Major League Baseball

The 2023 Flippy Awards: Ben Verlander picks his MVP, best bat flip, fan moment and more!

Published Oct. 4, 2023 1:01 p.m. ET

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Ben Verlander

FOX Sports MLB Analyst

Welcome to the second annual Flippy Awards, a new tradition here on Flippin' Bats where we are choosing the best players, moments and memories in 16 categories from throughout the 2023 season.

It took a lot of work for our staff to narrow these down to three nominees, and I had a tough time picking the winners for a lot of these categories — including an MVP that may surprise some people.

Speaking of which, each of these categories covers both the National League and American League, unlike the MLB awards, which are split. So when I am choosing a winner, I am choosing one for all of Major League Baseball.

With that in mind, let's get to it!

Best Bat Flip

NOMINEES:

• Shohei Ohtani's flip against the Yankees
• Ronald Acuna Jr. 's flip against the Pirates
• Fernando Tatis Jr.'s flip against the Diamondbacks

WINNER: Fernando Tatis Jr.'s flip

It was a low, subtle flip. Then, he pumped up the crowd with a fist bump. It truly was beautiful. It looked even better in slow motion.

The name of my podcast is "Flippin' Bats," so this is a rather prestigious award. When I think of bat flips, I think of ones like Tatis'. 

Best Move of the Year

NOMINEES:

• Phillies trade for Michael Lorenzen
• Astros trade for Justin Verlander
• Brewers trade for Mark Canha

WINNER: Astros trade for Justin Verlander

All of these ended up being pretty big moves. Canha, for instance, went to a Brewers team that needed offense. He provided it and now they're in the playoffs. Lorenzen went to a Phillies team that really needed pitching help, especially with some of their injuries, and threw a no-hitter in his first home start in Philadelphia.

But the best of the year was Justin's return to the Astros. This was solidified by his last two starts, pitching eight innings of one-run ball against the Mariners before tossing five scoreless against the Diamondbacks. He's been huge for them. 

So, congratulations Justin on your 2023 Flippin' Award for Best Move of the Year!

The What Did I Just See Award

NOMINEES:

• Bobby Witt Jr. hits a foul ball to Bobby Witt Sr.
• Fight between Tim Anderson and Jose Ramirez
• Elly de la Cruz steals second base, third base, and home on two pitches

WINNER: Elly de la Cruz steals second base, third base, and home on two pitches

All of these moments were great. Just thinking about the Anderson-Ramirez brawl makes me wish for more brawls in baseball. That was an all-time brawl. They dropped their gloves and put up their dukes like they were about to get into a boxing match, and they did. 

That's not the winner, though. I've never seen anyone steal three bases on two pitches, because it hasn't happened before. I remember when de la Cruz came up earlier this season, I thought, "this guy's going to be fun for a long, long time to come." Now, he has his first Flippy Award.

Best Swag

NOMINEES:

• Fernando Tatis Jr.'s custom cleats honoring Kobe Bryant
• Zac Gallen's All-Star fit
• Lourdes Gurriel Jr.'s matching All-Star outfits with his kids 

WINNER: Fernando Tatis Jr.'s custom cleats

Tatis' cleats were incredible. Tatis probably has the best swag in baseball, so that helps tip the scales in his favor. We've seen him play in San Diego before. He's an entertainer. 

Worst Umpire Moment

NOMINEES:

• Bryce Harper ejected after check swing called strike
• Missed foul ball call in Cubs-Braves
• Zach Eflin forced to remove wedding ring

WINNER: Zach Eflin forced to remove wedding ring

Narrowing it down to three was virtually impossible. But I feel good about the winner. Eflin was asked to remove a rubber wedding ring from his glove hand! Everybody who's married tends to wear a rubber ring. Eflin protested taking it off, saying the he wasn't going to take it off unless if he was going to get ejected. They said they would eject him. 

Just ridiculous. 

Best Flippin' Interview

NOMINEES:

• Blake Snell at Petco Park in San Diego
• Zac Gallen's "beef" with Ben from the minors
• Tom Glavine reminisces on 1990s Braves, John Smoltz

WINNER: Zac Gallen's "beef" with Ben

We had great guests every Wednesday throughout the season, making it difficult to narrow it down to three. Snell turned his season around following our trip to San Diego. Glavine talked to us about John Smoltz, those great Braves teams and the Hall of Fame. Just a great episode.

But I'm picking Gallen. His interview was awesome because I didn't know it was going to happen. I played against him in the minor leagues and the moment I brought it up, he was like, "Oh yeah, I have a bone to pick with you." I wondered what I did before he reminded me of an error I made playing in the outfield, letting a ball drop that scored the tying runner.

Gallen was upset that my error forced the game to go to extras as he wasn't pitching in it, forcing him to sit through the game.

Best John Smoltz Story

NOMINEES:

• Pitching against Tony Gwynn
• Cal Ripken Jr. going 6/6 against Smoltz and Braves
• Best brawl story

WINNER: Pitching against Tony Gwynn

Every Saturday, MLB on FOX lead analyst John Smoltz joins me on my podcast and always has a great story to share. 

But the best was pitching against Gwynn because it was hard to even fathom. He recalled that the Braves' "Big three" ace pitchers — Smoltz, Glavine and Greg Maddux — only struck out Gwynn about 10 times in hundreds of at-bats, with one of them failing to strike Gwynn out at all. It was just remarkable. 

Ben's Best Prediction

NOMINEES:

• Four out of the six major award winners 
• Shohei Ohtani's multiple-homer week after Ben guaranteed it
• Diamondbacks to make the playoffs 

WINNER: Diamondbacks to make the playoffs 

I like this category a lot! Wonder why?

