Fielder, Harvey named comback players of year

Texas Rangers designated hitter Prince Fielder and New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey won the 2015 Comeback Player of the Year Awards.

Fielder was the American League recipient and Harvey the National League winner out of 30 total candidates, one per team, voted on my MLB.com employees.

Fielder, in his second season with the Rangers, hit .305 with 23 home runs, 98 RBI, 28 doubles, 78 runs scored, a .378 on-base percentage and a .463 slugging percentage over 158 games as he helped Texas to its first AL West Division title since 2011. Fielder, 31, plays just 42 games in 2014 following surgery for a herniated disc in his neck, was selected to his sixth All-Star Game, including his third in the AL.

He ranked among AL leaders in several categories, including hits (third, 187), multi-hit games (tied, third, 57), intentional walks (tied, third, 14), on-base percentage (fourth), batting average (sixth), RBI (ninth) and games played (10th).

Fielder hit his 300th career home run in his ninth season of at least 20 home runs, which is tied for second-most in the Majors since 2006.

Harvey went 13-8 with a 2.71 ERA over 29 starts, helping lead the Mets to their first NL East Division title since 2006 and their first World Series appearance since 2000. The right-hander, who missed the entire 2014 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, tossed 189.1 innings in the regular season, permitting 62 runs (57 earned) on 156 hits with 37 walks and 188 strikeouts while holding opposing hitters to a .222 batting average.

He ranked eighth in the Majors among qualifying starters in ERA, WHIP (1.02), walks per nine innings (1.76) and strikeout to walk ratio (5.08).

Harvey won his first five starts of the season, becoming the fifth pitcher in franchise history to do so, and the first since Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez in 2006. In addition, he joined Dwight Gooden (1986 and 1989) and Armando Reynoso (1997 and 1998) as the only pitchers in Mets history to get off to a 5-0 start in multiple seasons (also 2013). The Connecticut native went 7-4 with a 2.05 ERA over his final 17 starts dating back to June 16th, marking the fourth-best ERA in the Majors over that span behind Jake Arrieta (1.07), Zack Greinke (1.47) and Clayton Kershaw (1.48).