Awards season might be in the books, but doesn’t mean all the hardware was handed out in early November. On November 28, Major League Baseball confirmed the American League and National League winners of the Comeback Player of the Year award. Here’s a look at who were the MLB Comeback Players of the Year in 2023.
Related: Who won the 2023 Roberto Clemente Award in MLB?
American League
White Sox reliever Liam Hendriks won the 2023 American League Comeback Player of the Year award.
Hendriks returned to the Majors in May 2023 with the White Sox after the former All-Star successfully battled non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The 34-year-old made only five appearances on a Major League mound in 2023, as he went down with elbow inflammation and ultimately needed Tommy John surgery. Nonetheless. Hendriks’ return after beating cancer made the veteran reliever a rather easy pick for the AL Comeback Player of the Year.
National League
Oddly enough, both MLB Comeback Players of the Year in 2023 both called Chicago home. Cubs 1B/OF Cody Bellinger won the 2023 National League Comeback Player of the Year.
The 2019 NL MVP, Bellinger dislocated his shoulder during a celebration in Game 7 of the 2020 NLCS. The ex-Dodger proceeded to have poor seasons in 2021 and 2022 – in which he hit a combined .193/.256/.355 with 29 home runs and 104 RBI over 239 games – before Los Angeles decided to non-tender him last winter.
Chicago signed Bellinger to a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2024. Bellinger thrived with the Cubs in 2023, as he hit .307/.356/.525 with 26 home runs and 97 RBI and won an NL Silver Slugger for the second time.
One year after he signed a short-term deal with the Cubs, the 28-year-old is now poised to cash in on the free agent market.