The results of the AL and NL Rookie Of The Year Award balloting will be announced tomorrow, capping off a season that saw one of the more distinguished rookie classes in recent history make some immediate impacts in the big leagues.
Put it this way — Walker Buehler, Brad Keller, Jaime Barria, Dereck Rodriguez, Ramon Laureano, Lou Trivino, Seranthony Dominguez, Jack Flaherty, and Harrison Bader all had strong-to-outstanding rookie campaigns in 2018, yet none of this group is expected to crack the top two in balloting in their respective leagues. (The AL rookies might not even reach the top four.) The races in both leagues have been dominated by some major names and eyebrow-raising statistics, leaving voters with a tough choice as the regular season ended. As a reminder, the Rookie Of The Award doesn’t cover the postseason, so Buehler’s performance during the Dodgers’ NL pennant run has to be ignored.
Let’s sort though the big six options and then let the MLBTR readers decide on their preferred choices…
National League
This has been a two-horse race between the Braves’ Ronald Acuna and the Nationals’ Juan Soto for months. While a quick breakout wouldn’t have been surprising for either player (Acuna was heralded as baseball’s top prospect prior to the season, while Soto was also ranked in the 20-60 range of preseason top-100 prospect lists), it was still rather stunning to see both post numbers that will net them some MVP votes, let alone Rookie Of The Year consideration. Making it an even more difficult choice for voters, both players had remarkably identical numbers:
Acuna: .293/.366/.552 over 487 PA, 26 homers, 78 runs, 143 wRC+, 144 OPS+, 3.7 fWAR
Soto: .292/.406/.517 over 494 PA, 22 homers, 77 runs, 146 wRC+, 142 OPS+, 3.7 fWAR
Adding to the similarities, both posted slightly below-average defensive numbers (Defensive Runs Saved, UZR/150) as left fielders, though Acuna boosted his overall DRS and UZR/150 totals with 96 2/3 solid innings in center field and right field. The two also had similar amounts of batted-ball luck — both had a .366 xwOBA, indicating that each was moderately fortunate with their real-world weighted on-base averages (Soto .392, Acuna .388).
Soto supporters can point to their man’s OBP edge, plus the fact that Soto did all of this during his age-19 season, setting several Major League single-season records for a teenage player along the way (such as highest OBP, highest OPS, and most walks). Acuna fans can counter with the argument that the Braves outfielder was only 20 years old, accomplished his feats in the heat of a pennant race, and could’ve outpaced Soto in numbers had Acuna not missed a month on the disabled list with a sprained ACL.
American League
All eyes were on Angels right-hander Shohei Ohtani in his attempt to become the first two-way player in the modern era, and the results were astounding. As a hitter, Ohtani posted a 152 wRC+, 22 homers, and a .285/.361/.564 slash line over 367 plate appearances. As a pitcher, Ohtani had a 3.31 ERA, 11.0 K/9, and 2.86 K/BB rate over 51 2/3 innings, before arm problems that eventually required postseason Tommy John surgery derailed his time on the mound.
After Aaron Judge was the unanimous AL Rookie Of The Year pick in 2017, the Yankees’ youth movement continued as Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar quickly stepped into everyday roles at second and third base, respectively. Torres was the centerpiece of the prospect package New York received from the Cubs in the 2016 Aroldis Chapman trade, and the infielder lived up to the hype by hitting .271/.340/.480 with 24 homers over 484 PA. Andujar swung an even mightier stick, with 27 homers and a .297/.328/.527 slash over 606 plate appearances.
While none of the five rookies featured were contributors on defense, the Rays’ Joey Wendle’s excellent glovework at multiple positions fueled his value. This combination of solid defense and a strong bat (.300/.354/.435 over 545 PA) resulted in Wendle posting a 3.7 position player fWAR that tied both Acuna and Soto in the category among all rookies in baseball. Wendle was in many ways the manifestation of the Rays as a whole in 2018 — an unheralded player who surprised many by emerging as a versatile and productive threat.
With these choices in mind, who would be your ROY choice if you had a ballot? (NL poll link for app users)(AL poll link for app users)
Acuna/Ohtani
Acuna / Torres just because playoffs.
