Braves trio earns inaugural MLB.com honors

ATLANTA -- Brian McCann and Craig Kimbrel were disappointed about the way they performed near the end of this past season. But as postseason honors have been announced over the past couple weeks, they have been reminded that their respective seasons, as a whole, were far from disappointing.

McCann and Kimbrel have added to their list of postseason honors by being recognized by MLB.com as two of the Braves' top performers this year. The website has recognized McCann as the team's Player of the Year, Tim Hudson as the team's Pitcher of the Year, and Kimbrel as the team's Breakout Player of the Year.

Last week, McCann became the first player to win five Silver Slugger Awards while playing for the Braves. The 27-year-old six-time All-Star is now one of six catchers to win this honor at least five times.

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McCann batted just .180 with six home runs in the 37 games he played after seemingly rushing back from the disabled list in August. But he was one of the club's most reliable threats through the season's first four months and still ended up leading the team with an .817 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage).

McCann batted .270 and matched a career high with 24 home runs.

Kimbrel and McCann were both selected to the Sporting News' National League All-Star team.

This was just one of the many honors recently bestowed upon Kimbrel, who is the front-runner to be win the NL Rookie of the Year Award when the Baseball Writers' Association of America announces the winner on Nov. 14. The 23-year-old closer was also named the NL's Most Outstanding Rookie during last week's Players Choice Awards.

Kimbrel set a Major League rookie record with 46 saves, and he posted a 2.10 ERA while compiling 77 innings in 79 appearances -- the second-highest total for any big league pitcher.

The hard-throwing closer recorded 127 strikeouts in 77 innings and limited opponents to a .178 batting average. Before blowing three of his final five save opportunities, he had worked 37 1/3 scoreless innings dating back to the middle of June.

Hudson proved to be the most reliable asset in a starting rotation that missed Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson's contributions down the stretch.

Hudson went 16-10 with a 3.22 ERA in 32 starts. The 36-year-old veteran led the team in wins and innings pitched (215). He earned three of the nine wins the Braves totaled during their disappointing September.