Michael Pineda, Craig Kimbrel named SBN rookies of the year
by Kurt Mensching on Nov 7, 2011 1:01 PM EST
in Detroit Tigers News
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The year of the pitcher: Starter Michael Pineda of the Seattle Mariners was SB Nation's pick for American League rookie of the year, while closer Craig Kimbrel of the Atlanta Braves earned the National League's top laurels in 2011.
Just like another group of baseball writers, the staff of the baseball blogs at SB Nation voted on the best rookies, pitchers and most valuable players. We put our ballots in about a month ago. So they do not include the postseason. Also, AL team blogs only voted for the AL awards, and NL team blogs voted for the NL awards. Two bloggers from each team were eligible to vote. Alli and I voted for BYB.
The complete results can be found after the jump.
Pineda may have played in the anonymity of a poor Mariners team, but he impressed the voters with his strikeouts and fielding independent pitching. In 171 innings, he had 9.11 strikeouts per nine innings and just 2.79 walks per nine, resulting in an xFIP of 3.53. His ERA was 3.74. So although third-place Jeremy Hellickson of the Rays had a far better ERA (2.95), his low peripherals likely scared some voters away. Ivan Nova of the Yankees had a lot of wins and a 3.70 ERA, but he too didn't have the gaudy strikeout figures. Kansas City's Eric Hosmer placed second for the top position player. In 128 games, he batted .293 with a .799 OPS, although it felt a lot higher.
In the NL, Kimbrel had 14.8 K/9 and 3.74 BB/9, resulting in an xFIP of 1.94. He also saved 46 games. Washington's Danny Espinoza finished second. The second baseman had 21 home runs and 17 steals.
For the record, Alli and I will share our ballots with you every day.
Kurt's ballot: Hosmer, Hellickson, Nova. I probably would have gone with Hellickson first, but I tweeted something about Hosmer being my RoY choice and decided to stick to my guns.
Alli's ballot: Hellickson, Hosmer, Nova.
Schedule:
Monday: Michael Pineda AL Rookie of the Year, Craig Kimbrel NL rookie of the year
Tuesday: Cy Young (AL) announced
Wednesday: Cy Young (NL) announced
Thursday: MVP (AL) announced
Friday: MVP (NL) announced
AL Rookie of the Year
| Num | Name | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Pineda | 9 | 4 | 3 | 60 |
| 2 | Eric Hosmer | 5 | 4 | 3 | 40 |
| 3 | Jeremy Hellickson | 4 | 5 | 4 | 39 |
| 4 | Dustin Ackley | 1 | 5 | 3 | 23 |
| 5 | Ivan Nova | 5 | 5 | 20 | |
| 6 | Alexi Ogando* | 2 | 1 | 13 | |
| 7 | Mark Trumbo | 1 | 3 | 8 | |
| 8 | Desmond Jennings | 1 | 2 | 7 | |
| 9 | Brett Lawrie | 1 | 1 | 6 |
*not a rookie
NL Rookie of the Year
| Num | Name | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Craig Kimbrel | 22 | 4 | 2 | 124 |
| 2 | Danny Espinosa | 4 | 6 | 8 | 46 |
| 3 | Freddie Freeman | 8 | 3 | 27 | |
| 4 | Vance Worley | 1 | 5 | 3 | 23 |
| 5 | Wilson Ramos | 1 | 2 | 5 | 16 |
| 6 | Brandon Beachy | 1 | 4 | 7 | |
| 7 | Cory Luebke | 1 | 3 | ||
| 8 | Lucas Duda | 1 | 3 | ||
| 9 | Mark Melancon | 1 | 1 | ||
| 10 | Allen Craig | 1 | 1 | ||
| 11 | Kenley Jansen | 1 | 1 |
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Comments
Funny, how a closer can be Rookie of the Year
but a starting pitcher can’t be the MVP, by some standards….
"King of Minutiae"
For the record...
I did say Kimbrel would win NL RoY in the season predictions before season started :)
Both my preseason picks were wrong
I picked Mike Moustakas and Brandon Belt.
Pineda: His emergence, may have opened to the door to trading Fister. So thanks Pineda!
Kimbrel was a 3rd round pick in the 2008 draft. That was the same draft where we took a bunch of RP’s. Ryan Perry in the 1st round, Cody Satterwhite in the 2nd, ect,ect,ect. The Tigers might of had the right idea, we just took the wrong guys. I wonder how close we were to taking Kimbrel? At least we got Alex Avila out of that draft.
I would have gone Hosmer, Pineda and Hellickson
But not surprised to see this result. All three are good candidates.
"You, on the other hand, make Eeyore look like Rainbow Brite." -johnmoz
"I think of you more as the blue book style essay of sports journalism."-Kurt Mensching
Contributor, Bless You Boys
Wonder where those voters came from...
"You, on the other hand, make Eeyore look like Rainbow Brite." -johnmoz
"I think of you more as the blue book style essay of sports journalism."-Kurt Mensching
Contributor, Bless You Boys
I know but I'm not telling due to secrecy whatnot
if they out themselves I’ll let you know!
by Kurt Mensching on Nov 7, 2011 4:11 PM EST up reply actions
How does Hellickson finish third?
Easily better than Pineda and helped Rays to playoffs.
"I will play tomorrow unless I am dead when I wake up" - Victor Martinez
Not easily better than Pineda since Hellickson had the lowest BABIP in the majors without any K rate to support it.
I think HellBoy will be a great pitcher at some point, but Pineda was clearly better this year.
No...
Pineda was good in the first half but that’s it, I think it should go Hellickson, Trumbo, Hosmer, Pineda, Nova
"I will play tomorrow unless I am dead when I wake up" - Victor Martinez
agreed
Pineda really fell off after the first few months. He had a wicked home-away split too, with SafeCo apparently giving him a huge boost.
by Kurt Mensching on Nov 8, 2011 11:23 AM EST up reply actions
Why Nova over Pineda?
He wasn’t better in any category other than wins (and a .04 lower ERA technically, but with significantly worse peripherals – almost a whole run of SIERA, over a run of tERA, ~.6 xFIP and FIP, more IP, etc.)
If Nova was playing for the Mariners absolutely nobody would have given him the time of day because he really isn’t a better than average pitcher.
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