Ohtani should win given what he did as a hitter and pitcher but Angels werent competitive enough. Nor were the Nationals.
The team has zero to do with rookie of the year
Did you read the article? Or did you read the part about how Walker buelhers playoff run has to be ignored because post season has NOTHING to do with the voting?
The votes are submitted before the playoffs begin.
2019 NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr
You still bombed on those insecticides?
I’m assuming that’s a prediction right? I can definitely get on board with that thought. Will be fun to see if it happens or not. Hes definitely got the talent to make it happen
I think whether you favor him for ROY or not, most everyone would project Soto as the better player long term, no?
Andujar
Watch out man the Yankee haters are out in numbers today….Andujar all the way!
Much better stats and he played the entire year….Ohtani is just marshaling interest because of his uniqueness!
Much better stats in what category? Ohtani got on base more, had a higher slugging percentage and a higher WRC+. Oh yeah, and he pitched a little, too. Andujar had a great season, but not as great as Ohtani’s.
Why even put Joey Wendle as an option when we already know the three finalists?
Cuz Joey Wendel’s the man
Yeah, but nobody’s going to legitimately vote for him because we already know he can’t win.
We could say that he deserved it.
We could say that he deserved it.
The votes are already counted…that’s how the 3 “finalists” are “selected”
From the BBWAA website “The finalists, typically revealed about a week before the announcements of the winners, are merely the candidates who finished in the top three spots in the voting. They are not the only candidates who were eligible for the awards.”
Votes have already been counted and we know Wendle is not in the top 3.
bbwaa.com/voting-faq/
By “vote for him”, I meant in the poll above, not for the actual award.
I guess I never looked at their stats side by side because I thought acuna was well ahead of Soto, which he’s not. The numbers are identical
But Acuña Matata puts him ahead
except Soto plays in the little league stadium that is citizens bank park
SoCalBrave…….CBP is the Phillies stadium….Nationals Park is Washington
Also the Braves Home stadium is a notorious hitters park.
Weird that a Braves fan is trying to say crap about other teams’ stadiums
Weird people are still thinking Suntrust is a hitters park.
Ok hold on.. 2 years of data on a stadium doesn’t make it notorious for anything.
A little copy/paste Per BB Ref….
Sun Trust Park Factors: (Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers.) Multi-year: Batting – 100, Pitching – 100 One-year: Batting – 105, Pitching – 104
Nationals Park Park Factors: (Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers.) Multi-year: Batting – 106, Pitching – 105 One-year: Batting – 106, Pitching – 105
CPB Park Factors: (Over 100 favors batters, under 100 favors pitchers.) Multi-year: Batting – 102, Pitching – 103 One-year: Batting – 102, Pitching – 103
Andujar. Ohtani did things, haven’t been done in 100 years since days of Ruth (Hit+pitch well) but Ohtani injury eliminates him, at least for me.
I’m also a Yankee fan, so pardon my Yankee bias 😉
Andujar’s also one of just three NYY rookies to hit 27HR joined Judge— who hit 52 year ago —and DiMaggio’s 29
Andujar surpassed DiMaggio’s franchise record for two-baggers by a rookie, set in 1936. (belting 45 doubles)
He also had the lowest WAR of any of the 4 options… atrocious defense. Wendy’s had a 4.3 war to his 2.3
Offense and Defense do count.
The people who vote for this award aren’t “the sabermetric super panel.” Andujar’s 15 errors are going to have more weight than his poor UZR and DRS. His 15 errors will be taken into account more so but that’s not a ridiculously high number for a 3b. That’s just reality. We can talk all day about how it shouldn’t be that way but in the real world that’s how it still is. We’re definitely shifting in that direction but they aren’t there. Not even close.
Well ohtani didn’t play any defense besides acouple plays while pitching. If Andujar was strictly a DH like ohtani, I’m sure he would’ve had a higher WAR.
If Andujar was multifaceted and could pitch he would have a higher WAR too.
Apparently DH’s are automatically assigned negative defense ratings. According to BBR, Edgar Martinez posted a -3.1 WAR on defense from 2001-03 even though he only played in the field one game in those 3 years.
