We are closing in on the end of the season and it’s about time to start discussing some possible Rookie of The Year Candidates, especially since we will see a handful of them during this next week. This past week the Yankees played the Angels before the Rays come to the Bronx, and then the Yankees go to Kansas City. Each of these teams has a rookie of the year candidate, so let’s take a look.
ANGELS
Mark Trumbo has been a big addition to this Angels team this season at first base. Not only does Trumbo make a solid defensive first baseman, he hits for power. Trumbo was called up from the minors to replace Kendrys Morales, who still has never recovered from falling on his bat after celebrating a walk off home run last year… one of the more bizarre injuries I have ever seen. Those were big shoes for Trumbo to fill as Morales hit .306 with 34 homeruns and 108 RBI’s back in 2009 (his last full season). Trumbo has done a great job filling in and is hitting .261 with a .302 on base % and .493 slugging %. He leads all rookies with a .796 OPS, 22 home runs, 63 RBI’s and 21 doubles.
The scouting report on Trumbo is that he swings at too many pitches – especially outside the strike zone. It’s a common rookie issue, but the Yankees exploited this against him during the past three games keeping him 2-11 during the series.
Although Trumbo doesn’t hit for average, the power numbers are ‘glamour stats’ which could be a big factor for him to win the Rookie of the Year. He reminds me of Mark Texeira and his numbers are somewhat similar to Tex’s .247/.341/.512 line with 17 doubles, 32 homeruns and 86 RBI’s. He’s Tex-Light
Jordan Walden pitched against the Yankees on Tuesday night and got the save when Mo blew the game. I didn’t think Walden had a great outing, but he did get out of trouble thanks to Granderson getting caught stealing to end the game. I doubt that Walden could actually win the rookie of the year award, but he’s worth a mention as he is a rookie closer which is somewhat unique. His ERA is 2.74 with a 1.19 WHIP and he does have 26 saves but unfortunately he has 7 blown saves as well which I would think eliminates his name from contention. He also gets wild and this causes his walk rate to balloon up to 3.3BB/9IP which is not what you want in a closer. His control issues stem from the fact that he almost exclusively uses a fastball which hits 97 mph (about 80% of pitches) but if he can’t locate the fastball, then he has nothing else.
RAYS
Jeremy Hellickson will pitch Saturday against the Yankees for the second time this season following a great game against the Royals this past week where he allowed only 1 run over 7 1/3 innings. In his first game against the Yankees he held them to a .192 batting average and struck out 7. Hellickson has had a great season and since the All Star Break has been somewhat dominating. In his past 4 starts since the All Star Break, Hellickson is 2-0 with a 2.39 ERA. Overall, he has a 3.05 ERA with a 1.13 WHIP and holds opposing batters to a .208 batting average (5th best in the AL). Hellickson only throws in the low 90’s with his fastball, but his changeup which he throws 30% of the time, is his ‘out’ pitch .
Hellickson is not a bad pick for the AL rookie of the year, but the Rays are keeping an eye on his innings limit and there is a chance he may be shut down early this season, especially with the Rays out of contention for the postseason. If he gets shut down early, I think he could be eliminated from contention.
ROYALS
Eric Hosmer was the 3rd overall pick in the 2008 draft by the Royals and has been considered a highly touted prospect since the draft which prompted the Royals to call up the 21 year old so early. Since getting called up he is hitting .276 with a .332 on base % and a .764 OPS. Hosmer has 10 home runs, 19 doubles and 48 RBI’s which pale in comparison to Trumbo’s numbers, but Hosmer is still a good young player with lots of potential. His 10 home runs are 3rd among AL rookies (Trumbo is #1, Arencibia is #2). Hosmer seems to be having some difficulty with lefty pitchers as his line against lefties is .220/.271/.256 compared to strong numbers against righties at .300/.356/.508. Sounds like he could use the Curtis Granderson treatment from Kevin Long to improve his numbers against lefties!
So far this season, Hosmer is 4 for 12 against the Yankees with 2 home runs and 4 RBI’s. I don’t think he has the numbers for rookie of the year especially as he is competing with Trumbo who’s numbers are better but he is definitely a young prospect to keep an eye on over the next few seasons.
YANKEES
Ivan Nova is having a great season for the Yankees and he only seems to be getting better as the season progresses. Although his ERA and WHIP are a bit inflated at 3.85 and 1.38 respectively, his numbers during the second half show improvement. His second half ERA is 2.61 with a 1.01 WHIP compared to 4.12 and 1.47 in the first half. In the month of July his ERA dropped to a 2.25 and in August so far is 2.63… the Yankees better not send him back to Triple-A after this 6 man rotation fails! Even his strikeout ratio improved from 5K/9IP in the first half to 7K/9IP in the second half and that includes this past start against the Angels when he had 0 strikeouts! Nova’s clearly pitching much better now than he did at any point last season or the beginning of this year. He seems to have gotten used to his surroundings and has not had a bad outing since May.
It’s hard to say whether Nova will be a leading candidate for AL rookie of the year as I tend to be very biased when it comes to the Yankees, but I have watched him pitch all season and develop into a great starting pitcher which is reflected in his 11-4 record. He has developed secondary pitches like his slider and curve ball to use in conjunction with his sinker and proven himself to be a worthwhile starter in the Yankees organization.
Eduardo Nunez is likely not going to even be considered for the rookie of the year, probably due to his fielding errors alone. He doesn’t have enough playing time either as he is a utility infielder, but he deserves some credit as he has been doing a great job filling in throughout the infield when needed. Nunez puts up decent offensive numbers and seems to come up big in clutch situations. If he can get his fielding straightened out, he will get some more playing time at shortstop and third base as Jeter and Arod will need more rest over the next few season with Father time breathing down their necks.
RED SOX
Josh Reddick had the winning hit this past Sunday in Fenway to take the rubber game from the Yankees. Reddick is the backup outfielder for the Red Sox and since he is backup, he doesn’t have enough playing time to compete for AL Rookie of the Year, but he is worth a honorable mention as he is hitting .322 with a .368 on base % and .895 OPS.
This is just a list of names that we have either seen over the past week or will see in the next week. It is NOT an exhaustive list of candidates. There are numerous guys on the candidate list who I didn’t mention, and in fact I think Michael Pineda will win the AL Rookie of the Year for Seattle, but since the Yanks aren’t playing the Mariner’s soon he was temporarily ignored. I will come back to this post at some point later this season and update it all with all the leading candidates, but this should give you a good preview of the next week or two and who to keep an eye on.
No comments:
Post a Comment