Major League Baseball announced Monday night that Francisco Liriano and Mariano Rivera are the 2013 Comeback Players of the Year.
Francisco Liriano of #Pirates (NL) & Mariano Rivera of #Yankees (AL) win 2013 MLB Comeback Player of the Year Awards.
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) November 5, 2013
Liriano was one of the anchors of a very solid Pittsburgh Pirates starting staff. The left hander went 16-8 in 26 starts and posted a 3.02 ERA with 163 strikeouts and 63 walks in 161 innings.
Liriano posted ERAs of 5.09 in 2011 with the Minnesota Twins, 5.34 with the Twins again in 2012 and 5.40 with the Chicago White Sox to finish out last season.
He was also the 2010 AL Comeback Player of the year after posting a 3.62 ERA with Minnesota in 191.2 innings, a year after he posted a 5.80 ERA in 136.2 innings.
Liriano becomes the first player ever to win the award twice.
Liriano becomes 1st player ever to win Comeback Player of the Year Award twice (also in 2010 w/ Twins).
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) November 5, 2013
Over in the American League, in what is supposedly his final season, surefire Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera adds to his long list of accolades with the Comeback Player of the Year award.
Rivera missed most of the 2012 season after tearing his knee up going for a fly ball in batting practice, but returned to old form in 2013 posting a 2.11 ERA with 44 saves – adding to his all-time leading total which now sits at 652.