If Andujar was “multifaceted” he probably would have been injured and been on the dl like Ohtani.
My whole reason for responding to yanks02026 was the use of “if”. If’s have no bearing in this case. It’s purely a matter of who had the best rookie season. In hindsight I should have ended my previous post with /s
Yankees records has nothing to do with ROY voting.
Buehler actually had a higher rWAR than Soto. But I think it will be Soto and Ohtani
Think you’re leaving one of the 3 finalists out of the NL aren’t you? I mean I know Buehler isn’t going to win but at least respect the fact that he’s one of the finalist and throw the kid in there, think he deserves that much. As far as who should win..I think Acuna for sure.
Even in the 2000’s the braves still suffer the 90’s judge’s. Bitter bunch the writer’s are . “Bryce harper for life!”…
The one thing we can all agree on is that it’s been a phenomenal year for young talent, all around. Soto’s other worldly; Acuna not far behind. Buehler’s amazing; you couldn’t tell the difference between a 32 year old Hershiser and a 24 year old Buehler in the playoffs.
Ohtani is a ROY candidate as EITHER a pitcher or hitter, never mind both. The Yankee duo are amazing, and oh, they were doing it in the middle of the pennant race, in a market like NY. Wendle’s a tribute to guys hanging in and riding busses for years everywhere.
Really, one heck of a year……
I’d be okay with co-winners in the NL. They are basically even. It is completely irrelevant what Acuna MAY have done, because he didn’t actually do it. The actual results on the field were about even, so I’d be fine with a draw.
In the LA, I have to go with Andujar. Ohtani has the novelty factor and he was good at DH, but Andujar actually played a lot and played well. Rookies playing 149 games just doesn’t happen much anymore for whatever reason. And no matter whatnew stats come about, the most important ability will ALWAYS be availability. It won’t happen, but I think Andujar deserves to be a unanimous winner.
Ohtani was a “novelty factor”?
LOL
You never watched any game he played in, did you? While it is fashionable for Yankees fans to point to the lesser number of AB for Ohtani, part of that was due to the fact he was available to hit only 3-4 days a week because when he was pitching he wasn’t hitting the days before, of, or after a game. That was to manage his workload, which involved throwing bullpens on the days he was DH. He was doing all the work of a SP (bullpens, video of the opposition, etc), AND taking the field as a hitter. That isn’t less work than a starting position player, that’s more.
Andujar “played well”? Really? He hit well, that’s indisputable. He was also a butcher at 3B. That is the opposite of “playing well”. Statistically, he gave back half his value as a player by horrible play at 3B. If this was AYSO, he’d get a ribbon for “availability”, but that isn’t the same thing as ROY.
Andujar won’t be the winner, much less a unanimous one. In the future, remember that it’s OK to say “I don’t know”, instead of improvising an answer with nonsense.
That’s a little strong there GEOKAP. You ever seen some of the gold glove recipients? To take a hard line on either side is foolish from the both of you. This is going to be a close call. I don’t think andujar’s poor defense is going to kill him nearly as bad as you believe. Whether it should or not is a completely different discussion. If The award started placing that much emphasis on defense, Joey Wendle would be the winner.
The worst gold glove offender was also a Yank. Derek, can’t go left Jeter with 1 is a joke, 6 is atrocious.
You’re living in the past. This is ROY, not GG.
Last unanimous ROY after Derek, is Judge. — I would say Judge deserved to win, wouldnt u? Those Yanks have also done special things too.
last unanimous Yankee* ROY after Derek
So you are focusing your argument on defense mattering and then arguing for a player that was a DH? Speaking of nonsense.
Ohtani had 10 starts, so don’t act like he was Phil Niekro going out for 40 starts or something.
That being said, I don’t like arguing with belligerent people, so I’ll just stop here. You aren’t worth any more effort.
Andújar has a great bat but I have to agree with you that he and the Yankee infielders are plain awful overall.
And Shane Bieber gets dissed again. Not even a mention.
I live in Tribe Land. Bieber is awesome, and he’ll be a fixture for a long time. Not sure he tops some of the others, though. I think he will be more valuable in the end than most of the others, though.
