2024 Silver Sunburst Awards: May edition RESULTS
The votes are in! Here are your May winners!
Another month of Rays baseball is behind us, and we have another batch of Silver Sunbursts to award for May’s biggest standouts.
Winners were decided by DRB reader votes as well as a vote within the DRB staff and statistics and analysis from these players April performances. Statistics and analysis are weighed in the most, with votes being a tie-breaker for closer candidates.
Offensive Silver Sunburst: Isaac Paredes
Paredes once again made the Offensive category not much of a debate, leading the team in RBI, OBP, wRC+, and offensive WAR in the month of May. In a lineup that has struggled to find any rhythm all year, Paredes has been the exception, with his monster home runs and clutch RBI hits.
Paredes dominated the voting side of this award too, with 56% of the reader votes going Paredes’ way as well as 100% of the staff vote.
“Isaac Paredes may have punched a ticket to the All-Star game with his performance in May” Danny Russel said.
Paredes now has two Silver Sunbursts on the year, having won the offensive SS last month as well.
Honorable Mention: Randy Arozarena
Arozarena had a turnaround month in May, hitting five home runs, scoring 13 runs and stealing three bases. Unfortunately, Paredes’ dominance in this category prevented him from any chance of this month’s SS.
Pitching Silver Sunburst: Garrett Cleavinger
Last month’s Silver Sunburst was very tight for the pitching nod, however this month it seems to be pretty cut and dry with Cleavinger earning this month’s Silver Sunburst from the bullpen.
Cleavinger had just an incredible month of May, pitching 12 2⁄3 innings giving up just one run and five hits. He also notched a save against the Blue Jays to go along with it.
Strikeouts like that were not uncommon for Cleavinger, as he racked up 18 such Ks in less than 13 innings in May, the lefty from Kansas could not be touched.
Cleavinger racked up the votes this month, earning 50% of both the reader vote as well as the staff vote.
“Skenes who?” Ian Malinowski said.
Honorable Mention: Taj Bradley
Bradley had a great month, racking 29 strikeouts in 23 innings while allowing just eight runs, however his inconsistency on the mound as well as the overwhelming vote support for Cleavinger ended up being the difference.
Bradley has a sky high ceiling, and May was a great showcase of what he’s capable of.
Defensive Silver Sunburst: Jose Siri
Siri had himself a month out in center, with highlight catch after highlight catch. The most exciting of which was this incredible home run robbery at just the right time to keep the game alive against the A’s.
“Anytime you posterize Randy you get my vote” Malinowski said, summing up the incredible catch.
Speaking of votes, Siri pulled away in the voting, earning a whopping 67% of the votes for this month’s defensive SS award, as well as 50% of the staff vote.
Honorable Mention: Richie Palacios
For the third time this season, Palacios is an HM for a SS award, still not having won one this season. This time, Siri’s overwhelming majority of the voting as well as his array of clutch defensive moments made him impossible to overlook.
Highlight Silver Sunburst: Jose Siri
Siri wins this month’s Highlight Silver Sunburst with his electric Grand Slam in the seventh inning against the Yankees.
Down 6-0 in what looked to be a blowout, excitement sparked throughout the Trop when Jose Siri put the Rays back in the game with one swing, a grand slam to put the Rays within striking distance.
It didn’t result in a win at the end of the day, but Siri’s bomb lit the stadium up with excitement and was one of the most fun moments of the season so far.
“Hitting a grand slam against the Yankees? That’s a “I remember where I was when I saw this happen” moment for the fans.” Danny Russel said.
Honorable Mention: Brandon Lowe
Lowe’s go-ahead triple against the Royals is this month’s runner-up highlight, earning 19% of the reader votes (and being my personal favorite highlight)
Sunburst Leaders
Last month it was Jose Caballero that was the one to beat in terms of Sunburst totals, with five.
Now (June 17) it’s centerfielder Jose Siri, who pulled way ahead with a big month to put himself as the one to chase. On the pitching side, Bradley has taken the lead quickly, with four pitching awards. Here’s how the leaderboard shakes out:
Jose Siri - 10
Richie Palacios - 7
Caballero & Diaz - 6
Taj Bradley - 5