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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 |