Hosmer earns Esurance Best Moment honor

KANSAS CITY -- Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer captured the Esurance MLB Award for "Best Moment" of 2015 for his daring dash home in Game 5 of the World Series.

The Royals were trailing the Mets, 2-1, in the top of the ninth and had Hosmer on third base with Salvador Perez at the plate. Perez hit a soft one-hopper to third baseman David Wright, and as Wright made his throw to first, Hosmer raced home.

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Hosmer beat first baseman Lucas Duda's errant throw to the plate and the score was tied. The Royals went on to win 7-2 in 12 innings and captured their first World Series title in 30 years.

Hosmer later admitted that "after taking a couple steps, I thought, 'Maybe this isn't a good idea.'"

Video: 2015 MLB Awards: Best Moment - Hosmer dashes home

But Hosmer's gamble was typical of the Royals' aggressive play throughout the season, and worthy of the Esurance "Best Moment."

Other finalists in the Best Moment category included Wilmer Flores' walk-off home run just days after shedding tears on the field due to inaccurate reports that the Mets had traded him, and Todd Frazier winning the Home Run Derby in walk-off fashion in front of his home crowd at Great American Ball Park.

The Esurance MLB Awards annually honor Major League Baseball's greatest achievements as part of an industry-wide balloting process that includes five components, each of which accounts for 20 percent of the overall vote: media, front-office personnel, retired MLB players, fans at MLB.com and Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) voters.

Individual awards were presented for 22 separate categories, including Best Major Leaguer, Everyday Player, Bounceback Player, Social Media Personality and Postseason Performer. Winners were also recognized for the year's Best Offensive Play, Defensive Play, Moment, Single-Game Performance, Social Media Post, Celebrity Fan and Fan Catch.

Manager and executive winners will be announced at the Winter Meetings in December.

Nominees were judged on their bodies of work from the entire year -- from Opening Day through the postseason -- and selected after a careful review of all 30 clubs. Winners in all 24 categories receive a Greatness in Baseball Yearly (GIBBY) trophy.