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Two Players in Toronto Blue Jays History Have Won the Rookie of the Year Award

The next set of major awards comes out on Monday night, including the Rookie of the Year. While no Blue Jays players will win it this season, there have been two wins in the category by Blue Jays players before.

Brady Farkas

Atlanta Braves left fielder Eric Hinske (20) connects for a base hit against the St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Braves 5-4 in 2012.
Atlanta Braves left fielder Eric Hinske (20) connects for a base hit against the St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Braves 5-4 in 2012. / Scott Rovak-Imagn Images
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On Monday night, the American and National League Rookie of the Year winners will be announced.

In the American League, the award is between Colton Cowser (Baltimore Orioles), Luis Gil (New York Yankees) and Austin Wells (Yankees). In the National League, it's between Paul Skenes (Pittsburgh Pirates), Jackson Merrill (San Diego Padres) and Jackson Chourio (Milwaukee Brewers).

With that, no Toronto Blue Jays players will be taking home the honor this season, however, it's still fun to look back in history.

Two different Blue Jays players have won the Rookie of the Year Award before: Alfredo Griffin in 1979 and Eric Hinske in 2002.

The 67-year-old Griffin spent 18 years in the big leagues with the Cleveland Indians, Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics. He debuted with Cleveland in 1976 at the age of 18 but wasn't eligible to win the award until 1979 with Toronto. In that season, he hit .287 with 21 stolen bases while posting a .333 on-base percentage.

Lifetime, he was a one-time All-Star, a Gold Glove winner and a three-time World Series champion.

The 47-year-old Hinske spent 12 years in the big leagues with the Jays, Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Pittsburgh Pirates, Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees. Lifetime, he was a .249 hitter.

In his Rookie of the Year season, he hit .279 with 24 homers and 84 RBI. Those represented the high-water marks of his career, as he never had more than 20 homers or 69 RBI after that.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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