Bieber was a better pitcher than his bottom line results. 3.23 FIP 3.3xFIP but this is still a bottom line award. His 4.55 ERA in 114 innings isn’t going to put him in the ROY discussion with these other guys. The guy who is really going to be dissed is Joey Wendle. If this were a panel of sabermetricians he’d be the guy. Not saying he’d have my vote either but he’s certainly a deserving candidate.
I was so mad when the Tribe traded Wendle.
4.55 ERA, more hits allowed than inning pitched, a 1.334 WHIP? I’m not sure what numbers you are looking at here. He was a below-average major -league pitcher in 2018.
Ohtani and Buehler
I think Walker Buehler could have had this award had it not been for the injury. Soto and Acuna are a toss up. Both had great years for rooks! Ohtani probably is going to grab this one just because of that kid being on the mound and swinging the bat.
I honestly expected Ohtani to not succeed prior to the season, and was pleasantly surprised to see him do what he did. But than an injury led way for two Yankee rookies to step onto the lime light and do things that have not been seen since some of the greats (and stay in the lime light) I can see what Ohtani did, and it was amazing, but I feel that the lack of time due to injury should weigh heavily and Andujar should walk away with this.
Andujar Acuña no doubt
Doubt.
Ohtani and Acuna/Soto will be close.
Dereck Rodriguez was pretty much the only reason to watch Giants games this past year.
Should trade Madison Bumgardner to the Braves for some of their pitching prospects.
Say Madison Bumgardner for Luiz Gohara, Koby Allard, Joey Wentz, Kyle Muller, Patrick Weigel
A 5 for 1 swap with all top pitching prospects. I think I’ve seen that happen before…..way to work in to the rookie of the year post.
I would love that to happen
He was….but still has no business in the Acuña / Soto conversation as a serious ROY candidate.
If delayed time due to super 2 status and Acuna didn’t play the game the way it’s supposed to be played (in Boston) we could possibly be talking dual major awards for the phenom.
It’s really tough in the NL. Acuna is just so skilled it was incredible watching him in the second half. You know he’s going to be a star in this game. But Soto came up at age 19 and looked like he was Joey votto at the plate. Soto doesn’t have the cannon arm and speed that Acuna has so you can’t expect the defense to ever be comparable. It’s a tough choice but Acuna did lead the braves into October.
Acuna/Soto Co NL
It would be unusual considering the 5-3-1 point system but it will be close.
Walker Buehler will be the most dominating of all the rookies and have the best career of all of them
Acuna and Andujar.
The Yankees don’t win 100 games without Miggy. The Braves don’t make the playoffs without Acuna
Sure andujar playing on a team that was 1 win from world series the year prior had nothing to so with it lol.
“Andujar picked up for injuries (Judge, Gregorius) and underperformance (Sanchez, Bird).
“He was a constant for them. He was the guy that stayed healthy produced at consistent level, and big part of their 100-win season.”
nypost.com/2018/11/11/mlb-insiders-see-clear-winne…
Unlike the MVP ballot, which instructs voters to consider “Actual value of a player to his team, that is, strength of offense and defense” and “Number of games played” etc the RoY is simply the best rookie player. Same with the CYA….it’s simply the best pitcher not the impact the pitcher had on his team.
“Andujar led all major league rookies in hits (170) doubles (47) extra-base hits (76) and multi-hit games (53).
Tied for rookie homers (27) 2nd in R, BA (.297).”
And he still managed to have a lower BB Ref Player Value – Batting WAR than Ohtani 2.7 to 2.2 and a lower OPS+ 152 to 126.
This could go on and on. You can bring up how Ohtani didn’t have to field as a DH and I can bring up how Andujar didn’t pitch. Just like with the 30 beat writers who voted it’s a matter of opinion.
Oh no. I acknowledge he wil prob lose to the Babe Ruth two-way player phenom. I’m just saying Ohtani going down to the TJ injury, made this sure as hell a lot more interesting.
Well,Ohtani was more valuable even with the injury. But Andujar had a great year offensively, despite being allergic to ball 4 – but he hit for power and didn’t strike out a ton. The defense will hurt him – he was brutal out there. It’s weird, he throws well but he always seemed to be out of position. Short hops eat him up….
