Many believed 2003 was a season that lacked standout individual performances. The voting for the 2003 DTBL Awards indicated otherwise. Albert Pujols easily won the Most Valuable Player award. Meanwhile, Eric Gagne became the first person to win two of the three major awards in the same season. He received six of the ten first place votes for both Cy Young and Rookie of the Year.
Very few, if any, players have compiled a better first two seasons than Albert Pujols. The Jackalope outfielder is already one of the best players in the DTBL. This year, he was chosen as the league's Most Valuable Player. This is quite an honor, especially considering the Jackalope's disappointing ninth place finish.
Pujols finished second in Rookie of the Year voting a year ago after hitting .313 with 34 home runs and 127 RBIs in 2002. His numbers this season were even better: .359 average, 43 home runs and 124 runs batted in. He narrowly edged out Todd Helton to lead the league in both batting average and runs scored (137). His home run and RBI totals were both fifth best in the DTBL.
The MVP voting was not particularly close. Pujols earned 82 points with seven first place votes. Moonshiners outfielder Gary Sheffield finished second with 60 points and two first place votes. Alex Rodriguez received the other first place nod and finished third overall. Carlos Delgado and Todd Helton rounded out the top five.
Eric Gagne may have had the best rookie season in DTBL history. As mentioned, he is the first player to win two major awards in his rookie season. Curiously, he actually won the Cy Young Award by a lot more points than he did the Rookie of the Year Award. Gagne was the third overall pick in the draft this spring, chosen by the Demigods. He is the first relief pitcher to win the Cy Young Award.
Gagne broke the DTBL single season save record with 55, just two shy of the MLB record. Not only were his save numbers impressive, but he also posted a scary 1.20 ERA and 0.692 WHIP ratio. He struck out 137 batters in just 82.1 innings pitched. It takes some awesome numbers for a relief pitcher to even garner consideration for Cy Young. Gagne certainly had that covered.
Gagne received six first place votes and 80 points in the Cy Young voting. Naturals pitcher Mark Prior finished second with 48 points and two first place votes. Right behind him was Roy Halladay with 44 points and one first place vote. Jason Schmidt also earned a first place vote with 41 points. John Smoltz finished fifth in the Cy Young voting.
The Rookie of the Year voting was much closer, but the top two were exactly the same with Gagne edging out Prior. Gagne got six first place votes and 86 total points to Prior's three and 73. Vernon Wells earned some consideration with a first place vote and 54 points. Aubrey Huff and Johan Santana finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Voting Results
