2014 Rookies of the Year

The first of the 2014 MLB Year End Awards have been handed out. So let's not wait anymore time and get cracking on who won the hardware.

- 2014 American League Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year

Slugging first baseman Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Sox is the winner of the 2014 American League Rookie of the Year. Abreu earned all 30 first-place votes outdistancing Los Angeles Angels right-hander Matt Shoemaker and New York Yankees reliever Dellin Betances who finished second and third, respectively

Abreu led all rookies in home runs (36), RBIs (107), hits (176), doubles (35), runs scored (80), OBP (.383), slugging percentage (.581) and OPS (.964).

Since the Rookie of the Year Award was first given out in 1947, only four rookies have batted at least .300, hit at least 30 home runs and driven in at least 100 runs. All four including Abreu have won their league's respective Rookie of the Year award. The other three players? Walt Dropo for the Boston Red Sox in 1950, Mike Piazza for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1993 and Albert Pujols for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2001.

Abreu is the sixth White Sox player to win the American League Rookie of the Year award after Luis Aparicio 1956, Gary Peters 1963, Tommie Agee 1966, Ron Kittle 1983, Ozzie Guillen 1985.

- 2014 National League Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year

Starting pitcher Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets is the winner of the 2014 National League Rookie of the Year. DeGrom received 26 of the 30 first-place votes. Cincinnati Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton and St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong finished second and third, respectively. The vote was conducted by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

DeGrom, 26, went 9-6 with a 2.69 ERA and 144 strikeouts in 140 1/3 innings pitched over 22 starts.

DeGrom is the fifth Mets' player to win the National League Rookie of the Year award after Tom Seaver 1967, Jon Matlack 1972, Darryl Strawberry 1983 and Dwight Gooden 1984.

Congratulations to both players and continued success in their respective careers. The next award to be given out is Manager of the Year which will be announced today Tuesday November 12th at 6 p.m.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle

Connie Mack (Manager of the Year) and Willie Mays (Rookie of the Year) Predictions

With the MLB playoffs in full swing, I've decided to come back to the present. As you've undoubtedly noted, my blog has taken quite the historical path as of late. But since I think I am going to devote the in-season time to historical events that happened in Baseball on a daily basis, during the postseason and offseason, I think I am going to reside in the present and give Doc Brown and the Delorean a break ;)

For today I wanted to shed some light on the year end award voting for the 2014 MLB season. One of the requirements for membership in the Baseball Bloggers Alliance is for members to vote in the form of a blogpost and all the votes are collected and tabulated by the Alliance. Today's post is devoted to the Connie Mack (Manager of the Year) and Willie Mays (Rookie of the Year) awards. Now I will only place my choices here for today and when the awards are announced after the World Series will I give thoughts into the award winners.

Connie Mack Award (Manager of the Year)
American League

1. Ned Yost (Kansas City Royals) 
2. Lloyd McClendon (Seattle Mariners)
3. Mike Scioscia (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim)

National League

1. Matt Williams (Washington Nationals)
2. Clint Hurdle (Pittsburgh Pirates)
3. Don Mattingly (Los Angeles Dodgers)

Willie Mays Award (Rookie of the Year)
American League

1. Jose Abreu (Chicago White Sox)
2. Yordano Ventura (Kansas City Royals)
3. Dellin Betances (New York Yankees)

National League

1. Jason deGrom (New York Mets)
2. Joe Panik (San Francisco Giants)
3. Billy Hamilton (Cincinnati Reds)

Will my predictions match the actual results of the votes for the Manager and Rookie of the Year Awards? We'll have to wait for the official announcements to see.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,

Baseball Sisco

#baseballsisco

#baseballsiscokidstyle

Florida Rookie Sweep

With the announcement of the first end of the year awards in Major League Baseball, Wil Myers of the Tampa Bay Rays and Jose Fernandez of the Miami Marlins have won the American and National League Rookie of the Year awards respectively. This is the third Rookie of the Year award for the Rays in the last six years (Evan Longoria 2008 and Jeremy Hellickson 2011) This is the fourth Rookie of the Year award in the last eleven years for the Marlins (Dontrelle Willis 2003, Hanley Ramirez 2006, Chris Coghlan 2009). This isn't surprising coming from two franchises who do amazingly well when it comes to developing young talent often at the expense of said talent who (with the exception of Evan Longoria) are often traded away for draft picks and other younger talent when they reach the latter years of their rookie contracts.