The batting average, leaguewide, on grounders hit in the third-base “zone,” was .243. Against Andujar, those same ground balls resulted in a .342 batting average. That’s real and that’s bad. I don’t know if it”s coaching or some kind of mental lapse or just bad hands, but the Yanks won’t live with that too long. Maybe he can play first when/if Voit flames out, but his real problems with grounders and hoppers will be a problem at first, too.
Braves fan here. I think Soto and Acuna deserve co-ROY awards. They remind me of the classic Ted Williams/Joe Dimaggio discussions. Soto is the better hitter, Acuna is the better all-around player.
Acuna and adujar. But in favor of full disclosure, I voted against ohtani for 3 reasons. I’m a rangers fan, the injury, and history of Japanese players not holding up or living up to potential beyond 1st year or 2
Future production should have no bearing on ROY voting. But I do appreciate your honesty.
I totally agree with u, it should not, but this is an opinion poll. And u can’t tell me voters don’t at times let personal opinions or bias’ sway there vote.
Lots of rookies have never done anything after their ROY campaign (Bob Hamelin, Joe Carbonneau, Sasaki, Berroa, Jerome Walton, Bobby Crosby, Pat Listach….there are probably way more I can’t remember). The award isn’t a “future value” one, just like the MVP isn’t a “best player in the game” award, just the guy who had the best season.
Ohtani was a better hitter than Andujar and he pitched. The only arguments against him boil down to “Yankee”.
The NL race should be close but I have a feeling Acuna wins big.
You forgot to add that Ohtani missed more games due to injury. Andujar was more durable and not just as a dh.
Andujar’s defense is not a point in his favor
I know it would never happen, but I would love it if Wendle took it
He’s getting drastically overlooked. He deserves far more mention than he’s getting.
Simply put if he played in NY, he’s be a favorite.
It’s actually impossible. The 3 “finalist” is merely a formality. There is no separate vote. The final 3 are simply the top 3 vote getters…the winner has already been decide and is know to Jack O’Connell, the BBWAA’s Secretary/Treasurer. Since Wendle is not in the top 3 it’s not possible for him to win.
I can’t decide between Ohtani and Andujar. I would lean towards Ohtani but he has like half a season at the plate and a quarter season on the bump. I’d say there’s more value to being there day in day out but Ohtani’s numbers wow me. Rodin the fence
*ridin
Soto doesn’t get enough respect – he was basically exactly the same as Acuna except in OBP and SLG – Acuna better at slugging, Soto better at OBP, but everything else is almost exactly the same, AND he is a year younger, yet people act like Acuna is the easy choice
I think the defense puts Acuna over the top. Soto did look silly on some plays in the OF (the fly ball he turned into a HR…). But it should be a very close race indeed.
Acuna is better at defense and base-running. Soto has superior plate discipline and eye.
Anyone who voted for andujar is either challenged or is a hater. Ohtani is by far the best player in al, this man played both pitcher and dh and was excellent at both! The day he found out he needed tj he hit a homerun, he can flat out play. Andujar on the other hand plays for a high profile team and his offensive output in a hitterspark overshadows a lot of his glaring flaws. Im sure any yankee homer will tell you otherwise but facts are facts ohtani > andujar
If Ohtani would’ve played a full season there would be little doubt in my mind he’d be the ROY. However, you’re giving him ROY on what essentially was a half season. He only made 10 starts and had 350 ABS. Was he the best rookie when he was on the field? Yes but he also wasn’t on the field a good chunk of the season. If I were voting I’d vote Ohtani but there’s a very easy case to be made for andujar and honestly I’d be mildly surprised if he didn’t end up winning it.
jbigz12…..350 AB is not without precedent. The first one that comes to mind is Ryan Howard…348 PA…312 AB. There is no requirement by the BBWAA that a RoY candidate have “X” number of games, IP or AB”s
That’s a good piece of information. However, willy taveras was Howard’s top comp that year. I think andujar is a much stronger secondary option than Willy Taveras. That’s why I’d give the edge to andujar on winning the award. My personal opinion would be Ohtani as I’ve said. However andujar put up some gaudy offensive statistics on a good NY team and I don’t think he’s going to get dinged for D metrics by most. His 15 Errors at 3rd isn’t atrocious and I feel like many voters will be leaning towards the more traditional stats especially when it comes to defense.
