Brewers right-handed reliever Devin Williams and Mariners center fielder Kyle Lewis have won the 2020 Jackie Robinson National League and American League Rookie of the Year awards, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced Monday.
Williams was up against Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm and Padres infielder Jake Cronenworth, who tied for second place in the balloting. This is not the first postseason award for the 26-year-old Williams, who already took home NL Reliever of the Year honors.
A second-round pick in 2013, Williams has turned into a gem for the Brewers since debuting in the bigs a year ago. He put up a brilliant .33 ERA/.86 FIP combination with 17.67 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and a 61.1 percent groundball rate over 27 innings in 2020. Among qualified relievers, the hard-throwing Williams ranked first in ERA, FIP, K/9 and fWAR (1.4). He’s the first pitcher to ever win ROY without making a start or registering a save.
Lewis, now 25, became a Mariner when they selected him 11th overall in 2016. Injury issues slowed Lewis for a bit after that, but he has done nothing but hit since Seattle first called him up in 2019. This past season, Lewis slashed .262/.364/.437 (126 wRC+) with 11 home runs, five stolen bases and 1.7 fWAR over 242 plate appearances. That was enough for Lewis, who won unanimously, to finish ahead of White Sox center fielder Luis Robert and Astros righty Cristian Javier for AL ROY honors.
So defense doesn’t mean anything for ROY awards, got it. Cronenworth wasn’t gonna win against Williams but to call it a tie for second, biased af..
Agreed. Williams deserved it but I think cronenworth should have been second. Plus I hate ties wtf
Bohm played less games and was able to surpass Cronenworth in many offensive categories. Cronenworth is without a doubt the better fielder, but what Bohm did is arguably more impressive. I agree with the tie, but I get your points.
Purple Hayes — take a look at Bohm’s small sample size of games. Now, take Croneneworth’s stats of that amount of games and see what you get. Pretty similar. Plus Cronenworth is excellent at defense. No consideration. Cronenworth deserved second (easily) over Bohm. I also think he deserved the award but understand why Williams won it.
Lmfao Padre fans who do this…
“Take the games Player X was bad out of the equation, and he was so good!”
Myers, Cronenwerth, Tatis when talking mvp. Guess what. The bad parts are part of baseball too
No, that’s not what’s being said. What we’re saying is that if you only use the number of games for Cronenworth that Bohm has played, then his numbers would look better. It’s a fair thing to do when comparing two separate players who have played in a different number of games. We’re saying only use Cronenworth’s first 44 games since that’s how many games Bohm has played.
Sorry. I disagree. Bohm had more RBIs, similar runs, and the same amount of homers in mess at bats.
Calm down. Cronenworth had the biggest OPS dip in September. Clearly a utility player who had a hot streak.
Crab, You’re still barkin’ that same tune even after you got schooled the first time you made this comment?
Telling me late bloomer utility players like Chris Taylor and Joey Wendle exist is not getting schooled. The Rays traded Cronenworth. That should tell you enough right there.
You obviously missed the point about the value of utility players (and his regular assignment), but I also gave you stats based on identical samples.
Schooled, absolutely.
you all need to stop drinking the kool aid the Rays FO is producing. they’re human. they trade away talent sometimes.
Ok see you next year when Cronenworth is an average hitter.
Robert gets screwed. Lewis a horrible choice.
Says a biased Sox fan
You’re either nuts or a biased White Sox fan. Robert could very well end up being the better player long-term, but Lewis clearly deserved this.
Dang, you’re 100% right. Robert had a 101 wRC+!!!
Agree on Lewis being a horrible choice, the problem is that all of AL rookies were even worst than him. Someone had to win, sadly in this case
Nobody was worst than the Expo guy saying someone was worst than someone else. I normally don’t like grammar collections but have written a few comments that were more normal. I had to let my inner smart a** out. Can we write that word on here? How does it really change anything if we put two asterisks there or 2 Ss? Anyway it is late and I thought I could read myself to sleep. We will see. You won’t unless you are a perv peeking in my windows. Kinda wish we could use emojis on here but some jack wad would have a whole post of them. I think I can use the first emojis though. 🙂
You could make an all-star team out of the guys the Expos traded away. Plus a few HOFers, too.
I cant believe that the Association didn’t factor in that Robert plays for your favorite team! How careless…
A travesty. ROY awards always need to consult with “keysox.” He is the most genius baseball genius that ever geniused. He might be a god.
And then there’s the use of a superlative when he should have used a comparative.
Some people’s kids….
