White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu and Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom were named the AL and NL Rookies of the Year by the BBWAA. Abreu received all 30 first-place votes from BBWAA writers in a unanimous victory, while deGrom received 26 of 30 first-place votes (Reds outfielder Billy Hamilton received the other four).
Abreu was pursued by such teams as the Red Sox, Astros, Marlins, Giants and Rangers last winter, but it was the White Sox who landed the Cuban slugger on a six-year, $68MM contract. The contract was, at the time, the most expensive deal ever for an international free agent yet Abreu more than lived up to expectations. He hit .317/.383/.581 with 36 homers over 622 plate appearances and posted a league-best 169 OPS+ in his first Major League season. Abreu doesn’t even turn 28 years old until January, and it seems like Chicago has a cornerstone player for years to come. Ozzie Guillen was the last White Sox player to win the ROY Award, all the way back in 1985.
deGrom was the Mets’ ninth-round pick in the 2010 draft and was ranked as only the 10th-best prospect in the club’s system by the 2014 Baseball America Prospect Handbook. Despite these modest expectations, the 26-year-old deGrom opened several eyes in 2014 by posting a 2.69 ERA, 9.2 K/9 and 3.35 K/BB rate over 140 1/3 IP. This breakout campaign firmly adds deGrom’s name to a long list of young arms the Mets will be counting on as they look to return to contention. deGrom is the first Met to be named NL ROY since Dwight Gooden took the honor in 1984.
The Angels’ Matt Shoemaker (40 points), the Yankees’ Dellin Betances (27), the Astros’ Collin McHugh (21) the Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka (16) rounded out the top five in the AL voting. Hamilton finished second in the NL balloting with 92 points, well ahead of the Cardinals’ Kolten Wong (14), the Phillies’ Ken Giles (8) and the Diamondbacks’ Ender Inciarte (4).
2 current/former Phillies got votes? Today was a win for Phillies youth.
Congrats to these guys. I knew Abreu was going to get the award, but was rooting for Dellin. Regardless he had a DOMINANT season and it was awesome to watch all year.
Woohoo! Not a bad day for the Mets.
How does anyone vote Hamilton over DeGrom…
Those 4 first place votes where probably Cinci voters plus the rare-but-there voter who thinks Billy should win because he played the whole year when deGrom played 2/3rds of the year.
they work in Cincinnatti…
Only one of the two Cincy voters picked Hamilton. Both Cubs voters did, as did a Dodgers voter.
If you go through previous years you’ll notice some weird voting, like Roy Halladay came in second in CY Young voting in 2011 but finished ahead of the guy he lost to (Clayton Kershaw) in MVP voting.
Reminds me of the 2012 Cy Young ballot. Felix won, Price came in 2nd. Sabathia came in 3rd. Sabathia was on 7 MVP ballots. Price was on Zero.
Is cause so many writers won’t vote for pitchers on MVP.
I think Kershaw will win it though.
Could be tough. He did miss some time, and is a pitcher. That very well may be enough to push McCutchen by.
Don’t rule out Stanton
Stanton great and all, but he doesn’t touch McCutchen. McCutchen was better with the bat, and plays an up the middle position.
It’s reasonable considering the game difference. Hamilton played in 152 games with gold glove caliber defense. DeGrom deserved the award but he did just play in 22 games.
Because they believe that this award is called Rookie of the Year and not Rookie of only August and September. Sure Hamilton had a horrible last two months of the season, but deGrom had a zero for the first two months of the season. Hamilton was really good to great from May-July.
DeGrom should be the mets everyday shortstop!
That NL class was pretty weak
Not really, the AL class was just really strong. Ken Giles, DeGrom and Hamiliton are future stars. Wong should be a solid everyday 2B for years to come, and Inciarte is a solid 4th outfielder.
If we’re talking about actual rookies, then it’s not any different. When you add in guys that signed for over $50MM, then yes, the AL had superior “rookies” this year.
Congrats to deGrom! Big things for Mets in 2015
No Stroman in the top 5 for the AL…..interesting.
There were better options…
The same amount of WAR as McHugh in 24 less innings. The highest mark of any rookie pitcher….yeah, better options.
Collin McHugh: 143 ERA+, 4.2 WAR
Marcus Stroman: 107 ERA+, 2.0 WAR.
…better options
Collin McHugh: 3.3 fWAR, 3.11 FIP
Marcus Stroman: 3.3 fWAR, 2.84 FIP
So perhaps you shouldn’t say
“The same amount of WAR as McHugh in 24 less innings. The highest mark of any rookie pitcher”
as if it’s fact, without clarifying that you’re using one of two systems?