I think it will be Ohtani because of what he accomplished. Most writers said that no player can be disciplined enough to succeed as a SP and DH. Most said after ST that he can’t get MLB hitters out and can’t hit MLB pitching. Even after a few weeks many were saying give it time the wheels will fall off. Many of those same are going to vote because he did what they said was impossible.
We know he is a top 3 vote getter at least as the “finalist” are simply the top 3 in votes…they have already been counted.
I really hope you’re right.
In those ten starts Ohtani faced 211 batters. SO add that to his 367 PAs and that’s a full season of “plate appearances,” right? 578 times to the plate in one role or another?
So does a typical starter who makes 30 starts play 3 full seasons a year?
A starting pitcher has three times as much of an impact than a position player, yes.
I’d give it to Buehler and Ohtani
I think Soto is going to win, because it’s the BBWAA and they’re populist morons. Basically a 19 y/o from Washington is a better story than a 20 y/o from Atlanta.
Andujar couldn’t carry Ohtani’s jockstrap. Toss it to him and it’d clank off his glove anyway…
At least andujar plays defense and his team isn’t afraid of putting him out there because he might get hurt like Ohtani.
Pitching is a defensive position. Ohtani faced 211 batters as a pitcher.
Ohtani was amazing. Sure, he lost some votes when he went down due to injury. His innings count are of a good reliever. Had Ohtani hit in the beginning of the season, then went into pitching later in the season it would be a no brainer. Plus, he hits in a pitcher’s park (er pitcher’s division).
Acuna is the obvious choice for the NL ROY
I wouldn’t say he’s the obvious choice. Juan and Walker aren’t exactly chopped liver.
People knock Andujar’s defense and his low WAR.. But if Ohtani actually played defense besides a handful while pitching his WAR would probably be a lot lower. And if Andujar played DH 100% of the time, his WAR would have been a lot higher..
Andujar had the better year and was more consisting thru out the year.. The only reason Ohtani is even in the conversation is because he had a strong August.
Either way Ohtani is gonna win and was gonna win the ROY of the year no matter what.. He could have gone 4-10 with a 5 ERA and .230 with 5 homeruns and probably would have still won.. But because of the Japanese hype and because he’s both a pitcher and batter MLB wasn’t gonna let him down.
This is the most interesting award discussion I’ve heard since the Miggy vs. Trout debate of 2012.
In this case, I’m not biased by my Tiger fanaticism so it’s easier to see the reality. And I’ve gotta say, in the NL it’s gotta be Soto. The ROY voters should see past the numbers and try to divine who will have a better career so the award goes to the future hall of famer. Acuna will be a flash in the pan and Soto will have a Barry Bonds type career. Soto’s plaque should someday read ROY. That will save us the time of needing to google 2018 ROY to see who robbed Soto.
Define “modern era”. :There have been other two way players in the past. They just weren’t all-stars. If we’re just talking Angels, in 1964, the Angels used Willie Smith as a LH platoon OF and a LH relief specialist.
Willie SMith was an awful pitcher though; he was a mop-up guy.
I think it’s pretty clear it should be Ohtani in The AL. He had a higher OPS than Andujar, and hit 22 HRS in 367 plate apperances. Plus he had a better WAR, even with an injury and missing some time. And he did it all while pitching a good 51.2 innings.
I think the only thing that gives Acuna the edge in this race is his defense and base running, which is much superior to Soto’s.
Absurd not to include Buehler as a vote option. He had 23 starts anf 137 innings and a 2.62 Era. He had a higher rWar than one of the guys and was close to the other. Really just absurd, these two guys did not have Judgean or Troutean rookie seasons.
AL is Ohtani shouldn’t even be a discussion.
More baseless commentary? Nice!!