Moron
Robert got off to a good start and then tanked.
Although Kyle Lewis also regressed in Sept he did not fall off a cliff like Luis Robert. I may be able to understand your comment if Luis Robert got some 1st place votes but he received zero, nilch, nada! Keysox- The only universe Robert got screwed in is the one where they hand out the ROY award at the halfway point of the season* in August. In this particular Universe we wait until the last day before we factor in all of the data over the entire race before we pick the best of the bunch. Btw that sounds suspiciously familiar to another race that just ended this past Saturday.
A unanimous 30-member panel disagrees.
Robert collapsed in the ‘second half’ of the season… had he stayed on the pace he started out at for the first 30 or so games he would have run away with the award. But over the ‘full season’ his numbers really weren’t that good… he showed that he will probably develop further and in my opinion will probably have the better career compared to Lewis (he’s also considerably younger) but there’s really no comparison as far as who had the better overall ‘full’ season… Lewis was clearly the better pick for ROY — it really wasn’t even close.
Are you kidding? Lewis had soooo much better numbers
According to OPS+ Lewis was about 25% better then Luis Robert at the plate, Robert was pretty much exactly league AVERAGE offensively. Do you have any argument to support your complaint or are you basing your evaluation off the zero games you probably watched Lewis play.?
Don’t use facts to contradict the ‘Thoughts and Feelings’ crowd
“Thoughts and Feelings” crowd? The other “crowd” is the one that is nearly always offended by something and complaining about in public forums. Not offended here, just SMH.
Zanghi- while you might be right that Luis Robert could have a better career than Kyle Lewis I think you are forgetting that although Lewis is older he lost 2 years of development due to a knee injury (after 30g) that was so bad a Doctor told him he might not ever walk again.
Lewis had never even been to a Spring Training before 2020. KL has only been fully healthy for 1 year- his 2019 AA season. He went through further surgery on his knee in 2018 to repair the damage of coming back too soon after his 1st gruesome injury. Therefore it’s hard to judge Kyle Lewis’s ceiling because of his injuries. Luis Robert is a physical specimen but can he, and Kyle for that matter, continue to adapt to ML pitching? Personally I think it’s a coin flip, I think Lewis has just as good a chance to have the better career. The topic is subjective and no-one knows how their careers will turn out, only time will tell. I look forward to watching both of these super talented players for years to come.
I don’t know brother. As a Sox fan if Robert and the whole offense go completely flat in the final 2 weeks then he probably does win it. Lewis had a great season to. Probably a little more consistent then Robert and that’s probably what got him the award.
Lewis deserves this award. Roberts also struck out 32 times in the last 23 games. Nobody deserves anything after that. If you’ve looked at the numbers and you still truly believe Roberts has won, you sir, are a certified moron, and the king of homer’s. And not the good kind of homer.
Wow kinds surprised they didn’t give or to Cronenworth. I think Williams deserved it though
Wondering, do we now leave off the zero before the decimal point when expressing numbers less than 1.00?
“now” ? … as in there was a rule about putting the 0 there in the past and now some “new age funkiness” has caused the ‘0’ to be dropped? lol… what difference does it make?
Yes, now, because until recently I’d never seen anyone use this format. It’s bad form. This site is usually careful about these things but I am starting to see bad form creeping in, which is disappointing for those of us who care about such things. I realize it isn’t for those who don’t care.
I know it’s way down on the list of the things I care about. What matters to me is whether I understand the writing, and I pretty much always do. And I certainly understand .33 ERA/.86 FIP. 0’s would be superfluous, which is never good.
Batting average… but yeah probably should add
Didn’t Williams already win the reliever of the year award…? Says “he has a great argument for reliever of the year honors” but he already won it.
Yes, that was not written correctly. I just fixed it. Thanks for catching that.
Let’s give it up for D Williams!!! Congrats and well deserved Big D!
People need to start calling him Dee Willy
Let’s start the movement!
i think Cronenworth and Bohm both deserved 2nd plaudits. both were very good. Cronenworth was consistently good throughout the year, but Bohm’s shorter time was very impactful.
Let’s go! Williams was great this season, and highly deserved this award. Good for him!
Lol dopes who didn’t see Lewis play or maybe a couple games saying their guy deserved it. I can’t and won’t comment on your guy because hey I didn’t see them play enough. Take the high road and say you disagree but a horrible choice? He was unanimous. What the whole group that voted are idiots? Lol
Did either Lewis or Robert have a hit after August 1st?
Ahh. That’s kinda crazy. They both had 28 hits in august and 11 hits in September/October.
