Baseball is so close that we can almost taste it. The Tokyo Series is upon us and Opening Day is not far away. There is so much to be excited about and to look forward to and the fun part is making predictions! We are doing an award series, that’s touched on the CY Young, Rookie of the Year, and MVP. Now, let’s see who can win comeback player of the year.

NL Comeback Player: Sandy Alcantara

I love this award for numerous reasons. It’s amazing watching guys come back from whether it was a brutal injury or just a bad season. For the NL comeback player of the year, my pick is none other than Marlins Ace Sandy Alcantara.

He will be a Marlin until at least the deadline, but coming off Tommy John surgery, this is a pitcher that will scorch the diamond and be back to his normal self.

In case anyone forgot how good Alcantara was, here’s a nice peak behind the curtain. From 2017-2023, Alcantara has the 20th best ERA among starting pitching with 3.31. From 2021-2023, he finished with over 200 strikeouts twice and had 151 in 2023. Alcantara has good command and had a walk rate of 6% or less the last three years.

Also, he packs the velocity with his fastball. As he’s returned from Tommy John this spring, he has already hit 99 MPH with the fastball. The Marlins have said that he will be on an innings limit to a degree, as they will eventually trade him and that way the team that acquired him will have him for meaningful playoff games.

Alcantara was one of the best pitchers before his injury and he will have a major bounce back year as he is back to his normal self.

AL Comeback Player: Jacob deGrom

I think it is safe to say baseball fans everywhere are rooting for this. Jacob deGrom reminds me of Mike Trout, an electrifying player and one of the best to do it at his position, but health hasn’t been on his side. This is a player we are rooting for because when he is on his game, he is one of the best pitchers to watch perform on the mound.

When he first began his career, deGrom was a complete lock for over 100 innings of work and from 2017-19 was a lock for 200 innings of work. The issue is deGrom has not logged 100 innings of work since 2019 and health has derailed his career. For his Rangers tenure, he has pitched 40 combined innings the last two seasons, so at this rate, giving the team anything is a massive win in my book.

deGrom has a career 2.52 ERA and of his 218 starts, 157 of them have been quality. He owns a 31% strikeout percentage and you do know what you will get when he’s healthy. If deGrom is healthy, not only does it propel the Rangers further than they can go, but he certainly will win comeback player of the year bouncing back from his injuries.

He is projected to pitch 132 innings and make 26 starts and finish with a 2.99 ERA per Fangraphs. He does that? Give him the award.

Other worthy nominees are Liam Hendriks and Shane McClanahan.