AWARD PREDICTION: AL Rookie of the Year Edition

For me, this race was over on April 28th, the day that Mike Trout was called up to their major league ball clubs. He embodies what I see as the new wave of baseball. He smashed, dashed, and played as hard as he possibly could on every play, whether logical or not. Eventually, you have to think that the coaches stopped trying and just let him play the game. At the plate, no one made smoother contact than Trout and in the field, no one went all-out like Trout did (in the AL, but we'll get to that later). In a different year, without Trout, both Darvish and Cespedes would garner some first place votes. While it isn't a real "race" for me, I will allow a moment for us to consider the options.


Yu Darvish
16-9, 3.90 ERA, 221 K, 89 BB, 191.1 IP

Darvish lived up to the hype of coming over from Japan, and then some. We even forget that it was a question of whether he would start the season in Triple-A or with the Rangers. He busted out the wins right out of the gate, going 4-0 with a 2.18 ERA in April. He then helped the Rangers hold on to their playoff spot by posting a 4-0 record with a 1.85 ERA down the stretch. Most years, he would be the front-runner by a long shot, much like CC Sabathia in 2001, but unfortunately the possible MVP happened to be a rookie.

Yoenis Cespedes
.292, 23 HR, 82 RBI, 16 SB, 25 2B

Another import who played right up to his potential, Yoenis started mashing right away. With three homeruns, 7 RBIs, and a ridiculous 1.477 OPS through the first four games, he looked like a steal at $9 million a year. Though he quickly settled down, he was one of the many consistant cogs in the Athletics' machine that drove them to the division title. Much like Darvish, in another year he has a fighting chance, just not this year.

Mike Trout
.326, 30 HR, 83 RBI, 49 SB, 129 R, 8 3B

I want you to just sit and have a nice chuckle with me for a second. He had been out-hyped by Darvish and Cespedes coming over, didn't play for the first month, and still put up one of the greatest all-around seasons by ANYONE, let alone a rookie. He came up one stolen base shy of only the third 30-50 season of all time. He took back four balls that had already crossed the fence and turned them into outs. He turned a team that was floundering at 7-14, to a team that won 89 games and fell victim to the newly-tough AL West. While the MVP may be out of reach, you can put this one in the books.

Mike Trout for Presiden... I mean AL Rookie of the Year

SNUB ALERT: Gold Glove Edition

Mike Trout didn't win the Gold Glove in centerfield? Really?? Are you sure? I think someone is playing a joke on me....

WHAT??? Adam Jones actually won the Gold Glove? The player who seemed least qualified out of the three option at centerfield won. What has this world come to?

This was my only strand of hope in the ever fleeting notion that Mike Trout could win MVP this year. The writers would see that, even though Miguel Cabrera was a better hitter, Trout was the better overall player and thus held the most value, mostly because he played GOLD GLOVE CENTERFIELD!!!

Trout was at or near the top in pretty much every defensive category, both in the traditional sense and in sabermetrics: 10.6 UZR (1st) 2.2 dWAR (2nd) 15 TZR (1st) 12.9 RngR (1st). When you tack on 340 putouts and an above average fielding percentage of .993, I don't see how you come up with Adam Jones as the best defensive centerfielder.

The other massive gaffe is at the shortstop position where J.J. Hardy won over possibly the best defensive player in all of baseball, not just at shortstop, Brendan Ryan. Now Ryan may not be a household name, and his team did flounder while the Orioles surged into the playoffs for the first time since the dinosaurs roamed the earth, but the baseball writers should still know who's the best.

With an AL shortstop leading 14.7 UZR and 27 defensive runs saved, topped by a dWAR of 3.6 that led the league at any position, he was far and away the best at his craft. Just like Trout, Ryan was victimized by Oriole Fever that swept the media.

Lastly, I would like to point your attention to the National League, and more specifically to the centerfield position. Boy do the writers know how to screw up centerfield. This is not a shot at the winner, Andrew McCutchen, but rather a brief plug for Michael Bourn.

Maybe next year, slugger.

I'm Back!!!

Being the huge Red Sox fan, I hope you can understand how depressed I became in this past season. Day after day, it just seemed like a nightmare getting worse and worse. But it is officially a new season with free agency starting, and I couldn't be more excited. In the next couple of days, I will be covering the awards being handed out, free agency, and other happenings around baseball. Get excited!!!!!