Major League Baseball handed out its Comeback Players of the Year Award for the 2026 season, and the winners were Zack Wheeler in the National League and Yordan Alvarez in the American League. But for Reds fans, the bigger storyline is that Tejay Antone wasn’t just passed over - he wasn’t even on the ballot.
Antone’s path over the last decade has been one of the most remarkable in the game. The 32-year-old has now gone through three Tommy John operations since 2017, with the latest coming in April of 2024. That surgery wiped out his entire 2025 season.
When he got back on the mound for Cincinnati this year, he looked like a different version of himself in the best possible way. Antone appeared in 58 games out of the bullpen and put together a 3.11 ERA with a .211 batting average against, a 1.09 WHIP and a career-low 2.8 walks per nine. His 1.2 bWAR was the second-best mark of his career, and he picked up his first save since 2021.
The numbers tell part of the story, but the comeback itself is what makes Antone’s season stand out. There was real reason to think he might be done after going through a third Tommy John procedure. Instead, he returned and pitched as well as, or better than, he ever has.
He also set a career high with 55 1/3 innings, topping his previous best by 19 2/3 innings. His 57 strikeouts were also a career high, and his 1.09 WHIP matched the kind of production he’s shown when healthy.
Wheeler’s case was strong, too. He had surgery in September of 2025, with a rib removed as part of an operation to treat thoracic outlet decompression surgery. He went on the IL in August, missed the final six weeks of the 2025 season and the postseason, then returned to the mound on April 25.
Last season, Wheeler logged 149 2/3 innings over 24 starts for the Phillies and finished with a 2.71 ERA, a 0.94 WHIP, a .197 batting average against and 195 strikeouts.
Wheeler is a deserving winner of the award. But Antone being left off the ballot is the part that stands out, especially after the season he put together coming back from, once again, his third Tommy John operation.
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Former Reds Coach Derek Johnson Just Took An Unexpected Next Step
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The setup in New York is a little different from the grind Johnson had in Cincinnati. His new position does not require daily travel with the club, which makes it a more flexible arrangement as he remains part of a major league organization without the full-time demands of a traditional dugout job. For a Reds team moving on from a familiar voice in its pitching room, it is another reminder of how quickly the coaching carousel can turn. [Read more 🡒]