Well kids, as promised, it's time for a serious in-depth discussion of awards season in Major League Baseball. They're going every day this week, then Monday and Tuesday of next week with the MVPs, and my goal is to break down each race the day before the award is announced. Since the Gold Gloves were last week, there's not really much of a point in discussing them other than to point out that people really need to calm down about Derek Jeter winning one. He had the fewest errors among shortstops in the American League. That's why he won. Does that mean he's the best shortstop in the AL? No. Does that mean he shouldn't have won over Elvis Andrus? Of course not. But this isn't the travesty of Rafael Palmeiro winning the Gold Glove for DH a few years ago. Jeter at least actually played a defensive position the year he won a Gold Glove. And everyone knows that these things are won mostly on reputation anyway, which I suspect had as much to do with it as anything.
Now to the business at hand, the AL and NL Rookie of the Year races: We'll start in the AL, where it looks like a two-man race between Rangers closer Neftali Feliz and Tigers center fielder Austin Jackson. Now, somebody like Wade Davis from Tampa Bay will probably end up getting some votes, but that's mainly because each writer has to put three guys on the ballot. Feliz and Jackson will go 1-2 in either order. I don't think the writers can get this one wrong either way, but let's look at the two candidates a little bit closer before we decide.
Neftali Feliz set a rookie record with 40 saves for a Rangers team that won the AL West handily, then advanced all the way to the World Series. Voting is done at the end of the regular season, so anything somebody does in the playoffs doesn't matter, which actually works in Feliz's favor, since I don't remember him doing anything in the playoffs. Is that enough to hold off Austin Jackson, who was the centerpiece of that Tigers-Yankees trade last December that sent Curtis Granderson to the Yankees. Jackson was handed the center field and leadoff hitter jobs on Opening Day and didn't disappoint. He hit .293, had 10 triples and stole 27 bases. He did strike out a lot (170 times in 618 at-bats), but that can be expected from a 23-year-old rookie. If I had a vote, it would go to Jackson (I think it's tougher for a rookie to step into one of the most important defensive positions and one of the most important lineup positions than to step in as a closer, which isn't necessarily a pressure-packed situation every time). However, with that being said, I think Feliz will win.
In the National League, there were a lot of good rookies this year: Jaime Garcia of the Cardinals, Ike Davis of the Mets, the Marlins' Mike Stanton and Gaby Sanchez, Starlin Castro of the Cubs, that pitcher for the Nationals who some people had writing his speech for Cooperstown before he ever threw a Major League pitch. But this race is between two guys: Jason Heyward and Buster Posey. Again, can't go wrong with either one.
Heyward was basically christened as the NL Rookie of the Year when he was made the Braves' starting right fielder on Opening Day, then hit a three-run bomb in his first Major League at-bat. It looked even more obvious when he was voted to start the All-Star Game. Heyward had a very fine season. He hit .277 with 18 homers, 72 RBIs and 83 runs scored, as the Braves made the playoffs for the first time in five years. In any other year, he has it locked up in mid-August. But, unfortuately for him, Buster Posey showed up in July. The Giants drafted Posey to be the face of the franchise. I don't think anybody expected it to happen this soon, though. In 108 games, he hit .305, had 18 homers and drove in 67 runs. While batting cleanup. And catching. He's the reason Bengie Molina got traded to Texas, and that move just happened to be what got San Francisco going. The Giants were 40-37 on July 1 (the day Molina got traded). They went 52-33 the rest of the way, winning the NL West on the final day, then winning the World Series for the first time since moving to San Francisco.
They both mean so much to their respective teams, but Posey has to be the guy. He's the reason the Giants won their division, let alone the World Series. And that thing he did as a senior at Florida State (playing all nine positions in the same game) remains one of the coolest things to happen in a baseball game ever! I do know, though, that I'll be voting for both Posey and Heyward on a lot of All-Star ballots next year.
So there you have it. My Rookie of the Year votes go to Austin Jackson and Buster Posey. The winners will be Posey and Neftali Feliz. Up next is the AL Cy Young. That one'll be fun, since there's quite a debate going on about that one. More on that tomorrow.
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