Add another accolade to the trophy case of the Yankees’ top prospect: on Wednesday, shortstop Anthony Volpe was named the Yankees’ 2021 Kevin Lawn Award winner for minor-league position player of the year.
RHP Hayden Wesneski, also a Top 10 prospect in the organization, was also named a Kevin Lawn Award winner as minor-league pitcher of the year.
Volpe came back from the 2020 COVID shutdown with a vengeance last season, slashing .294/.423/.604 with 27 homers, 86 RBI, 78 walks, and 33 steals in 109 games between Low-A Tampa and High-A Hudson Valley, and will likely open 2022 at Double-A Somerset.
The 2019 first-round pick, who was the consensus No. 1 prospect in the organization heading into this season, led all Baby Bombers in OBP, slugging, OPS, doubles, and walks, and he led the entire minor leagues in runs scored. The 20-year-old phenom was also second in the system in RBI, third in homers, and fourth in average and steals.
Wesneski, 24, was a sixth-round pick in 2019 out of Sam Houston State, and also came back from the COVID shutdown in dominant fashion.
The righty was 11-6 with a 3.25 ERA in 130 1/3 innings over three levels last season, fanning 151 in those frames (second in the organization) and leading all Baby Bombers hurlers in innings pitched.
The Kevin Lawn Awards are dedicated to Kevin O’Brien Lawn, the son of longtime Yankees Vice President and Chief of Operations Jack Lawn, who passed away in 1999. Each winner receives a trophy created by Brown’s Trophies of St. Petersburg, Florida, and an engraved designer watch courtesy of Betteridge Jewelers in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Volpe and Wesneski join some elite and interesting company in winning the awards, which were first handed out in 1980. Chris Gittens and Deivi Garcia were the last winners, for the 2019 season (due to no 2020 MiLB season), and Michael King, Miguel Andujar, Aaron Judge, Luis Severino (twice), Gary Sanchez, and Brett Gardner are among past winners who played for the Yankees in 2021.
Among way-back winners, Derek Jeter won the award in 1994 and 1995 – with Andy Pettitte the pitching winner in ’94 – while Don Mattingly (1981), current assistant hitting coach Hensley Meulens (1990), and former hitting coach Marcus Thames (2001) are also past winners.
Steve Balboni and RHP Gene Nelson were the inaugural winners for the 1980 season.
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