IKR? People talking about how much of a slide Robert was on in the “2nd half” when Lewis was nearly as bad.
Saw Lewis play a lot and the kid was a stud. Tough out at the plate, made some nice plays in the field. He could be a nuisance in the AL West for a while.
Roberts got off to an amazing start but Lewis was the more consistent player.
In the NL, hard to argue with a guy who put up those video game numbers. The SD kid had a solid year and I was rooting for him but the right choice was made.
Said once and I say it again good choice should see him start I a. Year OT so.
27 innings! I guess less is more in baseball now Next year just have a pitch to one guy. If he strikes him out, sit him down for the rest of the year. But, but his K/9 was 27.00, how could he not win the award?
27 innings pitched as a reliever in a 60 game season is actually kind of a lot… I know non-closer relief pitchers usually don’t win the ROY award but what this kid did was really amazing!! Also for comparison… many starters only got around 60 IP this year… so it’s not even like there’s all that massive of a gap between him and the SPs.
I’m very confused by this comment. He pitched 27 innings as a reliever (about 73 appearances in a full season) and put up a ridiculous ERA/peripherals. He had a better season than Britton’s 2016, he just doesn’t have the flashy stat of saves
That’s the point of having a guy with nasty stuff to pitch high leverage situations.
He pitched in half their games…
By your complaining logic, the hitters barely had 200 at bats!
See why it’s dumb to complain about something that’s equal?
How many innings should a rookie relief pitcher have to throw in a 60-game season to get YOUR approval to qualify for the ROY award?
At least 50. The guy still qualifies for the Rookie of the Year award for next season. This is not an award that should be won twice.
There is no way that a rookie reliever should EVER win the award over a position player. 27 innings is the equivalent of 3 games. It doesn’t matter how many games he was in, he played in 5% of the teams time on the field.
It’s a fine pick to me. White Sox couldn’t touch the kid.
Bohm got ripped off
Did you miss the month where he had a sub 750 OPS?
He wasn’t even in the majors for the first quarter of the season or else he probably wins IMO.
Yeah much better to give it to the guy that played in less than half of his team’s games. That’ll show em.
With Walsh had an entire year. Similar I’d bit better stat kind then Lewis in some cases, in half the plate appearances (understandable why he wasn’t a candidate)
Great to see Devin Williams get his reqaed for this amazing season. Huge surprise for us Brewer fans. Now you see his stuff all over Milwaukee.
He overshadowed Hader this year, which is incredible since Hader is still great.
So a relief pitcher who played only 22 games and 27 innings gets the award, but a 3rd baseman who played 44 games and HUNDREDS of innings gets snubbed? Disgraceful.
Yeah this season threw a wrench into these stat-driven awards because the sample sizes were so small. I thought Williams was amazing this year but I chose Croneworth because of his proficiency on both sides of the ball.
Williams is a deserving candidate though, and Bohm was very good offensively, but he played in fewer games and his D isn’t as strong (basically, he stayed hot for 6 or 7 weeks) – not enough.
I don’t think judging a late-inning relief pitcher off of 22 games/27 innings in a 60 game season is any more ridiculous than judging a position player off of 180 plate appearances. Like Yankee Clipper said, the small sample size is a complication this season. And for a relief pitcher, 22 appearances in 60 games translates to about 60 appearances over the course of a normal season. I don’t see a problem there.
IMO, Bohm’s defense hurt his case.
Really dude? More Defensive innings when he sucked at the position is why Bohm should win over a guy who had an ERA of 0.33 with advanced metrics to match it? What a homer
Not trying to stir the pot here or anything, and yes I am a brewer fan (also saw very few of their games, and none of the other 2 guys who were finalists..)..but here’s my take…
Williams had ridiculous numbers, not just for a rookie or a reliever. We’re talking better than anyone could realistically put up. Not Scherzer, not Randy Johnson, not Mo Rivera. Just flat out insane.
Meanwhile the 2 position players..based off what I read in other comments, didnt do anything that special, AND weren’t consistent for the whole season. I do suspect that if he had 19 or 20 saves to his credit, everyone would be fine with the pick. Somebody check real quick (I’m lazy) how many 8th inning (or inning plus) holds did Williams have? Those are pretty important too. And considering he almost didn’t make the original roster back in March before the season was put on hold, I’d say its very impressive.
I love that his FIP is nearly as good as an era that 1/3 of a run
Not that he could have won it alone, but i was not upset that Williams missed the series against LA
I don’t think it’s fair to make the argument that Williams put up better numbers than a couple of Hall of Famers when Williams has only pitched 27 innings. That’s an insane comparison to make.