I have a feeling that I accurately predicted four of the six major award winners (MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year in each league) correctly even though those haven't been announced yet. But I have a strong feeling that Corbin Carroll and Gunnar Henderson will win the Rookie of the Year awards, Gerrit Cole will win A.L. Cy Young and Shohei Ohtani will win MVP.

When I picked Ohtani to have a multiple-homer week, he hadn't hit a home run in quite some time, at least for his standards. I came up with BVG (Ben Verlander Guarantee) on the spot. He then had a stretch where he hit three homers in six at-bats.

But I picked the Diamondbacks to make the playoffs before the season, making it my bold prediction. It came down to the final weekend, sneaking in as the sixth seed. Congratulations to them — and me.

Ben Verlander's Best & Worst MLB predictions for the 2023 season

Ben's Worst Prediction

NOMINEES:

• Mets to win N.L. East
• Padres to win N.L. West
• White Sox to win A.L. Central

WINNER: Mets to win N.L. East

There was no winning here.

The Mets to win the NL East has to be the worst, though. They won 101 games last year and I thought they got better. But it was arguably the biggest disappointment of a season in the history of baseball. The Padres were close to holding that honor, but they climbed back up the standings toward the end of the season while the Mets were sellers at the deadline. 

Just a miserable, miserable prediction. 

Best Fan Interaction

NOMINEES:

• Dodgers fan follows through on promise to name daughter after Mookie Betts
• Trea Turner's standing ovation from Phillies fans amid struggles
• Bryce Harper gives away his helmet to a kid

WINNER: Trea Turner's standing ovation

This turned around not just Trea's season but helped spark the Phillies as a whole. Not only that, I think this might be the future blueprint for how you handle a struggling star. 

I fell in love with that Philly crowd when we were there for the World Series last year. They're great fans. What they did for Turner after he struggled so much in his first few months as a Phillie had a massive impact on the rest of his season and, I believe, on the sport for years to come.

Comeback Player of the Year

NOMINEES:

• Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres
• Christian Yelich, Brewers
• Cody Bellinger, Cubs

WINNER: Cody Bellinger

Bellinger went straight downhill after his 2019 MVP season with the Dodgers before signing a one-year "prove it" deal with the Cubs. In return, Chicago got something much closer to Bellinger's MVP self with a renewed approach at the plate that showed he's not afraid to hit the ball the other way and take his singles, but also still put up good power numbers. I was pumped to see such a great season for Bellinger in a new city.

Manager of the Year

NOMINEES:

• Brian Snitker, Braves
• Brandon Hyde, Orioles
• Dave Roberts, Dodgers

WINNER: Brandon Hyde

Not often do you see a manager take over when an organization is down in the dumps and get to be there through the rebuilding process to experience the highs. The Orioles are the No. 1 seed in the American League two years after having the worst record in baseball. I think Hyde should have could have easily won this award last year even though Baltimore did not make it to the playoffs. This year? It's a no-brainer.

Rookie of the Year

NOMINEES:

• Kodai Senga, Mets
• Gunnar Henderson, Orioles
• Corbin Carroll, Diamondbacks

WINNER: Corbin Carroll

Let's take a moment to acknowledge Senga and the season he had, a 2.98 ERA and 202 strikeouts in his first MLB season as a rookie coming over from Japan, and doing it with his trademark "ghost fork" pitch. But friend of the show Corbin Carroll wins this hardware after hitting 25 home runs and stealing 50 bases, a rare power and speed combination from a rookie. Congrats to him and his family, who we got to meet in Seattle during All-Star week.

Cy Young

NOMINEES:

• Blake Snell, Padres 
• Justin Steele, Cubs 
• Gerrit Cole, Yankees

WINNER: Blake Snell

After his mid-June turnaround (again, following our interview with him), he was the most dominant pitcher in baseball this season. It wasn't always easy, but he figured it out and, as he told us in San Diego, started exploring more hobbies to take his mind off baseball away from the stadium, which helped him a lot.

MLB Regular Season Awards: Who is taking home Rookie of the Year & Cy Young?

Best Moment

NOMINEES:

• Drew Maggi's major league debut
• Ronald Acuña Jr. steals 70th base
• Mike Trout's at-bat against Shohei Ohtani in the World Baseball Classic

WINNER:

Mike Trout's at-bat against Shohei Ohtani in World Baseball Classic

It really was a movie. I still can't even believe it happened. We already envisioned it as the coolest matchup possible coming into the World Baseball Classic, but the odds of it happening were so low. And then everything lined up perfectly for Ohtani to come on in the ninth inning to close a one-run title game, with Japan leading and Trout — his Angels teammate and USA's captain — standing in his way for the final out. I believe it's one of the most memorable at-bats baseball has ever seen. This will live on forever.

MVP

NOMINEES:

• Shohei Ohtani
• Ronald Acuña Jr.
• Mookie Betts

WINNER: Shohei Ohtani

Only Ohtani's injury issues in August prevented what was going to be the greatest individual baseball season we had ever seen. Even though it ended up not being a full season, it's still one of the greatest ever. He was a Cy Young-caliber pitcher who threw a complete game one-hitter, and oh yeah, baseball's most prolific slugger who was hitting homers to left field harder than any left-handed batter ever had. He hit two home runs in the other half of a doubleheader the day he threw that complete game! 

Acuña had a historic season as well and obviously deserves the N.L. MVP for his 40 home run, 70 stolen base campaign. But Ohtani was one of baseball's best pitchers while also hitting .304 with a 1.066 OPS, which is unfathomable and worthy of the ultimate Flippy award.

MLB Regular Season Awards: Who is taking home the Most Valuable Player of 2023?

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Ben Verlander

Flippin' Bats with Ben Verlander