By George Bremer, Herald Bulletin Sports Writer
ANDERSON — The champagne has barely dried from the New York Yankees’ world championship celebration, and Adam Lind already is working on next season.
The Highland High School grad, honored at halftime of the Scots’ football game against Pendleton Heights on Oct. 16, isn’t resting on the laurels of a breakout season with the Toronto Blue Jays.
He plans to attend teammate Joe Inglett’s wedding Saturday in Ohio, and then his brief rest period will end.
Monday he begins offseason workouts, leading to spring training in February.
“It’ll be fun to see some of my teammates,” Lind said of the wedding trip. “(Inglett) used to play for Cleveland before he came to us. So I’ll be meeting some of the Indians’ guys. We’ll probably talk about Monday and getting back to work.”
Lind’s 2009 body of work still is drawing raves.
He hit .305 with 35 home runs and 114 RBIs, primarily as a designated hitter, in his first full major league season.
Now, Major League Baseball has begun to take notice.
Lind has been nominated for two This Year in Baseball (TYIB) awards by mlb.com.
Fans can log on to mlb.com or bluejays.com, click on the TYIB button and vote for Lind an unlimited number of times through Dec. 11.
“I kind of feel like I have to stuff the ballot boxes,” Lind’s father, Al, said. “He kinda seems to always be the underdog.”
The younger Lind has been nominated in two categories — Unsung Star and Performance.
His competition for unsung star includes teammate Aaron Hill, Philadelphia outfielder Jayson Werth, Texas outfielder Nelson Cruz and Arizona third baseman Mark Reynolds.
In Performance, Lind got the nod for his eight-RBI game at Texas on Aug. 31.
He finished that day 3-for-5 with two homers, a double and three runs scored.
Other nominees are Chicago White Sox starter Mark Buehrle for his perfect game and San Francisco starter Jonathan Sanchez for his no-hitter.
It’s good company to keep.
“It’s nice to have Major League Baseball recognize me,” Lind said. “It shows at least they know who we are.”
