Yankees' Stephen Tarpley Wins Dawson Awar

Stephen Tarpley.

The Yankees today announced that left-handed pitcher Stephen Tarpley is the recipient of the 2019 James P. Dawson Award, given annually to the most outstanding Yankees rookie in spring training.


Tarpley, 26, held opponents scoreless in 11.1 innings pitched over 10 spring training appearances (one start), allowing just 6H and 1BB with 8K, and was the only Yankee to toss at least 10.0 innings this spring without giving up a run.

The Los Angeles, Calif., native made his Major League debut with the Yankees in 2018, and he did so well in September that he earned a spot on the postseason roster.

The award was established in honor of James P. Dawson (1896-1953), who began a 45-year career with The New York Times as a copy boy in 1908. Eight years later, he became boxing editor and covered boxing and baseball until his death during spring training in 1953.

Two winners of the honor, Tony Kubek in 1957 and Tom Tresh in 1962, went on to win the American League “Rookie of the Year” Award. The Dawson Award first was presented to rookie Norm Siebern by Manager Casey Stengel in St. Petersburg, Fla., at the conclusion of spring training in 1956. New York Yankees beat writers vote on the winner.

In conjunction with the award, Tarpley received a watch from Betteridge Jewelers.

Recent winners on the current roster include and Miguel Andujar last season, Gleyber Torres in 2017, Masahiro Tanaka in 2014, and Brett Gardner in 2009.

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 - Slade Heathcott OF; 2016 - Johnny Barbato P; 2017 - Gleyber Torres INF; 2018 - Miguel Andújar 3B; 2019 - Stephen Tarpley, P