Why will Walker not be in the final 2? Injury kept all 3 players from qualifying for avg/era, contention, While healthy Buehler, dominated, finishing with 151 strikeouts (top 30), sub 1 whip (top 5),, .278 era(top 5). All three had amazing years but to brush off Walker Buehler, come on, , Lets not forget the last two weeks of the season,both Hitters batted under .250, while Buehler gave up 4 run 2 earned over his last four starts all vs teams in the playoff race.
I don’t quite understand why the poll was set up this way. They 3 “finalists” in each league are the actual top 3 vote-getters in each and Walker is one of them. For Mark Polishuk to exclude Walker yet add Wendle when we already know for a fact that he can’t possibly win is a head scratcher.
I agree 100% he should be top 2, rookie pitchers don’t get enough credit take a look at Jack Flaherty too.
Sadly, Ohtani is going to win it unanimously and that’s because of how the panelists vote. I’ll disagree entirely with the decision, but we don’t get to vote. Once you get past the novelty of well, Ohtani he wasn’t very consistent and played half the time of the others on the ballot.
As for the pitching side of things you have no choice, but to give him an incomplete grade and from the hitting side, it’s as a DH, a non-premium position. If Ohtani were in the field, the metrics would be awful I feel. I don’t like these two-way type of deals. To me he’s just a talented pitcher that has the power and swing to hit homers. I think most people agree, correct? Well if that’s the case, then he didn’t pitch for much of the season and in my opinion, shouldn’t qualify. But again, he’ll win this thing 100% just because..
When a Yankee fan feels he won’t get his way in ROY voting because it’s too obvious.
“Incomplete grade” lol
“I don’t like these two-way type of deals. To me he’s just a talented pitcher that has the power and swing to hit homers. I think most people agree, correct?” No not correct. a slash of .285/.361/.564 is more than ” just a talented pitcher that has the power and swing to hit homers”. He also hit 21 doubles, 3 triples and stole 10 bases while posting an OPS+ of 156
He’ll win 100% because he didn’t just “swing to hit home runs”. Ohatani hit .285/.361/.564. And you can’t just rule out pitching because he didn’t pitch in less innings than other pitchers. He pitched in 51 and two thirds innings and kept his ERA at 3.31 and FIP at 3.57. Sure, Andujar hit very well, but you can’t just ignore the pitching part of Ohtani.
Andujar should easily win this. If Ohtani played most of the season he clearly would have won but he missed too much time and Andujar was a big reason the Yankees won 100 games. He broke a Yankee rookie record for most extra base hits I believe held by Joltin Joe. Thus really is a no brainer but I suspect Ohtani will win it just because of the fascination of what he accomplished.
A Yankee record does completely nothing to help Andujar’s case.
Andujar deserves this win over Ohtani
Andujar should be the clear winner in the AL. Guy raked all year long after being called up. Ohtani was excellent……when he wasn’t hurt. Defense counts in deciding, but so does actually being on the field.
Andujar will get screwed out of the ROY because many writers with votes have an anti-NY bias when it comes to awarding Yankee players with awards unless it’s an obvious no-brainer like Judge last year.
Judge did get screwed by the writers in last year’s MVP voting. Not saying Altuve didn’t deserve it, but he didn’t deserve it in the blowout that it was.
Both NY writers who voted last year placed Altuve 1st and Judge 2nd
Andujar & Acuna. The 2 best choices
For the ultimate ROY shaft, by the way, check out NL 1965:
Jim Lefebvre: 250/337/369. 12 HR, 69 RBI, 57 runs scored. Pedestrian defense at 2B.
Joe Morgan: 271/373/418. 14 HRs, 40 RBIs, 100 runs scored, led the league in walks and stole 20 bases (Levebre stole 3 in 8 attempts). Morgan, in 708 PAs, hit into only 4 double plays. That’s incredible, even for a leadoff hitter.
There is no earthly reason why Lefebvre won this award except the Dodgers went to the postseason. Lefebvres OPS+ that year was 106, Morgan’s was 131. And even though the voters couldn’t know this at the time, but Lefebvre’s career flamed out early – three years after the ROY he was a part-time player and he was done at 30, while Joe Morgan went on to become on of the very best players in the history of baseball. (He is currently the 20th best all-time in WAR).
