2022 Mitchell Award winner: Bryce Harper

Philly's Bryce Harper won his first Kevin Mitchell Award as the DMBL's top batter of 2022, easily outdistancing home run champ Vlad Guerrero, Jr. of Livingston and Vancouver rookie Frank Schwindel.

Harper received 7 of 9 1st-place votes with the other two 1sts split between Guerrero, who slugged 51 HRs, and Schwindel, the league's RBI leader with 131. Harper, who led the league in batting, on-base, slugging, hits, runs and total bases, also received a 4th- and 5th-place vote. He was the only player to be named on all 9 ballots; Guerrero and Schwindel appeared on 8. Previously, Harper's best finish in Mitchell Award voting came when he played for Hopatcong: tied for 3rd in 2016 and 6th in 2018. Philly acquired the left-handed-hitting slugger in May 2021, sending their top draft pick that year, 1B Dominic Smith, and CF Luis Robert to the Floating Fish for Harper and SP Kyle Hendricks.

It's the fourth time in franchise history that Philly has collected the Mitchell Award, following back-to-back wins for Albert Pujols in 2009-2010 and Mike Trout's rookie campaign in 2013.

Guerrero collected the most 2nd-place votes (4) while the rookie Schwindel got the most 3rd- and 5th-place votes (3). In all, 17 players from 12 different teams received votes across the 9 ballots submitted by DMBL's 20 owners.

	KEVIN MITCHELL AWARD	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	Pts
1	Bryce Harper, PHI	7	0	0	1	1	0	75
2	Vlad Guerrero, Jr., LIV	1	4	0	1	1	1	44
3	Frank Schwindel, VAN*	1	1	3	0	3	0	38
4	Juan Soto, LIV	0	2	1	0	2	1	24
5	Byron Buxton, HIL	0	1	1	1	0	1	16
6	Rafael Ortega, TUC*	0	0	1	2	0	0	11
7	Cedric Mullins, VAN	0	0	1	1	0	1	9
8	Matt Olson, TUC	0	0	1	1	0	0	8
9	Tim Anderson, ERI	0	1	0	0	0	0	7
10	Brandon Lowe, BR-PHI	0	0	1	0	0	0	5
11	Jesse Winker, MAR	0	0	0	0	2	0	4
12	Xander Bogaerts, POO	0	0	0	1	0	0	3
-	Salvador Perez, ARK	0	0	0	1	0	0	3
14	Fernando Tatis, Jr., EP	0	0	0	0	0	2	2
-	Rafael Devers, ARK	0	0	0	0	0	2	2
16	Nick Castellanos, NWK	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
-	Luis Robert, HPG	0	0	0	0	0	1	1

* Rookie

Livingston's Juan Soto, who finished 3rd in 2021 voting and led the DMBL in walks in 2022, finished 4th, followed by Byron Buxton of Hillsborough, who improved on his 8th-place finish in 2021, and Tucson rookie Rafael Ortega. Rounding out the top 10 were Cedric Mullins, dealt from Vancouver to Livingston in this offseason, Tucson 1B Matt Olson, Erie SS Tim Anderson, and Brandon Lowe, who began the 2022 campaign with Blue Ridge being before traded to Philly. Schwindel and Ortega were the only rookies to receive votes.

Last year's Mitchell Award winner, Vancouver's Jose Abreu, was nowhere to be found in voting results. He came back down to Earth in 2022, hitting a pedestrian 12 HR with 60 RBI and 28 2Bs over 130 games for the Iron Fist. He slashed a meager .236/.328/.383 although his 17 HBP tied for 5th most in the league.