Kevin Cron Accepts Joe Bauman Award During Winter Meetings

Monday afternoon in sunny San Diego at the Winter Meetings Kevin Cron accepted the Joe Bauman Award presented annually by Musco Sports Lighting to the top home run hitter in Minor League Baseball.
The Aces slugger launched 38 home runs in just 82 games played for Reno edging out Las Vegas' Seth Brown (37) for the crown. He was the first player to take home the award playing in less than 100 games in a season. The 6-foot-5 righty also blasted a big fly during rehab in the Arizona League to bring his MiLB season total to 39. He added six more with D-backs at the Major League level.
"It's just something within the baseball fraternity that's really special and I'm honored to receive this award," Cron said.

Along with his trophy, Cron was awarded $200 for each home run he hit this season, something he had heard about in 2015 while playing for Class-A Advanced Visalia.
"I went to my hitting coach and said, 'I'm going to win that one day.' I was young and naïve at the time so I basically saying I wanted to be in the Minor Leagues long enough to win this award," Cron said with a laugh.
"In all seriousness, this award is very special to me," Cron added. The grind of a Minor League season is very tough, you guys all know that."

Cron went up and down between Arizona and Triple-A Reno seven times in 2019.
"This was my first experience being able to get to the big leagues and the grind of going up and down and with the emotional toll that has on you, you're looking for anything that can motivate you or something you can strive for and this award was that for me this year," Cron said during his acceptance speech.
The infielder made his Major League debut on May 24 and recorded a double against the San Francisco Giants. He hit his first big league home run on June 7 against the Blue Jays in Toronto. C.J. Cron, Kevin's older brother, also hit his first MLB home run in Toronto as a member of the Los Angeles Angels in 2014. Kevin's father, Chris Cron, recorded two Major League hits during his career, both of which came in Toronto as a member of the California Angels in 1991.
During his historic 2019 campaign, Cron became the franchise leader in home runs on August 13 with a first-inning blast against the Oklahoma City Dodgers good for the 56^th of his Reno career. It took Cron 172 career Triple-A games to break the record. It took former record holders, Mike Jacobs 318 games and Brandon Allen 228 games to hit 55.
Cron broke Christian Walker's 2017 single-season franchise record for home runs in a season with his 33^rd homer of 2019 two days earlier on August 11.

Cron thanked his teammates for the support throughout the trying 2019 season.
"It was something (the Joe Bauman award) I was able to have a good relationship with my teammates about this year and something they would push me for and that's something I definitely don't take for granted," Cron said. "Something like this can bring you closer to your teammates and friends and my dad which everyone likes to talk about as my coach this year."
Cron is the first Reno Ace and Arizona Diamondbacks' prospect to claim the award. However, the power surge shouldn't come by surprise to anyone. Cron has hit at least 22 home runs every year since 2015.