Rookies of the Year

Baseball's awards season is upon us!  Six of the eight major awards will be handed out this week, with the two MVP awards wrapping things up next Monday and Tuesday.  Continuing in the tradition started last year, I'll break down each of the awards the day before they're announced, as well as giving you my pick for the winner.  To get things started, MLB is doubling-up the Rookies of the Year, with both winners being announced tomorrow.

American League
If AL Cy Young is the easiest of the eight awards to pick (Justin Verlander had it locked up in like June), AL Rookie of the Year might be the hardest.  There are about five or six viable candidates, and I really have no idea who the writers are going to choose.  This is one of the most wide-open years I can remember.  Any one of these guys would be a deserving winner.  The way I see it, this race comes down to three starting pitchers--Jeremy Hellickson, Ivan Nova and Michael Pineda--and two first basemen--Eric Hosmer and Mark Trumbo.  There's also been some discussion about Mariners second baseman Dustin Ackley, but I don't think his candidacy is as strong as the other five.  A case could also be made for Angels closer Jordan Walden, but again, he's not as strong a candidate as the other guys.

Let's start with the pitchers.  Hellickson and Nova were No. 2 starters on teams that made the playoffs, while Pineda made the All-Star team.  Jeremy Hellickson led all Major League rookies with a 2.95 ERA and was third in all of baseball with a .210 opponents' batting average.  He went 13-10, and 20 of his 29 starts were quality starts.  The reason the Rays made the playoffs was because of their pitching, and Hellickson was one of the big reasons why.  He was Baseball America's choice.  Then there's Ivan Nova, who went 16-4 for a Yankees team that had the best record in the American League.  He got sent down in June because the Yankees had too many starters, then came back and won each of his final 12 decisions, including an eight-game winning streak.  Nova provided some semblance of stability behind CC in that rotation that had a lot of question marks even during the season.  And the voting was already done, so it doesn't help his case at all, but who can forget that performance in Game 1A of the ALDS against the Tigers?  Michael Pineda looked like he'd run away with the award at midseason before struggling down the stretch.  He finished just 9-10, mainly becuase Seattle isn't good, with a respectable 3.74 ERA.

Trumbo took over as the Angels' first baseman when Kendrys Morales broke his leg jumping on home plate after a walk-off homer.  He took full advantage of the opportunity.  Trumbo played in 149 games and belted 29 home runs.  He also had 87 RBIs to help the Angels stay in the race longer than they probably should have.  Hosmer was the first in that stable of top-notch prospects to reach the Royals' Major League team.  He led all AL rookies in runs (66) and hits (153) to go along with 19 homers, 27 doubles and 78 RBIs.  Oh yeah, and he's just 21.

My pick: Jeremy Hellickson-This was a tough one, but I think I'm going to go with Hellickson.  The Rays wouldn't have made the playoffs without his contributions, and being a starting pitcher on a contending team in September is tough for anybody, let alone a rookie.  Trumbo and Nova round out my ballot.  But it wouldn't surprise me at all if Hosmer won.

National League
The NL Rookie of the Year isn't anywhere near as up in the air as the AL award is.  But that doesn't mean it's a lock for anybody, either.  Last year it was San Francisco's Buster Posey edging out Atlanta's Jason Heyward.  This year, two more Braves are in the mix, and I expect them to go 1-2 in the voting.

I think Braves closer Craig Kimbrel has the slight edge over his teammate Freddie Freeman.  Closers have won the last two AL Rookie of the Year awards, but the last to do it in the NL was Cincinnati's Scott Williamson in 1999.  Kimbrel was overused all year, which is one of the reasons why Atlanta collapsed down the stretch.  Even with a rocky September, he put up some pretty impressive numbers: a rookie record 46 saves, a .178 batting average against, 127 strikeouts in 77 innings (14.84 per nine).  He also had a stretch of 37 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings from June 14-September 8.  Christened Atlanta's everyday first baseman coming out of spring training, Freeman led NL rookies in seven different offensive categories.  He hit .282 with 161 hits, 32 doubles, 21 homers and 76 RBIs.  He might've been the Braves' most consistent bat all season.

Brandon Beachy is a third Brave in the discussion, but he's a distant third behind his teammates.  He was in Atlanta's postseason rotation in 2010, and he followed that up by going 7-3 this year, his first full season in the Majors.  Beachy recorded 169 strikeouts and held opponents to a .236 batting average.  If you've never heard of Vance Worley, it's probably because the other four guys in the Phillies rotation got just a bit more press than he did.  Being on the Phillies obviously helped, but Worley went 11-3 with a 3.01 ERA.  He took over the fifth spot in Philadelphia's rotation in mid-June and pitched so well they couldn't take him out of it.  Nationals second baseman Danny Espinosa is also worth a mention.  He had 16 homers at the All-Star break before fading badly down the stretch.  He's not going to win, but had a nice season nonetheless.

My pick: Craig Kimbrel-In a tight race with Freeman, I think Kimbrel's contributions to the Braves were more valuable.  Yes, he faded down the stretch, but that's Fredi Gonzalez's fault.  Kimbrel was so reliable all season, Gonzalez used him a little too much.  And the Braves probably wouldn't have been in a position to blow it in September if Kimbrel hadn't been lights out for the first five months of the season.  Freeman is second with Worley a distant third.