BBBWA Awards for April

Thank you to everyone who participated in the voting for the very first monthly Bluebird Banter Writers' Association Awards! We received a total of 1,683 votes for the three polls.

The Player of the Month award for April 2012 goes to Edwin Encarnacion, who received a whopping 96% of the votes. Encarnacion had a tremendous start to the 2012 season, batting .322/.376/.678 with 8 homers and 21 RBI in 101 plate appearances. Encarnacion finished the month with a 4-game home run streak (April 27 to April 30), over which he cashed in 8 runs.

The Pitcher of the Month award for April goes to Kyle Drabek who received 38% of the votes in a very tight race with Ricky Romero (35%). The 24-year old pitcher had a strong start to the 2012 season, coming back from a tough campaign in 2011. Drabek finished April with a 2.40 ERA in 30 innings pitched over 5 starts, averaging almost 8 strikeouts per 9 innings and giving up no more than 2 runs in any start. Drabek struck out a career high 8 batters in his final start in April, against the powerful Texas Rangers.

Adam Lind and Yunel Escobar combined to complete the Play of the Month award for the Blue Jays by turning a triple play against the Kansas City Royals, receiving 42% of the votes. With Kyle Drabek on the mound, Alex Gordon on second, and Yuniesky Betancourt on first in the bottom of the 3rd on April 20, Eric Hosmer lined out to Lind, who then stepped on first for the second out before throwing to Escobar at second base for the third out. Lind and Escobar's triple play was the first for the Blue Jays since September 21, 1979. Kelly Johnson's shovel pass to Adam Lind on April 23 finished with the second most votes (32%).

Congratulations to Edwin Encaranacion, Ricky Romero, Adam Lind, and Yunel Escobar for winning the inaugural BBBWA Awards! Looking forward to see who will win for May!