JEFF BANISTER WINS 2015 BBWAA A.L. MANAGER OF THE YEAR AWARD
Is third Rangers manager to capture award
Arlington, Texas — Jeff Banister has been selected as the recipient of the 2015 American League Manager of the Year Award, it was announced this evening by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Banister received 17 of 30 first-place votes for the award, finishing with 112 total points, 30 more than runner-up A.J. Hinch (82) of the Houston Astros. He also received 8 second-place votes and 3 third-place votes to reach 112 points on the 5-3-1 scoring system. He was named on 28 of 30 ballots, the most of any manager in a year that saw 5 different managers receive first place votes.
This marks the third time that a Rangers manager has been so honored since the BBWAA began awarding Manager of the Year Awards in 1983. Johnny Oates shared the award with New York’s Joe Torre in 1996 and Buck Showalter was selected in 2004.
It marks just the fifth time that an individual with no previous major league managerial experience has captured a BBWAA award, the first ever in the American League. First-year National League managers who won were Houston’s Hal Lanier in 1986, San Francisco’s Dusty Baker in 1993, Florida’s Joe Girardi in 2006, and Washington’s Matt Williams in 2014.
The Rangers won the 2015 American League West Division title in Banister’s first season at the helm with a record of 88-74. Texas posted an improvement of 21 victories from 2014 (67-95), the second largest increase of any major league team (Chicago Cubs, +24). He became the only manager in franchise history to guide the club to either a first place finish or a postseason berth in his first year as the team’s manager. Texas’ 88 wins were also the most ever by a franchise first-year manager, surpassing the 86 for Ted Williams with the 1969 Senators and Kevin Kennedy with the 1993 Rangers.
Since the start of three-division play in 1994, Banister is just the seventh individual in his first year as a major league manager to win a division title, the fourth in the American League. Texas was just the fifth team in major league history and second in the A.L to make the postseason after having their league’s worst record the previous year.
Texas, which clinched a playoff spot on October 1 in game 159 and won the A.L. West Division title on the final day of the regular season on October 4, had the majors’ third best record after the All-Star break at 46-28 (.622). After posting an 8-16 record through May 3, Texas went 80-58 (.580) the rest of the year.
2015 BBWAA A.L. MANAGER OF THE YEAR VOTING TOTALS
Manager, Team First Second Third *Points
Jeff Banister, Rangers 17 8 3 112
A.J. Hinch, Astros 8 13 3 82
Paul Molitor, Twins 2 3 14 33
John Gibbons, Blue Jays 1 5 2 22
Joe Girardi, Yankees 2 2 12
Ned Yost, Royals 1 5 8
Mike Scioscia, Angels 1 1
*Based on 5-3-1 scoring system