I first had to filter out the suggestions that were nothing but “quick, thoughtless snark” and those from people who apparently hadn’t read the damn article (which, dammit, explicitly said, “no, you cannot nominate yourself for suffering through watching the on-field product”). Having done so, we are left with four candidates - though one of those is really a twofer - as well as the credible alternative of no award.
Nick Ahmed and David Peralta
Nominated by SpencerSpice: “For struggling themselves and yet still being the role models our next core need, knowing full well neither of them will actually be playing by then.