Machado, Davis honored with GIBBY Awards

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- The Orioles have been well-represented with awards this year, and that trend continued when the Greatness in Baseball Yearly Awards were announced Tuesday afternoon at the Winter Meetings.

Manny Machado took home the Play of the Year honors for his fantastic backhanded stop in foul territory against the Yankees on July 7. The 21-year-old fired from across the diamond to first baseman Chris Davis for a highlight-reel play. Machado also won a Gold Glove Award as the American League's top defensive third baseman.

Davis, who set a club record with 53 home runs, won Breakout Hitter honors for a season in which he was named to his first All-Star team, won a Silver Slugger Award and was a Gold Glove finalist. Davis finished third in the AL MVP Award voting conducted by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

MLB's A-listers won GIBBY trophies -- the ultimate honors of baseball's awards season -- and will be presented with them during the 2014 season. More than 10 million votes were cast by media, front-office personnel, MLB alumni, fans at MLB.com and the Society for American Baseball Research.

This year's GIBBY Awards featured nominees in 22 categories. Individual honors went to the MLB MVP, in addition to the year's best Starting Pitcher, Hitter, Closer, Setup Man, Rookie, Breakout Hitter, Breakout Pitcher, Comeback Player, Defensive Player, Manager, Executive and Postseason Performer.

GIBBY trophies also were awarded for the year's top Play, Storyline, Hitting Performance, Pitching Performance, Oddity, Walk-off, Cut4 Topic, Regular-Season Moment and Postseason Moment, with video available via MLB.com's Must C highlight reels.

GIBBYs categories included players from both leagues and performances not only from the regular season, but also through the end of the playoffs, making them unique in singling out the best of the best.

All 30 clubs were represented among the award candidates. In fact, every team had multiple nominees in 2013 -- a testament to the parity of talent around the game.