Feliz/Posey Named Rookies of the Year

[ShaneDawg85]

It was a repeat of the World Series in the rookie of the year voting, with Buster Posey winning in the NL, and Neftali Feliz in the AL. Most experts had the award in the NL between Posey and Jason Heyward, and Feliz and Austin Jackson in the AL.

Thoughts?

[BaltimoreTerp]

AL Thoughts:

Feliz is a fine pick. It's easy to overrate closers, but sometimes easy to UNDERrate closers who are also great relievers in general. He pitched to a 2.53 ERA over 70 games for the American League pennant winners, and even though playoff performance isn't used in the voting we saw what happened to the Rangers when Washington refused to use him in crucial situations.

Same with Jackson finishing second. He replaced Curtis Granderson in the field and the lineup, short some of the power.

Danny Valencia is a bit of a stretch in my mind, as he only played half the season. But he did hit .311 with a .799 OPS and good defense for the Twins, so he's a defensible pick. He's also a good pick for somebody who will see their numbers drop next year.

The difference between Wade Davis and Brian Matusz is basically age (24-22) and wins. And by wins, I mean team wins, as in the 30 that separated the Eastern Division-champion Rays from the last-place Orioles.

John Jaso getting a single second-place vote is likely going to be mentioned a few times in the discussion of this voting. But I'm surprised he didn't earn a few third-place votes. He was the primary catcher for a division champion, had a .750 OPS and hit leadoff for the Rays more times than anyone else (45 to Jason Bartlett's 44), mostly down the stretch of the playoff race.

Brennan Boesch earned his third-place votes on the strength of his first half, and nothing else. He was an average defensive outfielder who was worse than Cesar Izturis at the plate in the second half of the season.

[Scrat1]

Posey's year was huge, but I would've given it to Heyward. Did it for longer.

[ShaneDawg85]

Kind of disappointing that Posey essentially did this season what we hoped Wieters would when he came up, or at the very least transition into this season. Granted, Posey played some games at 1st and didn't catch the entire time. But even still, the early returns on Posey, at least from a numbers and publicity standpoint, have trumped what we hoped to get from Wieters, aside from his defense.

[BaltimoreTerp]

NL Thoughts

Interesting that Posey and Heyward went 20-9-2 and 9-20-2 respectively. That says to me it went right down to the wire with those two as the consensus #1 and #2 candidates. Probably Posey being a catcher combined with the way the Giants pitched down the stretch pushed him over Heyward's hype and quality offensive numbers. Either would have been a great choice, though I think Posey was a slightly better one.

Jamie Garcia received half of the third-place votes along with single first- and second-place votes. He pitched to a 2.70 ERA in 28 starts, so he was probably the third best rookie in the NL.

Gaby Sanchez received the plurality of the remaining third-place votes, alone with a second and (somehow) two first-place votes. Probably because he led major-league rookies in home runs.