Young, Pena named comeback players of year
Washington Nationals first baseman Dmitri Young was named the National League Comeback Player of the Year after setting aside professional, legal and substance abuse problems to become an all-star. Young won the award after finishing tied for eighth in the NL in batting with a career-high .320 average. He had 13 home runs and 74 RBI. Young had not finished a season at .300 or higher since hitting .302 with 21 homers and 69 RBI for the Cincinnati Reds in 2001. He batted .250 with 7 homers and 23 RBI in 48 games with the Detroit Tigers in 2006. Young was out of baseball altogether at the end of last season when he was released by the Tigers with less than a month left in the regular season. It was just one part of Young's troublesome year, which included an assault charge, treatment for alcoholism, a divorce and hospitalization for diabetes. He got a second chance in February when he agreed to a non-guaranteed, minor-league contract with Washington.
What a comeback, Part II
One season after being released by three teams, Carlos Pena put together the best performance in Tampa Bay Devil Rays history and was chosen as the American League Comeback Player of the Year. The 28-year-old slugger batted .282 with a club-record 46 home runs and 121 RBI after joining the Devil Rays in spring training as a non-roster invitee. Last year, he homered once in 18 games for Boston and spent most of the season in Triple-A with the Red Sox and New York Yankees. He hit 27 homers and drove in 82 runs for Detroit in 2004 but slipped to 18 homers and 44 RBI the following season and was released by the Tigers in March 2006. Pena signed with the Devil Rays in January. He was reassigned to the minors late in spring training but wound up on the opening-day roster because of an injury to Greg Norton. In addition to setting Devil Rays records for home runs and RBI, Pena scored a team-high 99 runs and set club marks for walks (103), on-base percentage (.411) and slugging percentage (.627). Pena is the first player in major-league history to hit 40 or more homers the season after being released. He's also the 11th AL player to have 100 walks, 45 homers and 120 RBI in a season.