Roden named Team MVP as Bisons announce 2024 Player Awards

As part of Fan Appreciation Night at Sahlen Field on Friday, the Buffalo Bisons announced the winners of the 2024 team awards, including outfielder Alan Roden being named the team’s Stan Barron Most Valuable Player for his contributions to the team over the course of the entire season.

Righty Andrew Bash was named the Warren Spahn Most Valuable Pitcher after spending parts of his third straight season with the Bisons and serving several different roles on the pitching staff. After suffering an injury that ended his 2023 season early, RHP Paxton Schultz was named the Judge Michael Dillion Comeback Player of the Year, in addition to RHP LUIS Quinones being selected as the Jimmy Griffin Hometown Hero Award winner.

The team also announced that RHP Hayden Juenger was named the Frank “Fremo” Vallone Community Service Award winner for his efforts in supporting the Bisons’ community initiatives this past season. LHP Brandon Eisert was selected by his teammates as the Joe DeSa Most Inspirational Player as well.

Most Valuable Player - OF Alan Roden

Alan Roden was promoted from the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats in June and has been an everyday outfielder for the Bisons since his promotion. After a slow start to his Triple-A career, the 24-year-old has been one of the hottest hitters offensively in the International League since the All-Star break. His .314 batting average is the highest on the team among any batter with at least 200 at-bats. He has also hit 15 doubles, three triples and nine home runs while driving in 48 runs in 71 games with the Herd.

Roden was named the International League Player for the Month of August where he batted .354, which was fourth in the league, while leading in the league with 34 hits and 57 total bases in the month. He was able to increase his batting average by more than 60 points thanks to the 26-game stretch. He has carried that success into September, where he has averaged .382 with 19 RBI in just 15 contests. An extremely consistent hitter in all situations, Roden has averaged .317 against left-handed pitchers and .313 against righties while also averaging .357 with runners in scoring position.

Most Valuable Pitcher -Andrew Bash

Right hander Andrew Bash has been the most valuable arm in Casey Candaele’s pitching staff in 2024, excelling for the Herd as both a starter and as a reliever. He began the season in Buffalo’s rotation and didn’t allow more than three earned runs in any of his 16 starts. Prior to suffering an injury in mid-June, the 27-year-old made 13 straight starts for the team, going 2-0 with a 4.38 ERA.

Bash then was even tougher for opponents to hit out of the Bisons bullpen, posting a 0.89 WHIP and a 2.66 ERA in his 11 appearances as a reliever. He enjoyed a stretch of five straight games without allowing an earned run from August 29 through September 13, totaling 9.1 innings pitched.

Bash has not allowed an inherited runner to score in any of his relief appearances to-date and has pitched three innings of relief twice for the team since August 22. He recorded 72 strikeouts for the first time in Triple-A this season, allowing 35 total walks. Opponents are batting .209 against the right hander, and in in three seasons overall, opponents have a .207 batting average across 145.1 total innings pitched.

Hometown Hero -Luis Quinones

No pitcher had ever started the season with 10 straight victories in the Bisons Modern Era before Luis Quinones accomplished the feat this year. The right hander won his 10^th straight decision on August 24 against the Omaha Storm Chasers at Sahlen Field. It was one of his seven home wins this season. Quinones also has a 3.28 ERA in front of the home crowd, nearly half of what he has recorded away from Downtown Buffalo. In 36.1 innings pitched at home, Quinones struck out 44 batters while allowing 24 walks with opponents’ batting .178 against him. All of those numbers are significantly lower than his numbers on the road in 2024.

Most Inspirational Player -Brandon Eisert

Brandon Eisert has been a stalwart out of the Bisons’ bullpen for three straight seasons, helping him set the Modern Era record for appearances which currently sits at 145 games pitched. This season the left hander has made 41 appearances, including four starts for the Bisons. He has added three saves in addition to four victories, tying his season high reached each of the previous two seasons.

Eisert’s efforts were rewarded with his first Major League promotion on June 17 when his contract was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays. He made his MLB debut that same night with two innings of scoreless relief against the Boston Red Sox. The former 18th round selection in the 2019 MLB Draft out of Oregon State has been promoted several other times this season, logging 4.2 innings total.

Comeback Player of the Year -Paxton Schultz

The Herd’s Comeback Player of the Year returned to the Bisons after suffering a late-season injury that prematurely ended his 2023 campaign with the team. But Paxton Schultz returned to Buffalo in 2024 to be one of the most reliable arms on the Herd’s pitching staff.

In his sophomore year at Triple-A, Schultz led the Bisons with 88.1 innings pitched as well as with 109 strikeouts. Overall, the righty posted a 6-3 record in 7 starts and 32 relief outings, including a perfect 5-and-0 record at Sahlen Field. On the season, Schultz held opponents to just a .232 average aginst.

His 39 outings currently rank fourth on the team, while he leads all Bisons pitchers in innings pitched with and is the only member of the pitching staff to reach 100 strikeouts on the year.

Community Service Award -Hayden Juenger

Hayden Juenger was a regular member of the Bisons again in 2024, volunteering for virtually all of the team’s community events. The O’Fallon, IL native was one of the Bisons’ representatives at the annual Play Ball weekend event in Buffalo, in addition to his participation in the annual kids camp held at Sahlen Field.

Juenger is in his third season with the Bisons and has been a member of Buffalo’s Opening Day each of the past two years. He has been a regular among the players volunteering for events, and for those efforts has been named the team’s community service award winner.

On the field, Juenger delivered another solid campaign for the Herd, posting 64 strikeouts in 53 outings with the club, ranking in the Top 5 in the International League in total appearances.