KC Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar won the annual Joe Burke Special Achievement Award from the Kansas City Chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. It is the first of three major awards voted on by the BBWA (pitcher of the year will be announced tomorrow and the player of the year will be announced on Wednesday).

2012 was a season of accomplishments for Escobar. His 35 stolen bases and 30 doubles were the most by a Royal since 2002 (Carlos Beltran). His 177 hits were the most EVER by a Royals shortstop. He had the fourth most chances of any American League shortstop (669) and the second most putouts (242).

He played in 155 games and hit .293.

And remember, Escobar is just 25 years old.

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Outfielder Lorenzo Cain, who played in 61 total games in 2012 with the big league club, was named the Royals top defensive player by Wilson. REALLY? Uh, the Royals had four finalists for the Gold Glove Award, and one (Alex Gordon), won one.

The award winners were picked by the statistical analysis of the “shredder” used on MLB Network’s Clubhouse Confidential, plus input from MLB Network analysts.

Sure, Cain made some great catches while with the Royals, including the catch in Oakland in the season’s fifth game of the season. He strained his left groin and missed the next 78 games.

*Hitting coach Terry Bradshaw wasn’t named the Royals big league hitting coach, but he was named the Royals new roving hitting instructor. He has been with Double-A the last few years. I remember when he was the hitting coach in Wilmington back when Jeff Garber was the manager (and his little boy running around).

Jose Castro is the Royals new assistant Minor League roving hitting instructor. Milt Thompson, who played 13 seasons in the big leagues (most notably for me was with Philadelphia), is the Royals new outfield, bunting, and baserunning instructor. Thompson was the Phillies hitting coach when they won the World Series back in 2008.