2021 Mitchell Award winner: Jose Abreu

For the second consecutive year, and only the fifth time in league history, one franchise has swept the awards honoring the DMBL's top pitcher and batter.

1B Jose Abreu beat out Blue Ridge rookie Ke'Bryan Hayes and Livingston's Juan Soto to grab Vancouver's first Mitchell Award since 2008. ERA king Aaron Nola handily outpaced a pair of aces to bring home the Ben McDonald Award, sweeping the DMBL Awards. Last year, it was Sardine City that swept the awards, with Christian Yelich and Lance Lynn. Vancouver is the first franchise to do it twice (David Ortiz & Jake Peavy, 2008). It was also accomplished by Arkansas (Larry Walker & Pedro Martinez, 2000) and by Austin (Danny Tartabull & Nolan Ryan, 1992).

Abreu, 34, becomes the 3rd Fister to win the Mitchell Award, joining Ortiz in 2008 and Sammy Sosa in 1999. He picked up 4 1st-place votes to go with a 2nd and 2 3rds for a total 57 points. Hayes nabbed 2 1st-place votes, 3 2nds, and 1 4th to finished 2nd with 44 points. Those two were the only players to appear on all 7 ballots. Soto, the 2019 DMBL Series MVP, received the other 1st place vote, to go along with 2 2nds, a 3rd and a 4th, for 32 points, finishing 3rd.

	KEVIN MITCHELL AWARD	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	Pts
1	Jose Abreu, VAN	4	1	2	0	0	0	57
2	Ke'Bryan Hayes, BR*	2	3	0	1	0	0	44
3	Juan Soto, LIV	1	2	1	1	0	0	32
4	Fernando Tatis, Jr., EP	0	1	0	1	1	0	12
5	Freddie Freeman, POO	0	0	1	0	2	1	10
6	Will Smith, VAN*	0	0	1	0	2	0	9
7	Jose Ramirez, BR	0	0	1	0	0	1	6
-	Byron Buxton, HIL	0	0	1	0	0	1	6
-	Marcell Ozuna, TUC	0	0	0	2	0	0	6
10	Jared Walsh, PHI*	0	0	0	1	0	0	3
-	Bobby Dalbec, SF*	0	0	0	1	0	0	3
-	Ty France, VAN*	0	0	0	0	0	3	3
13	Jose Iglesias, HPG-ARK	0	0	0	0	1	0	2
-	Aaron Judge, SCS	0	0	0	0	1	0	2
15	Trea Turner, TUC	0	0	0	0	0	1	1

* Rookie

Fernando Tatis, Jr., who finished 5th last year, improved in this year's results, finishing a distant 4th with 12 points. He received one 2nd, 4th and 5th place vote each. Tatis was the only returning player from last year's Mitchell Award ballot. He was followed by Freddie Freeman of Poovey Farms with 10 points (1 3rd, 2 5ths and a 6th place vote).

A total of 15 players received consideration across the 7 ballots cast by DMBL owners, including five rookies, all of whom also ranked in Listach Award voting.

Vancouver's Will Smith, who finished 3rd in Listach balloting, ranked 6th with 9 points behind 2 5th place votes and a 3rd. Jose Ramirez of Blue Ridge finished 7th, making his first appearance on a Mitchell Award ballot since finishing 3rd in 2018. He tied with the league's HR king, Byron Buxton -- both received 6 points thanks to a 3rd place vote and a 6th place vote -- and Tucson's Marcell Ozuna, who garnered 2 3rd-place votes. The 2018 DMBL Series MVP also received consideration in 2018 Mitchell Award balloting.

Abreu helped Vancouver to 103-59 record and the No. 3 seed behind the league's 2nd-best offense. He led the DMBL with 145 RBIs (on the strength of 49 HR) and a .611 slugging percentage while ranking 2nd in extra base hits (92), total bases (404) and OPS (.987). He finished 3rd behind Hayes and Soto in Runs Created (145.5).

In the postseason, Abreu belted a league-best 7 HR as Vancouver claimed its 5th title in franchise history, 3 of which were the first 4 DMBL crowns It was the 11th appearance in the finals for Vancouver.