowest Opening Day payroll of any MLB team, Melvin helped guide the team to a 97-65 record, 22 more wins than the team earned in 2017.
Oakland’s season ended in the AL Wild Card game, where they lost to the New York Yankees. But it was still a surprisingly successful campaign for the franchise, which has developed a habit of doing more with less since Billy Beane became its general manager in 1998.
“To accomplish what we did takes a lot of buy-in,” Melvin said on the MLB Network. “Our coaches and our players had a really cool bond this year and a trust. It allows us to accomplish what we did, against all odds.”
Melvin has now won three Manager of the Year awards throughout his career. He first won the NL version of the honor with the Diamondbacks in 2007, and previously earned the AL award with the A’s in 2012.
Oakland made the playoffs despite a slow 34-36 start to the season, as well as a rash of injuries that sidelined their entire Opening Day starting rotation.
“At the beginning, we were a little bit taken aback by the fact that we lost so many guys early on,” Melvin told reporters. “But I think after that it was more kind of a badge of honor that someone goes down, we have to continue to have expectations to win and know we have depth in our organization and it’s next man up.”
Snitker Earns Award After Decades in Braves Organization
In the National League, it was Brian Snitker of the Atlanta Braves who earned the Manager of the Year honors. Snitker helped the Braves earn their first winning season and division title in five years, taking a young team that many thought was still a year or two from competing to the top of the NL East.
The Braves finished with a 90-72 record before losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS.
Snitker has been in the Atlanta organization for 42 years, slowly working his way up as a coach and manager through the minor league system before finally being promoted to guide the big league club in May 2016.
“Everything I’ve been through, at my age I’m kind of very appreciative of what these guys do,” Snitker told reporters. “I’m not looking to set the world on fire or anything like that. I’m kind of just enjoying this ride.”
Snitker earned 17 first place votes, narrowly beating out Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell for the award.