Top prospect Gleyber Torres on Monday was named the 2017 James P. Dawson Award winner, an honor given annually to the outstanding Yankees rookie in Spring Training.
Torres, the club's No. 1 prospect per MLB Pipeline, hit .448/.469/.931 with six doubles, one triple, two home runs and nine RBIs in 29 at-bats this spring, his first with the Yankees.
The honor follows the 19-year-old infielder winning the 2016 Arizona Fall League Most Valuable Player Award after becoming the youngest player in league history to win a batting title. Torres was assigned to Double-A Trenton last week.
Torres was acquired by the Yanks in July from the Cubs, along with right-hander Adam Warren, outfielder Billy McKinney and outfielder Rashad Crawford, in exchange for reliever Albertin Chapman.
The Dawson Award was established in 1956 in honor of James P. Dawson (1896-1953), a boxing editor and baseball writer who began a 45-year career with The New York Times as a copy boy in 1908. Past winners include Don Mattingly, Thurman Munson, Willie Randolph, Jorge Posada and Tony Kubek, as well as current Yankees Masahiro Tanaka and Brett Gardner.
James P. Dawson Award winners
1956: Norm Siebern, OF
1957: Tony Kubek, SS
1958: John Blanchard, C
1959: Gordon Windhorn, OF
1960: John James, P
1961: Rollie Sheldon, P
1962: Tom Tresh, SS
1963: Pedro Gonzalez, 2B
1964: Pete Mikkelsen, P
1965: Arturo Lopez, OF
1966: Roy White, OF
1967: Bill Robinson, OF
1968: Mike Ferraro, 3B
1969: Jerry Kenney, OF/Bill Burbach, P
1970: John Ellis, 1B/C
1971: None selected
1972: Rusty Torres, OF
1973: Otto Velez, OF
1974: Tom Buskey, P
1975: Tippy Martinez, P
1976: Willie Randolph, 2B
1977: George Zeber, INF
1978: Jim Beattie, P
1979: Paul Mirabella, P
1980: Mike Griffin, P
1981: Gene Nelson, P
1982: Andre Robertson, SS
1983: Don Mattingly, 1B
1984: Jose Rijo, P
1985: Scott Bradley, C
1986: Bob Tewksbury, P
1987: Keith Hughes, OF
1988: Al Leiter, P
1989: None selected
1990: Alan Mills, P
1991: Hensley Meulens, OF
1992: Gerald Williams, OF
1993: Mike Humphreys, OF
1994: Sterling Hitchcock, P
1995: None selected
1996: Mark Hutton, P
1997: Jorge Posada, C
1998: Homer Bush, INF
1999: None selected
2000: None selected
2001: Alfonso Soriano, 2B
2002: Nick Johnson, 1B
2003: Hideki Matsui, OF
2004: Bubba Crosby, OF
2005: Andy Phillips, INF
2006: Eric Duncan, INF
2007: Kei Igawa, P
2008: Shelley Duncan, INF/OF
2009: Brett Gardner, OF
2010: Jon Weber, OF
2011: Manny Banuelos, P
2012: David Phelps, P
2013: Vidal Nuno, P
2014: Masahiro Tanaka, P
2015: Zachary Heathcott, OF
2016: Johnny Barbato, P
2017: Gleyber Torres, INF