Portal:Baseball/Selected list/22
Major League Baseball (MLB) honors its best relief pitcher monthly with the Major League Baseball Delivery Man of the Month Award and annually with the Major League Baseball Delivery Man of the Year Award. The awards were initially part of a sponsorship agreement between MLB and package delivery company DHL Express from 2005 to 2010. They are usually presented to a closer, though all relief pitchers are eligible.
From its inception in 2005 through 2008, the annual award was voted online by fans from a group of 10 finalists chosen by an MLB panel. The panel took sole responsibility to select the annual winner starting in 2009. The winner of the monthly award is decided on by a four-man panel, which originally consisted of Dennis Eckersley, Jerome Holtzman, Rick Sutcliffe and Bob Watson.
New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera has won the award more than any other American League pitcher; he received the annual award in 2005, 2006, and 2009, and was named the monthly winner in April 2008 and July 2009. Trevor Hoffman has won four times in the National League; he won the monthly award in May 2005, September 2006, May 2007, and May 2009. Joe Nathan (July 2006, July 2008, and June 2009) and Rafael Soriano (May 2010, July 2010, and August 2010) have won the monthly award three times. Other pitchers who have won multiple times include Jonathan Papelbon (April 2006 and the 2007 annual award), Brad Lidge (July 2005 and the 2008 annual award), Heath Bell (April 2009 and the 2010 annual award), and Francisco Rodríguez (August 2006 and June 2008). J. J. Putz of the Arizona Diamondbacks is the most recent monthly winner for his performance in September 2011.