27-03-2025
Thursday BP: Joel Peguero wins 2025 Barney Nugent Award
Photo by Andy Kuno/SanOn Wednesday, the San Francisco Giants announced the Barney Nugent Award, their annual Spring Training hardware. It might not be prestigious in the grand scheme of the baseball world, but it's a highly meaningful award for the organization. Named after a former trainer for the organization, the Barney Nugent Award is handed out to a player 'whose performance and dedication in Spring Training best exemplifies the San Francisco Giants spirit' ... and, critically, it's only given to players in big league camp for the first time in their career.
The 2025 winner is a pitcher for the first time in 13 years: right-handed reliever Joel Peguero. The flamethrower is in his first year with the organization, which is another rarity for a Barney Nugent winner.
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It's a testament to Peguero's perseverance: he made his big league camp debut in his 10th season in the pros, and the soon-to-be 28-year is making the most of it. He's been easily breezing up to 101 mph, and has a great shot at making the Opening Day roster out of the bullpen. He's yet to allow a run in 6.2 spring innings, with just five hits and one walk allowed, compared to eight strikeouts.
The Barney Nugent Award has been given out to some players who became key contributors over the years, as well as to a few names you've probably forgotten about. Here are all the winners since 2007:
2007: Tim Lincecum
2008: Brian Bocock
2009: Joe Martinez
2010: Darren Ford
2011: Brandon Belt
2012: Dan Otero
2013: Brock Bond
2014: Mark Minicozzi
2015: Matt Duffy
2016: Trevor Brown
2017: Jae-Gyun Hwang
2018: Chris Shaw
2019: Joey Bart
2021: Heliot Ramos
2022: Brett Auerbach
2023: Casey Schmitt
2024: Ismael Munguia
2025: Joel Peguero
Congrats, Joel!
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