The year started out with Kris Bryant in Des Moines, but things certainly turned out alright as the third baseman won the National League Rookie of the Year award on Monday night.

Bryant received all 30 first place votes, making him the first unanimous winner of the award since Atlanta's Craig Kimbrel accomplished the feat in 2011. 

Bryant, who slugged 26 home runs and drove in 99 RBI for the Cubs this season, beat out Matt Duffy of the San Francisco Giants and Jung Ho Kang of the Pittsburgh Pirates for the award, and became the first Cubs player to win the trophy since Geovany Soto won it in 2008.

Duffy finished in second place in the voting, with 22 second place votes in voting conducted by the Professional Baseball Writers Association of America. 

The Cubs made a remarkable turnaround this season as they made their first playoff appearance in seven years, and Bryant was a big part of the reason why. His prodigious power and ability to drive runs in is something that the Cubs have been lacking for a long time, and he’s the biggest star out of the group of prospects that arrived on the scene this season.

Bryant’s home run and RBI totals are both records for Cubs rookies, and they also ranked him among the Major League leaders in both categories this season.

At the beginning of the season, the Cubs kept Bryant at triple-A Iowa in an effort to get one extra year of service time before the third baseman could become a free agent. The move ultimately didn’t cost the Cubs much in the standings, as they won 97 games and made it to the NLCS for the first time since the 2003 season.