According to the Baseball Writers Association of America, the voting for the Rookie of the Year is done in the following manner:

Two writers from each MLB city are recommended by the local chapter chairman and approved by the national secretary-treasurer to vote for each award. Writers from NL cities vote for NL awards, and writers from AL cities vote for AL awards, making 30 voters for each award. Most traveling beat writers will vote for at least one annual award each year. In some chapters, columnists or backup writers may also vote. Any active member of the BBWAA is eligible to vote for annual awards, regardless of his or her number of years in the organization. Some Honorary members may also vote

Myers (who came to the Rays in last offseason's trade between the Royals and the Rays for James Shields) won the award with 23 first place votes for a total of 131 total points ahead of Detroit shortstop Jose Iglesias and fellow Rays teammate Chris Archer. Since his call up on June 18th, Myers hit .293/.354/.478 with 90 hits in 335 at-bats of which 23 were doubles and 13 homeruns. He drove in 53 runs, scored 50 runs while walking 33 times and striking out 91 times.

According to Adam Berry in his article Myers runs away with AL Rookie of the Year Award from MLB.com dated November 11, 2013:

Myers became the first player to lead AL rookies in RBIs in fewer than 90 games since Detroit's Hoot Evers did so in 1946. He also paced AL rookies in doubles (23), extra-base hits (36) and OPS (.831), recording an overall batting line of .293/.354/.478 with 13 homers and 53 RBIs.

In addition according to the Elias Sports Bureau:

Myers is only the fourth position player to win a Rookie of the Year Award after playing fewer than 100 games, joining Willie McCovey (52 games in 1959), Bob Horner (89 in 1978) and Ryan Howard (88 in 2005).

In the Little Havana neighborhood of the city of Miami, Tampa native Jose Fernandez won the award with 26 first place votes for a total of 142 points ahead of Los Angeles Dodgers rookie standout and fellow Cuban Yasiel Puig. In  28 starts, Fernandez went 12-6, with a 2.19 ERA in 172.2 innings pitched. Fernandez struck out 187 batters while only walking 58 and giving up 111 hits for a WHIP of 0.979 and an opposing hitters batting average of .182. His 2.19 ERA was second in the National League to the Dodgers Clayton Kershaw's 1.83 and his 9.75 K's per 9 innings the second best in the league behind A.J. Burnett of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Also according to the Elias Sports Bureau:

Fernandez Was Doc-Like: Jose Fernandez won the National League Rookie of the Year Award after a season in which he went 12-6 with a 2.19 ERA for a team that lost 100 games. And did we mention that Fernandez didn't turn 21 years old until July 31? His ERA was the lowest in a season by a pitcher younger than 22 who threw at least 150 innings since Dwight Gooden had a 1.53 ERA for the Mets in 1985, his second season in the major leagues.

Fernandez joins Minnesota Twins outfielder Tony Oliva (AL 1964) and Oakland Athletics outfielder (AL 1986) as Cubans who have won a Rookie of the Year award.

The question that I would ask is if we will still see these two outstanding players in their respective Floridian uniforms once their rookie contracts end or will they be traded to other teams in the repeating circle of life that seems to be the way things are done with the Florida MLB franchises. Only time will tell.

Sisco Kid

For Further Reading:
- Click Here to access Wil Myers' career statistics from Baseball Reference
- Click Here to access Jose Fernandez's career statistics from Baseball Reference
- Click Here to access the breakdown of the American League Rookie of the Year vote from the BBWAA website
- Click Here to access the breakdown of the National League Rookie of the Year vote from the BBWAA website