Players Choice Awards rookie finalists played prominent roles in 2015

The Players Choice Awards finalists for Outstanding Rookie -- Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor and Miguel Sano in the American League and Kris Bryant, Matt Duffy and Jung Ho Kang in the National League -- all played prominent roles for successful clubs in their first tastes of the big leagues.

The two Outstanding Rookie awards will be announced during the hour-long 2015 Players Choice Awards show on MLB Network on Monday (Nov. 9) at 8 pm. ET.  The program will be presented by MLB The Show™ and sponsored by Majestic Athletic.

AL players voted for two 21-year-old shortstops from Puerto Rico and a 22-year-old designated hitter from the Dominican Republic as finalists.

Carlos Correa, the youngest position player in the Majors when he debuted with the Astros on June 8, batted .279 while leading AL rookies with 22 home runs and a .512 slugging percentage. He was second among AL rookies with 68 RBIs and a .345 on-base percentage. He also had 22 doubles and 14 stolen bases over 99 games.

Lindor, a switch-hitter, batted .313 with 12 homers and 51 RBIs with a .482 slugging percentage and .353 on-base percentage over 99 games for the Indians. He committed just 10 errors and was rated among the league's top defensive shortstops.

A third baseman who served the Twins primarily as a designated hitter after his July 2 promotion from Double-A, Miguel Sano had 18 homers and 52 RBIs while leading Twins regulars in both on-base (.385) and slugging percentage (.530) despite a hamstring injury that slowed him down in September.

The NL rookie finalists are comprised of a 28-year-old infielder who got his professional start in his native Korea, a 23-year-old slugger who hit some of the longest home runs in the Majors and a Californian infielder who wound up batting third for the defending World Series champions.

Only 23, Kris Bryant's 26 home runs -- including one that traveled a Wrigley Field record 467 feet -- and 99 RBIs established new rookie records for the Cubs. The 6-foot-5 third baseman's 5.9 WAR was eighth-best among position players in the NL, and he had a .369 on-base average and a .488 slugging percentage. He helped the Cubs reach the postseason and earned a spot on the NL All-Star team.

Originally an 18th round draft pick, Matt Duffy led the Giants with a .361 batting average in Spring Training to earn a place on the roster and was batting third by the end of the season. The gritty third baseman batted .295 with a .334 on-base average, hit 12 homers, knocked in 77 runs and was 12-for-12 in stolen base attempts. He fielded well enough to become a Gold Glove Award finalist.

Jung Ho Kang began his career with the Hyundai Unicorns and Nexen Heroes and this season signed with Pittsburgh and became the first position player to move from the KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) to the Majors. While playing shortstop and third base, Kang batted .287 with 15 home runs and 58 RBIs for the Pirates, before a torn meniscus and a fractured bone in his leg ended his season in mid-September.

The Players Choice Awards, in which the players recognize each other's excellence on and off the field, have been presented by the Major League Baseball Players Association since 1992, with the Players Trust providing more than $4 million in charitable grants to causes selected by the winning players.

Each of the Outstanding Rookie winners will receive a $20,000 grant from the Trust that will go to a charity or charities they select.

The winners and finalists for each award were selected by players on Sept. 16 in league-wide balloting conducted under the supervision of accounting firm KPMG.