Mike Shildt (Johnson City 2009-11) Named NL Manager of the Year
For the Cardinals 2019 was a return to prominence within their division, a return to being the center of attention.
For the Cardinals 2019 was a return to prominence within their division, a return to being the center of attention.
"This is an organizational award, a team award," Shildt said during the announcement on MLB Network. "My job is not to win an individual award. My job is for us to win team awards and then help players win their individual awards for their families and their careers, getting the most out of their God-given abilities. But I accept it graciously on behalf of our players and our staff and our front office and ownership. It's an amazing blessing."
Craig Counsell received 13 first-place votes to Shildt's 10, but Shildt had more voting points (95) than Counsell (88) by virtue of his 14 second-place votes to Counsell's six. The Braves' Brian Snitker (three first-place votes) was the other NL finalist.
Shildt is first MOY winner with no pro experience
Tuesday's announcement came at an especially emotional time for Shildt, whose mother, Lib, passed away at age 85 last week after a battle with a pulmonary illness. When Shildt was young, his mom was an administrative assistant for the Double-A Charlotte O's, and so Shildt got an early education in professional baseball by cleaning shoes in the clubhouse and shagging flies during batting practice.
"[Losing my mom] was a very difficult, very trying thing to go through," Shildt said. "I'm appreciative of that time and love that her and my dad invested in me."
Shildt had professional experience as a clubbie but not as a player, earning him the distinction of becoming the first Manager of the Year recipient who didn't play pro ball.
"I got to college at UNC Asheville and realized [I was not going to be a Major League player] really quickly," Shildt said. "I set my sights on being the best coach I could be. My efforts led me here. This wasn't what I was striving for. I just wanted to be involved with young men and help coach and grow the game and the people within the game and just be a good ambassador for the game. Lo and behold, here we are, and I'm very grateful for it."
Shildt did enter 2019 with some Major League managerial experience, having taken over for the dismissed Mike Matheny midway through the Cards' '18 campaign. The Cards went 41-28 after the change to leap into Wild Card contention. Though the Cards ultimately fell short of October, the front office removed Shildt's "interim" tag.
Even with that improvement, and the offseason acquisition of Paul Goldschmidt, it was an open question whether the Cards could get back to the top of the Central and into the playoffs for the first time since 2015.
Despite an offense that ranked in the Majors' bottom 10 in both average and slugging and a bullpen that lost
Heading into the season, Shildt's goal was to improve the Cards' defense. They became the first team in history to go from the most errors (133) to the fewest (66) from one year to the next. The baserunning also improved substantially.
"When you get lost in the process and have talented players and super talented people on the field, that just adds up," Shildt said. "It's easy to believe in that and anchor to that. That's what allowed me to stay calm was knowing our staff and players were doing everything they could mentally and emotionally to be the best they could every day."
Shildt is the third Cardinals skipper to win Manager of the Year, joining Whitey Herzog (1985) and Tony La Russa (2002).
Below are point totals for the balloting, as voted on by members of the BBWAA. Ballots for each award were submitted before the start of the postseason from two writers in every city, based on the league covered.
The system rewarded five points for first-place votes, three for second place and one for third place.
National League results
1) Mike Shildt, STL: 10 (1st place) -- 95 points
2) Craig Counsell, MIL: 13 (1st place) -- 88 points
3) Brian Snitker, ATL: 3 (1st place) -- 45 points
4) Dave Roberts, LAD: 4 (1st place) -- 25 points
5) Dave Martinez, WSH: 3 (2nd place) -- 15 points