In news that won’t come as a surprise to many, Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers were named the rookies of the year in the American League and National League, respectively. Each received unanimous support from the voting members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Andrew Benintendi of the Red Sox and Trey Mancini of the Orioles followed Judge in the A.L. ROY voting. The other finalists for the N.L. award were the Pirates’ Josh Bell and Cardinals’ Paul DeJong.
Judge was as obvious a victor as you’ll ever see. The 25-year-old slugger swatted 52 home runs and posted a .284/.422/.627 batting line in 678 trips to the plate. That output was good enough to make him a finalist for the MVP award — the results haven’t yet been tabulated — and a shoe-in to be chosen as the top rookie.
Over on the National League side, Bellinger was an easy choice for the hardwear after 548 plate appearances of .267/.352/.581 hitting to go with 39 dingers and ten steals. A 2013 fourth-round draftee, Bellinger only turned 22 in mid-July and opened the season at Triple-A, adding to the impressiveness of his accomplishment.
Because he did not start the season in the big leagues, Bellinger will fall shy of a full season of MLB service. That means he won’t reach arbitration until 2020 (as a Super Two) and will be controlled via the arb process through 2023. Judge had already spent some time in the majors in 2016, so he’s set to reach the open market a year earlier, though he also won’t see an arbitration pay bump until 2020.
Yankees^^
Welp, looks like he’s already a future HoF.
He doesn’t play for the Red Sox.
Well Kayrall, his career is off to a great start.
The last Yankee player to win Rookie of the Year award unanimously? Derek Jeter.
He’s the first rookie in Major League history to hit 50 home runs, breaking Mark McGwire’s rookie record which stood since 1987.
He hit the longest home run of this season, according to Statcast (495 feet)
He’s a Rookie!
Let’s enjoy the ride, with a lot less salt.
Yes, xabial, he was all of those things. He was also 25 years old. His career is off to a great start—at age 25. Other than Boggs, how many HoFers didn’t earn a ML job until they were 25? (Jeter was 21, in case you forget.)
Sour
Ichiro Suzuki was 27 when he made his debut.
He’s a surefire, first ballet HOFer (Still playing, 44)
As much as we think we think we can predict the future, we can’t.
I don’t know what the future holds for Judge, but I’m excited. Many MLB fans are. Yankee-haters try to downplay hype, cynical of his performance and point things like: Stadium (Yankee Stadium) Strikeouts, Age.
They dfail to focus on the positive, special things, he’s done, in his first full rookie season.
Here are some special things Judge has accomplished:
1. Judge reached base 286 times this season (154 hits, 127 walks, five times hit by pitch). Per Elias Sports Bureau, only one rookie reached base that many times in one season over the last 75 years: Kevin Seitzer for the 1987 Royals (289 times)
2. Also Via Elias: Judge is the first rookie to lead his league in home runs, runs and walks.
3. He holds five of the top six home runs this season, in terms of exit velocity.
I’m excited of the glimpses Judge is showing of the player he can become. Let fans have this moment, and stop trying to predict the future. Nobody can predict it.
Just out of curiosity, x, how does Judge’s age 25 season compare with Bryce Harper’s?
;-)
He also set a few strikeout records but moving on
I am absolutely SHOCKED by this outcome
Obvious result is obvious. They both deserve it though.
I wonder who would’ve won if Rhys Hoskins was up earlier in the year.
Hoskins started tailing off a bit but still put up 2 wins in only 50 games, which is pretty terrific, so he might have made it close.
so did Bellinger really
**Yawn**
Boring lazy choices
**Yawn**
Boring lazy post
Troll or fool? Both? A tool perhaps?
Someone is salty that Benny Biceps was at best the second best rookie.
I’m happy that Judge won, but he didn’t come out a winner in his latest endorsement deal with “I’m sorry is Pepsi okay.?”
Congrats to the winners.
Mancini should have beaten out Benintendi.
I take that back.
(Except the congrats to the winners part.)
Glad you said that. I had written a response disagreeing which I have since deleted.
At least Mancini had the guts to show up (via satellite) unlike Benintendi …
Totally didn’t see that coming
Notice on the telecast they said Benintendi “chose not to appear on the program” not couldn’t or wished he could. That right there is very petty of the young man…
Just because he chose not to doesn’t mean he couldn’t. And even in really just didn’t want to, are people going to get upset about it? If they do, this will easily be the stupidest controversy in sports.
It just kinda looks bad when 5 out of 6 showed…
JD-besides condoning poor sportsmanship for a young player, better grammar would be “most stupid, not stupidest”.
I’m not going to get upset over an awards show.
You dont know what he was doing. Its not mandatory to appear on MLB network espically if its a lock your not even gonna win.
Fame is going to his head already.
Hey Cereal…the guy is being mentored by David Price. The Red Sox organization should be embarrassed for not guiding him to do the right thing.
The point is that the sport is getting younger and yesterday was a collective reflection and celebration of sorts. The outcome was a slam dunk so the kid should have tucked his sore feelings.
Awesome winners, I think we all witnessed something really special with both these guys. I think it’ll be a long time before we see rookies again take the league by storm like Judge and Bellinger
The outcome for ROY was obvious. However, 2017 produced a thin crop of rookies:
C Manny Pina
1B Cody Bellinger
1B Josh Bell
3B Matt Davidson
2B Ian Happ
SS Paul DeJong
SS Dansby Swanson
LF Andrew Benintendi
LF Trey Mancini
LF Ben Gamel
CF Manual Margot
CF Guellermo Heridia
RF Aaron Judge
RF Hunter Renfroe
RF Rich Haniger
RF Jorge Bonifacio
SP Parker Bridwell
SP Jordan Montgomery
SP Trevor Williams
SP Kyle Freeland
SP German Marquez
RP Scott Alexander
RP Danny Barnes
RP Keynan Middleton
RP Jose Torres
RP John Brebbia
I mean, did anyone think there would be a different outcome?
Bell finishing 3rd is an absolute joke