It’s one of the worst and most puzzling ROY votes in history.
You don’t think the fact that Lefebvre playing in L.A. and Morgan playing in Houston didn’t play a bigger role for that vote? Also, It’s not as big as a discrepancy as it seems.. I agree that Morgan deserved it, but it isn’t like we’re saying that a Ford Pinto was the faster car than a Formula One car for that one season. It was a small gap.
Well, that’s the reason, but it’s a bad one. Morgan’s WAR of 5.7 was better by a full win over Lefebvre’s 4.6, and all of his counting stats were better. And plenty of players on bad teams have won ROY – maybe Los Angeles was all the difference, but it was still a lousy choice.
You have to remember who votes for the ROY award. Baseball writers. Awards always seem to go to those players who play in large market cities. Happens in every sport. Players for the large market teams get lots of airtime and lots of press.coverage. Their names are mentioned much more by more people because of it. Does not make it fair or right but that is why.
I like the poll where we could try and guess which of these RoY candidates will fizzle out, and which non-candidates will become studs.
Seems a little insulting to include Japanese players in voting for Rookie of the Year, doesn’t it? Whether its Ohtani, Ichiro, Nomo or whoever, they’ve played for years in the Japanese major leagues. While nobody is saying MLB and the Japanese league are equal, it would be cool to see one of these guys say “No thank you, I’m not a rookie.” It kind of dismisses Japanese baseball entirely, doesn’t it? After all, several players have step off Japan rosters, directly onto MLB rosters without missing a beat. Ohtani, Nomo, Ichiro, Matsui, Sasaki, Maeda. Just saying.
Anyway, seems pretty clear Ohtani had this award won back in March, unless he fell on his face.
Ahh, that’s the debate; what is Japanese baseball’s value? MLB scouts call it Quad-A, and that seems about right – major-league flameouts find success there, and only the best Japanese players do well here, mostly relievers with forkballs. The japanese baseball is different, of course, and the game is way different – Japanese managers still love to play small-ball; tons of bunting and hit-and-running etc. Bob Hamelin won the ROY after spending like 6 seasons in the minors, and most ROY spend some time in the minor leagues. It’s not mean or unrealistic to say that Japanese baseball isn’t on the same level as the majors; how often do we see American star players trying to go to Japan?
1. More money in MLB than Japan
2. Most American ballplayers would rather play in America
3. Players from Canada would also rather play in America so family can watch them at decent hours AKA timezone.
4. See #3 with Mexican, Central American and South American players
5. Players in America dream of winning a World Series and/or going to Cooperstown. Hard to accomplish in Japan.
There are your reasons why American star players don’t go to Japan. Reason 1 is big enough to keep them in Major League Baseball.
Grab another coffee. You need it.
If it was the number 1 league in the world, you would definitely see more going over. I think you missed the point of the post.
Ohtani just turned 24 this year. If he were able to be signed at a younger age, he would probably only be a rookie this year. The other players that you mentioned did play several years in Japan before they came to MLB.. Because of his age, Ohtani is different than previous NPN players. Those previous players did get discounted in ROY voting because of their previous service time in the NPN.
Surprised by NL ROY voting. I thought it would be a bit closer, even if Acuna would lead.
More Braves fans on here than Nats fans maybe?
With all things pretty much equal, I would go with the younger guy. No perfect science for it so……
Acuna missed two months and still had more homers than Soto
He did NOT play the whole season which a lot of people think he did
Betting the same thing with the official vote is going to happen like what is going to happen with this poll on the AL side. Both Yankee rookies will cancel their votes out and Ohtani will take the award. If only one of the 2 Yanks were eligible, the voting would be very close.
Andujar should be the consensus pick. Any other choice is comical.
As NYY fan, want/hope Andujar to win, but it’ll be close. Your use of the word “comical” is comical 🙂
I think Acuna will win in the NL partly because the Braves had an exciting season and the Nationals disappointed. The writers like hype and upbeat stories. Acuna and Soto are both deserving, but the spin will make the difference.
Acuna for Trout and someone else. LOL LOL LOL
getting creative maybe we can build off this
Braves fan btw