Fulmer and Seager Win Rookie of the Year Award

The Rookie of the Year award was first handed out in 1947 to Jackie Robinson, after he broke baseball’s color barrier and went on to have a great first season of what would become a Hall of Fame career. Given out to a single player again in 1948, the award was expanded in 1949 to include a player from each league, and has been that way ever since.

Voting for the award is fairly straightforward.

Two writers from each city of both the American League and National League make up the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) voters for the Rookie of the Year award, making a total of thirty voters for each league (fifteen teams, with two voters per city). A first place vote earns a player five points, a second place vote gets three points, with a third place vote receiving one point. Once added up, the player with the highest overall total wins.

The 2016 Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year award winners for both the American League and National League were announced Monday night on MLB Network. Here are the winners, along with my thoughts on each:

AMERICAN LEAGUE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Original Pick: Gary Sanchez

Finalists: Tyler Naquin, Gary Sanchez and Michael Fulmer

Winner: Michael Fulmer

Thoughts On Michael Fulmer Winning

There may have been three finalists for the American League Rookie of the Year, but in the end there were truly only two frontrunners for the award, being Michael Fulmer and Gary Sanchez. Despite Tyler Naquin having blasted 14 homers in his first season, he didn’t compare statistically to the two aforementioned rookies.

But despite narrowing the running down to two star players, that’s where the easy decisions ended. No one seemed to agree upon whether the R.O.Y. should go to Sanchez or Fulmer, but there truly was no bad choice. They each were very deserving.

However, it was Fulmer who ended up winning the award. Earning 26 of the 30 first-place votes, Fulmer tallied 142 points, and was the only player named to every single ballot cast. Sanchez placed second with his 91 points (earning the other 4 first place votes), leaving Naquin in third with 20 points.

Although Fulmer began to tail off a bit towards the end of the season, his 3.06 season long ERA over the course of 159 innings pitched proved to be more impressive to the BBWAA than Sanchez’s 20 HR in just 53 games. That larger sample size was likely what helped push Fulmer over the edge, joining him with the likes of Justin Verlander — the last Tigers’ pitcher to win the Rookie of the Year.

Only time will tell if Michael Fulmer will turn out to have the same level of success as his Tigers teammate.

NATIONAL LEAGUE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Original Pick: Corey Seager

Finalists: Kenta Maeda, Trea Turner and Corey Seager

Winner: Corey Seager

Thoughts On Corey Seager Winning

Unlike the American League side, the National League portion wasn’t all that difficult of an award to predict the winner of. The heavy favorite to win the Rookie of the Year before the season even began, Seager took home the honor in unanimous fashion, following in the footsteps of Kris Bryant, who did so in 2015.

Seager becomes just the 21st player in history to receive all thirty first-place votes to win the R.O.Y. award, earning him a total of 150 points. The runner up for the award was Trea Turner, who racked up 42 points, followed by Kenta Maeda, who received 37.

Despite Turner hitting .342 on the season, and Kenta Maeda posting a good 3.48 ERA in his rookie campaign, no one could come close to stopping Seager from making his name as the 17th Rookie of the Year winner all-time for the Dodgers, who now have a R.O.Y. winner at every position except third base.

Seager’s 26 home runs and 72 RBI’s this season, in which he played in all but five games, made him the easy choice for Rookie of the Year. His 193 hits also mark the most for a rookie since 2001, adding yet another standout statistic to his rookie campaign.

But while his rookie season was unbelievable, many see Corey Seager only improving.

BBWAA Award Finalists Announced

It’s that time of year again. After months spent grinding things out throughout the baseball season, all leading up to the first World Series title for the Cubs in 108 years, award season is finally here.

Although the winners of the major awards won’t be officially announced until next week, the top three vote-getters were unveiled on Monday evening. For the mot part, I agree with the finalists for the Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and MVP awards, but there were a few I was surprised about.

Here are the top three players still in the running for the major MLB awards:

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

American League: Tyler Naquin, Gary Sanchez and Michael Fulmer

National League: Kenta Maeda, Trea Turner and Corey Seager

I have Gary Sanchez and Corey Seager winning the Rookie of the Year award.

CY YOUNG FINALISTS

American League: Corey Kluber, Rick Porcello and Justin Verlander

National League: Kyle Hendricks, Jon Lester and Max Scherzer

I have Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer winning the Cy Young award.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER FINALISTS

American League: Mike Trout, Mookie Betts and Jose Altuve

National League: Kris Bryant, Daniel Murphy and Corey Seager

I had David Ortiz and Kris Bryant winning the Most Valuable Player award. However, with Ortiz not being a finalist, I am thinking Mookie Betts will likely take home the award.

The winner of each award will begin being announced next week on MLB Network.

Here’s the schedule:

AL & NL Rookie of the Year: November 14th

AL & NL Cy Young: November 16th

AL & NL Most Valuable Player: November 17th

I plan on posting a recap of each winner, along with a look at how well I did with my predictions, in a blog entry after each award is officially announced. So be sure to check back for that at some point next week.

My Vote for 2016 A.L. Rookie of the Year Award

Watching young players succeed upon their first year in the majors is always fun. Though it never guarantees that any given player will carry that early success throughout their career, it’s always a good indication of which players are going to be stars for years to come. We certainly had a fair share of those type of players in the American League this season, with players such as Edwin Diaz, Nomar Mazara, Tyler Naquin, Gary Sanchez, Max Kepler and Michael Fulmer all having seasons worthy of recognition. However, in the end, only one player can win the coveted Rookie of the Year award.

This season for the Mariners, Edwin Diaz had an unbelievable rookie campaign, recording 18 saves and posting a 2.79 ERA over 51.2 innings in which he struck out 88 batters. But while he looks to have a bright career moving forward, there were several other better candidates for Rookie of the Year than Diaz.

Likewise, this season saw Max Kepler having a fantastic year, knocking 17 homers and recording 63 RBI’s. However, what’s keeping him from being a true contender for the award in my mind is his dismal .235 batting average. But while that’s disappointing, look for Kepler to raise that number as he gets more experience moving forward.

Tyler Naquin was another one of the standout rookies from the 2016 American League crop. Hitting .296 on the year with 14 homers, Naquin helped play a big role in carrying the Indians into the postseason. He should remain one of their big-time pieces in the future, but he didn’t do enough this season to earn the award.

As with Naquin, the Rangers’ Nomar Mazara is a player deserving of vast recognition, but not the award for Rookie of the Year. Getting off to an unbelievable start, but cooling off drastically as the season went on, Mazara’s 20 homers and 64 RBI’s are very impressive, but not impressive enough for any better than third on my list.

The same holds true for the stats of Michael Fulmer, who was the favorite for the award until the last bit of the season. Still, despite not having the strong finish to the year to cement an award win, Fulmer broke out in 2016 as one of the best pitchers on the Tigers’ staff, with his 3.06 ERA over 159 innings pitched.

That leaves just Gary Sanchez as the player who I feel is most deserving of the Rookie of the Year award for the American League. It is a bit of a controversial pick, as Sanchez’s 20 home runs and 42 RBI’s on the season came over the course of just 53 games played — not even a third of a full season. But despite that, Sanchez had an absolutely historical season that leaves little doubt in my mind that he should win the top honor for American League rookies.