Yankees have to of the top rookies, way to go Cashman!
One they nearly traded away last offseason and the other they signed for 175 MM. Yeah Cashman totally deserves the credit.
For whom did they nearly trade Betances away for?
There were rumors the Yanks were going to try to include him in a package for Samardzija
DeGrom, looks to be an ace!
It would’ve been fun to see what would’ve happened had Tanaka not gotten hurt as he’d likely have been in the CY Young discussion as well. Congrats to both Abreu and deGrom on good years though.
I know technically it was his first year in the league but I don’t consider guys like Abreu and Tanaka rookies for the obvious reasons.
Just my opinion but I think the award should have some qualifiers i.e. at least some reasonable amount of time spent in the minor leagues.
My two pence…
So if you were a voter, you wouldn’t have voted Abreu?
I think he means that he would have voted for Abreu but in a perfect world Abreu wouldn’t even qualify as a rookie
No dont get me wrong, i would have, under the current rules he was the deserved and obvious winner.
Its the criteria i have an issue with, not the actual winners.
Tanaka is actually younger than DeGrom. I don’t mind taking a 30 year old out of the discussion, but was it relevant where Tanaka got his experience?
I think it is yes.
I would put Japanese ball around AAAA, its a very good standard, and someone coming in with the insane numbers he had in Nippon League Ball is, to me, not a rookie in any way shape or form.
To me, a rookie is someone who was drafted young and had to work his way through the minors to eventually get his shot at The Show, and i think thats what most peoples idea of a rookie would be too.
Its not Abreus/Tanakas fault they get classed as rookies due to the MLB rules, but it doesnt make it right either in my opinion.
I agree in many ways, but do think it depends on age. Japan is similar to our AAA in many respects. With Abreau…being 27 is not well past an American born players debut.
I know how to take care of this… An International Draft
No Joe Panik in the Top 5 for NL? He stabilized the revolving door the Giants had at 2B and has the position locked down for them the next few years if he can keep up the work he did down the stretch for SF.
He at least should’ve gotten more votes than a 4th outfielder who played for the team with the worst record in baseball *cough* Inciarte *cough*. Not saying Panik should’ve won, but he should at least be in Top 5 ROY discussion.
Didn’t play enough.
He played for 71 games and was pretty dang productive over that time. Giles is in the top 5, yet he only had 45 appearances that didn’t alter the Phillies course of the season. Panik arguably was one of the factors that got SF back into the playoff hunt, and once they were there, the rest is, as they say, history.
Is not who altered the season the most, but who was best. Giles was dominant. Panik was great, but that doesn’t mean he suddenly in roy talks.
True, Giles was dominant, but I think that Panik contributed more to his team given the circumstances he performed in. Either way, I’m pretty sure Joe’s content with his WS ring. I just personally feel like he deserved more votes than what he got.
“Rookie of the Year” is NOT “Rookie MVP”
And I realize that. But I do feel like Panik should get more votes because he made a lot of positive contributions to a World Series team. I’m not saying he should’ve won ROY, (and I agree with both of the choices that were made for the award btw); I’m just saying that I feel like he should’ve gotten more votes than a reliever (albeit a dominant one) and a (very) defensively-gifted 4th outfielder who both played for teams well out of contention. Panik performed when it mattered most to his team, and that’s why he should’ve gotten more votes than he did.
Inciarte played some of the finest defense I’ve seen all year. I thought it was pretty cool he got acknowledged for that, since a no-bat rookie in a hitter’s park on an awful team usually doesn’t get acknowledged. Panik already got his attaboy with his nightly commentary fellating from Reynolds/Buck during the playoffs :) And yes, I’m a huge Giants fan.
That’s probably true. And I’m pretty sure Joe’s content with his WS ring. I just personally feel like he deserved more votes than what he got.
My thoughts, how is McHugh a rookie? He pitched in MLB since 2012 with over 40 IP under his belt.
Over 70 innings prior to 2014, rather.
How did Abreu win unanimously with Tanaka in the same league?
Tanaka got hurt for like the last two months of the season, so that probably hurt his chances for first place votes, since he had time to kinda fade out of the public conciousness and didn’t get the chance to finish what he started.
Last year, there were a lot of comments about the White Sox overpaying for a guy with no bat speed… what happened?
The fact that Yordano Ventura wasn’t a top 5 ROY candidate in the AL is a travesty.