Red Sox lefty David Price wins 2018 AL Comeback Player of the Year

Boston Red Sox left-handed pitcher David Price has won the 2018 AL Comeback Player of the Year, rewarding him for a stellar bounce-back season.

Boston Red Sox starting pitcher David Price has been named the recipient of the 2018 American League Comeback Player of the Year award.

In the regular season, Price posted a 16-7 record to a 3.58 ERA with 177 strikeouts and just 50 walks to go with a 1.14 WHIP over 30 starts and 176 innings. The 2012 Cy Young award winner also posted 18 quality starts, left runners on base 77.3% of the time, and had a 2.7 WAR over the season. This includes a run after the All-Star break where Price went 6-1 over 11 starts with a 2.25 ERA.

In the postseason, Price went 3-1 with a 3.46 ERA and 23 K’s over 26 IP. He also helped Boston win their fourth World Series Championship this century by pitching seven shutout innings in a Game 5 series-clinching performance.

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This was a major uptick for Price after his 2017 season, where he was limited to just 74 2/3 innings over 16 appearances (11 starts). The veteran started the season on the disabled list with an elbow injury suffered in Spring Training, before elbow inflammation sidelined him again in July, coming back in September and pitching solely out of the bullpen.

Issues with Price in 2017 were not limited to on the field, as he had a confrontation with Red Sox analyst and Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley on the team’s plane in late June after Eck had been critical of fellow pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez on a NESN broadcast.

While announcing the winners, MLB.com describes The Comeback Player of the Year Award as “being presented annually to one player in each league who has re-emerged on the field during the season.” The 30 club beat reporters from MLB.com selected the winners from an original list of 30 candidates (one per MLB club).

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Price, in his third year with Boston after signing a seven-year, $217 million deal prior to the 2016 season, was beginning to look like a bust of a signing before this season. Known for his workhorse durability during his career, his injuries, along with turning 33 in 2018 and a 2 mph dip in his velocity meant things might have been getting worse before they got better for the former number one overall pick of the 2007 amateur draft.

While Price is being honored for his 2018 season, the seeds for his remarkable comeback might have been planted in the 2017 postseason. Coming out of the bullpen during the American League Division Series against the Houston Astros, Price hurled 6 2/3 scoreless innings, including a memorable four-inning performance in Game 3. Perhaps the second-best Game 3 relief appearance by the Red Sox in recent memory.

Price is the third Red Sox player in history to win the award since its inception in 2005, with Jacoby Ellsbury winning in 2011 and Rick Porcello adding the award to his 2016 Cy Young-winning campaign. Former Red Sox Nomar Garciaparra also won the NL Comeback Player of the Year in 2006 with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Price has already announced he will not be exercising his opt-out clause, saying he wants to remain in Boston for the duration of his contract.

“I’m opting in,” Price said prior to Boston’s World Series victory parade. “I’m not going anywhere. I want to win here. We did that this year, and I want to do it again.”

Price is set to earn $127 million over the remaining four years of his contract. He will make $31 million in 2019, with a slight raise to $32 million annually for the remaining three seasons, which will see ‘Astros Dad’ in Boston until his age 36 season.

The southpaw is set to be a major part of the Red Sox rotation for the foreseeable future. Both Chris Sale and Rick Porcello will be free agents after the 2019 season, leaving Price and Eduardo Rodriguez as the only holdovers before the debut of prospect starter Jay Groome, who is expected to debut in 2020.

Atlanta Braves reliever Jonny Venters won the NL award, returning to the majors in 2018 after not making an appearance since 2012, undergoing his second and third career Tommy John surgeries in the process.