Also, to say that Cronenworth and Bohm didn’t do anything special is also a dumb comment. Both players had great debuts this season and helped their teams win games.
Now, to be fair, I do think Williams is a stud and I do think he deserved to win this award, but it’s not fair to compare him to all-time greats and to diminish the accomplishments of the other rookies.
How about this: Williams put uo historically good numbers, and the other 2 performed above average.
I was not implying that he’s better than the guys I mentioned. I thought I was pretty clear that he simply did something they have never done (or anyone else for that matter), thus, I think the limited usage argument, as well as the “he wasn’t a closer/didn’t have saves” line is kinda weak.
Yeah, I agree with you that the “he wasn’t a closer” argument is very weak. You can’t fault a guy simply because his manager puts him in the eighth inning. And again, I do believe that Devin Williams deserves his Rookie of the Year award.
However, it is pointless to say that he has done something that nobody else has ever done before simply because he has only pitched 27 innings. In Mariano Rivera’s 19-year career, he only pitched less than 46 innings in a season once(Mariano Rivera has had a stretch where he pitched 25 consecutive innings without allowing a run) You can’t compare a guy to historical greats when he only has 27 innings this season.
Love that D Will is getting some love. I thought because he was a reliever he wouldn’t receiver serious consideration for ROY but I’m glad to have been wrong. Well deserved award!
I was hoping Arozarena would win since he’ll still qualify as a rookie in 2021. It would’ve been neat to have a guy possibly win Rookie of the Year back-to-back.
Arozarena didn’t have a chance to win ROY because it doesn’t include the postseason. It would be cool though if Arozarena could win the award next year.
Not allowed. MLB addressed this potential. Any player who wins the RoTY in 2020 is automatically ineligible for the award the following season.
Going forward, Alec Bohm will have the more impressive career. Cronenworth looks like a jack-of-all-trades sort. Admittedly, a skill that has value for some teams. Williams, like most relief pitchers, might be up one year and down the next. For every Mariano Rivera, who got the job done year after year, there are a thousands relief pitchers who can’t string together successful back-to-back seasons.
If the Phillies don’t trade him like they did with two other 3B who won NL ROY awards (Dick Allen and Scott Rolen), Bohm will be batting clean up for the Phillies long after Williams and Cronenworth are collecting their pensions or bouncing from one AAA team to another.
How was Seattle lefthander Justus Sheffield, who posted an ERA of 3.58 in 10 starts, not among the 10 players who received votes for American League Rookie of the Year?
mlb.com/news/2020-mlb-rookie-of-the-year-vote-tota…
I thought the same thing. I’m just happy that he’s proved me wrong and isn’t destined for the bullpen anymore lol
All this arguing over the “FIRST LOSER” spot! Who tf cares. Means nothing at this point. Move on. Lewis was consistent as Robert was flashy. That’s what won Lewis the honor. As much as Williams deserved the award with his “stats” he DIDNT START OR SAVE A GAME. So idk if that actually deserves the recognition of ROY status as really when he did his work it wasn’t under the “closer stress” or starter stress of pitching. Williams goes to show you that ROY candidates aren’t nothing to hang your hat on IMO
In high leverage situations this season, batters facing Williams went 2 for 43 with 31 strikeouts. That is much more relevant than an outdated counting stat like saves.
Argue this the AL ROY Award goes like this:
2020 Lewis from Seattle
2021 Kelenic from Seattle
2022 Rodriguez from Seattle
2023 Marte from Seattle
Any team ever won it four years in a row? Would the voters let this happen if they all deserved it. Like not voting for Griffey for the HOF because you believe no player should be unanimous which is stupid in itself. What area your opinions?
Nah, it’s too hard to predict whether a guy will win ROY. Most of the players who are predicted to win it end up losing. Look at this year: the top two frontrunners for NL ROY were Gavin Lux and Mackenzie Gore, and neither of them received ROY votes.
The Mariners do have a nice farm system set up though. They should be a powerhouse in a couple years.
The Padres vs. Mariners “Regional rivalry” should be good for years to come lol
Especially when Mariners fleeced Ty France
The Los Angeles Dodgers won five straight Rookie of the Year Awards:
1992 Eric Karros
1993 Mike Piazza
1994 Raul Mondesi
1995 Hideo Nomo
1996 Todd Hollandsworth
baseball-reference.com/awards/roy.shtml
Padre fan still thinks Cronenworth won it