By: Brian Frank
The Bisons announced their end of season awards on Friday night, including most valuable player and pitcher. Alan Roden was named the team’s Stan Barron Most Valuable Player, and Andrew Bash was honored with the Warren Spahn Most Valuable Pitcher award.
Roden, a left-handed hitting outfielder was promoted to the Herd from Double-A New Hampshire in mid-June. He slashed .314/.406/.510 with nine home runs, 15 doubles, and 48 RBIs in 71 games with Buffalo.
“There's been a lot of really good players that came through this year,” Roden told The Herd Chronicles. “Especially some of the guys that made it to the big-league team and are contributing up there. So, to come away at the end of the season with that recognition is really, really cool.”
Roden had a .916 OPS with the Bisons. Photo Credit: Brian Frank, The Herd Chronicles
After a bit of a slow start when he first came to Triple-A, the 24-year-old Wisconsin native's bat heated up in July. He carried his red-hot hitting through to the end of the season. He was named the International League Player of the Month in August, when he slashed .354/.411/.594 with four home runs, seven doubles, two triples, 16 RBIs, and a 1.005 OPS in 26 games.
“I think just finding a way to approach at-bats in a consistent way,” he said of getting on a hot streak. “Kind of taking it at-bat, by at-bat, and doing the same thing over and over. Finding consistency in that really helped a lot in terms of the approach – and the results ended up coming because of that.”
The Blue Jays’ 2022 third-round pick out of Creighton University believes he grew a lot as a player this season – including during the short time in June when he struggled.
“The failures definitely teach you a lot about yourself and help you grow,” Roden said. “It forces you to grow. If you have sustained success, that's great obviously, but it's the failures that make you take a step back, look at what you're doing, and try to adjust and try to get better. So, I think that period right when I got called up to Triple-A was a big learning time for me. A time to learn and a time to adjust.”
Bash won the team’s Pitcher of the Year Award after posting a 2.97 ERA in 78 2/3 innings pitched.
“It's awesome,” Bash said of winning the honor. “I mean, just being able to support the team and to be able to be out there and compete every day and trying to make the team better and just give everyone an opportunity.”
“I just look back at the off season and everything I worked on really paid off coming into spring training and going into the start of season, and it just carried throughout the season.”
Bash's great season took a pause in mid-June, when he suffered an injury that kept him off the mound until early August.
“I had a little forearm injury,” he said. “I think it showed up when I had some back stuff happen at the very beginning of the year. It kind of put more stress on the arm and then just kind of got tired. Everything's all good to go now. No problems with that.”
Bash had a 2.97 ERA. Photo Credit: Brian Frank, The Herd Chronicles
The right-handed hurler came back strong from his injury. He had success throughout the year in both the starting rotation and the bullpen. The 28-year-old California native made 16 starts and 11 relief appearances. He believes the key to his success in both roles is being prepared and ready when called upon.
“Just always trying to be prepared and ready for that time,” he explained. “Especially when it comes to being in the bullpen. Just kind of knowing what your role is and being prepared rather than being shocked (when called upon). But when it comes to starting, that's what I've always done through college, so that's just kind of something that is easy for me and I have no problem with that.”
Other players honored Friday night included reliever Paxton Schultz, who won the Judge Michael Dillon Comeback Player of the Year Award. Schultz returned from an injury that ended his 2023 campaign prematurely to record 112 strikeouts in 92 innings pitched in 2024. Reliever Luis Quinones, who went 7-0 with a 3.28 ERA at Sahlen Field, won the Jimmy Griffin Hometown Hero Award. Reliever Hayden Juenger, a regular volunteer at team events like Play Ball Weekend and the team’s annual kids’ camp, was presented with the Frank “Fremo” Vallone Community Service Award. Left-handed reliever Brandon Eisert was named the Joe DeSa Most Inspirational Player. Eisert is the team’s modern-era leader in games pitched and also made his major-league debut this season.
Comments