2017 Mitchell Award winner: Miguel Cabrera

In one of the closest votes in recent memory, Miguel Cabrera picked up the first Kevin Mitchell Award of his 14-year career, edging Gary Sanchez, playing in his first DMBL season, by just three points.

Both sluggers nabbed two 1st place votes and one 2nd place vote among the six ballots but Cabrera garnered two 3rd place ballots while Sanchez got none, instead receiving two 4th-place votes and one 5th-place vote. The Hoboken first baseman edged Hopatcong's rookie catcher by just three points on the six ballots submitted from among the league's 16 owners:

1. Miguel Cabrera, HBK: 2-1-2-0-0---> 37 points
2. Gary Sanchez, HPG: 2-1-0-2-1---> 34 points
3. Edwin Encarnacion, BR: 1-1-1-0-0---> 22 points
4. Jose Altuve, TUC: 0-3-0-0-0---> 21 points
5. Corey Seager, SCS: 1-0-1-0-0---> 15 points
6. Trea Turner, POO: 0-0-0-2-2---> 8 points
7. Manny Machado, ALN: 0-0-1-0-2---> 7 points
8. Joey Votto, HPG: 0-0-1-0-0-----> 5 points
9. Robinson Cano, HPG: 0-0-0-1-1-----> 4 points
10. J.D. Martinez, VAN: 0-0-0-1-0---> 3 point

Cabrera and Sanchez each picked up two 1st place votes, with the others going to Sardine City rookie Corey Seager and Blue Ridge's Edwin Encarnacion, who finished second to Sanchez with 48 home runs. Sanchez, the only player to appear on all six ballots, will have to settle for his Listach Award.

The Floating Fish catcher was trying to become the first rookie to win the Mitchell since Mike Trout did it with Philly in 2013. Two other rookies garnered consideration. Sardine City SS Corey Seager finished 5th, including one 1st place vote, and Poovey Farms OF/2B Trea Turner finished 6th.

Encarnacion placed 3rd overall thanks to a single 1st, 2nd and 3rd place vote, just one point ahead of Tucson's Jose Altuve. The Kingsnakes 2B received the most votes in any one category, with all of his support coming on the strength of three 2nd-place votes.

Cabrera finished in a tie for the league lead in RBIs (126) with Encarnacion and Allentown's Manny Machado, who came in 7th in voting. Joey Votto, the 2011 Mitchell Award winner, finished 8th, followed by teammate Robinson Cano, making it a trio of Floating Fish among the final results. Amazingly, Votto is the only player to receive votes this year who also appeared in 2016 results when Giancarlo Stanton was a near-unanimous selection.

It's Cabrera's first Mitchell Award in 14 seasons and the first for Hoboken in franchise history. The stalwart in the Cutters lineup finished 4th in the league with 45 home runs to go with 126 RBIs and a league-best 384 total bases, 8th in batting (.312), 3rd in runs scored (107), tied for 4th with Altuve in hits (209), and second only to Philly's Daniel Murphy in doubles (49) and second to Turner in runs created (128.6).

The last time Cabrera placed when voting occurred (2012), he finished 12th out of 14 players receiving votes and teammate Jose Bautista finished second to Prince Fielder, a unanimous selection for his season with Rowdy Roddy Pipers (formerly the Carolina Mudcats). No awards were given out in 2014 and 2015.

Voting is based on ballots of the league's owners, with 10 points for 1st place; 7 points for second place; 5 points for 3rd place; 3 points for 4th place, and 1 point for 5th place. Six of the league's 16 owners (37.5 percent) voted this year.