Check out the finalists for the 2024 MiLB Awards Show

The 2024 Minor League season was one for the books. Now it’s time to hand out some hardware.

Tune in at 10 p.m. ET on Monday as MLB Network and MLB.com showcase the best of what Minor League Baseball has to offer with the second annual MiLB Awards Show. Hosted by MLB Network Emmy Award winner Matt Vasgersian, the telecast will spotlight MLB’s stars of tomorrow, as well as the best of the best from the 2024 MiLB season.

Along the way, the MiLB Awards Show will highlight the most exciting players, plays and non-plays of the 2024 MiLB season. Let’s take a closer look at the categories and who’s in line to take home some hardware.

Minor League Hitting Prospect of the Year
Finalists: Kristian Campbell, 2B/SS/OF, Red Sox (MLB No. 74), Bryce Eldridge, 1B, Giants (MLB No. 50), Deyvison De Los Santos, 3B, Marlins (MIA No. 4)

One of the night’s top honors is up for grabs between three players who all distinguished themselves in different ways. The connecting thread? They all mashed. Campbell surprised a lot of people by outperforming Boston’s more famous “Big Three” prospects -- as well as most everyone else. He led all Top 100 prospects in total bases (240), ranked second in runs (94), third in hits (142) and on-base percentage (.439) and fifth in batting (.330) and OPS (.997). Drafted as a two-way player in the first round in 2023, Eldridge put his pitching glove away and climbed four levels as a 19-year-old, finishing with 23 homers. De Los Santos bounced between the D-backs, Guardians and Marlins this season but produced everywhere he went, leading the Minors in home runs (40) and RBIs (120), and finishing among the leaders in slugging (.571).

Minor League Pitching Prospect of the Year
Finalists: Travis Sykora, RHP, Nationals (MLB No. 92), Quinn Mathews, LHP, Cardinals (MLB No. 80), Caden Dana, RHP, Angels (MLB No. 70)

All three of these guys made hitting look really, really … really hard. The Angels took the gloves off the 20-year-old Dana and he really responded, dominating the Southern League as one of its youngest players. Sykora looked like a man amongst boys at Single-A Fredericksburg, posting a ridiculous 129/27 strikeout-to-walk rate and pitching at least five no-hit innings in three separate starts. Mathews, the only southpaw in the group, made missing bats his main priority and completed only the second 200-strikeout season in the Minors since 2011.

All-MiLB Teams
The Minor Leagues’ top performers will earn the prestigious honor of All-MiLB Prospect. First and second teams will be selected, consisting of one player from each position, plus a right-handed starter, a left-handed starter and a relief pitcher.

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Breakout Player of the Year
Finalists: Kristian Campbell, Lazaro Montes, OF, Mariners (MLB No. 45), Caden Dana
This award is designated for a player who emerged from outside the Top 100 at the start of the year, and who made it clear by the end of the season that he belonged among the game’s elite. Dana went from an 11th-round pick in 2022 to the Angels’ top prospect in less than two years. Scouts were sort of mixed on Campbell at Georgia Tech, and he fell to the fourth round in the 2023 Draft, but this year he outperformed all expectations and climbed three levels. The 19-year-old Montes displayed the precocious bat that made him a sought-after international signing a few years ago, slashing .288/.397/.484 with 21 homers and 105 RBIs across Single-A and High-A.

Minor League Debut of the Year
Finalists: Leodalis De Vries, SS, Padres (MLB No. 44), Travis Sykora, Quinn Mathews
This is for the player who made the splashliest impression in his first professional season. The 17-year-old De Vries was the top prospect in the 2024 international signing class. Mathews is the sport’s fourth-ranked left-handed pitching prospect. The 20-year-old Sykora has huge stuff and was lights out (2.33 ERA, 13.7 K/9) in his first year out of the Texas prep ranks.

Defensive Player of the Year
Finalists: Carson Williams, SS, Rays (MLB No. 4), Cooper Pratt, SS, Brewers (MLB No. 58), Homer Bush Jr., OF, Rays (Tampa Bay No. 23)

You have to be pretty good defensively for the Rays to keep you at one position -- shortstop -- like they have with Williams, who already has a 2022 Minor League Gold Glove Award on his mantle. A sixth-round pick in 2023, Pratt looks like a future defensive asset after a successful first full pro season in which he reached High-A. Traded by San Diego to Tampa Bay at this year’s Trade Deadline, Bush can really go get it in center field, fueled by his astounding 80-grade speed.

Best Alternate Identity
Finalists: Wichita Chili Buns, Chattanooga Wreckers, Winston-Salem Hype Hens, Jersey Diners, Great Lakes Pontooners, Biloxi King Cakes, Spokane King Carl
Throughout the year, MiLB teams play under an adopted identity from time to time, typically designed to say something unique about the club or the market that it plays in. Of these seven, the winner will be determined by a fan vote that ran through Sept. 23.

Home Runs of the Year
All home runs are cool. Some home runs are just cooler than others. Peyton Burdick’s titanic blast on May 21 for Triple-A Louisville went 500 feet, making it the longest homer in professional baseball in 2024. Roc Riggio’s walk-off homer on July 19 clinched a no-hitter for High-A Hudson Valley. Cubs No. 7 prospect Cam Smith homered in six straight games within the first month of his career for Single-A Myrtle Beach, capping the streak with a game-tying two-run tater on August 25. Those roundtrippers will be among MiLB’s best of 2024 that will be featured on Monday’s show.

Best Moments of the Year
One significant difference between last year’s inaugural MiLB Awards and this year’s show is there won’t be hardware for top defensive play, top team or best single-game performance. Instead, a handful of plays from each of those categories will be featured throughout the show, as will the best broadcast calls of the year. Stay tuned to the entire broadcast to catch them all.