The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year Award was presented annually by The Sporting News[a] to a player in Minor League Baseball deemed to have had the most outstanding season.
[2] The first winner of the award, Johnny Vander Meer, subsequently pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) and is best known for pitching back-to-back no-hitters in 1938.
Several winners of the award are inductees of the National Baseball Hall of Fame: Johnny Bench, Vladimir Guerrero, Derek Jeter, Pedro Martínez, Tim Raines, Jim Rice, and Phil Rizzuto.
Two players won the award twice: Gene Conley (1951, 1953) and Sandy Alomar Jr. (1988, 1989).
There was one tie, occurring in 1988 when Alomar Jr. shared the honor with Gary Sheffield.