So yesterday it was announced that the AL Rookie of the Year was Dustin Pedroia and the NL Rookie of the Year was Ryan Braun. In my opinion both were great choices.
Lets analyze the AL first. Pedroia batted .317 which ranked number 10 for the AL League Leaders. This was after a horrific April as well. He absolutely shattered the other competition which really didn't surprise me. However what I was disappointed about was where Okajima was placed in the running. Since when is a middle reliever seen as not important. Okajima was aquired with the deal the Sox did to get Dice-K and Okajima, in my opinion, was the better of the two aquisitions. Dice-K ended up being placed 4th in the running and Okajima ended up being placed 6th. I'm not saying Dice-K was bad. He was actually pretty good, but for what he was supposed to be he was a big disappointment. First lets look at ERA. Okajima had a 2.22 ERA versus Dice-K's ERA of 4.40. Yes, Dice-K pitched 135 more innings, but in order for Okajima to match Dice-K's ERA he would have needed 87 more ER giving up in those 135 innings. Not very likely. His K/BB is also significantly better (3.71 versus Dice-K's 2.51).
Now onto the NL. I would have thrown a shit-fit if Tulowitski won over Braun. Yes defense is a very important part of the game, but Ryan Braun's numbers were astounding as a regular player and even more astounding being done as a rookie. Compare his stats to A-Rod when he came up in May and he was on par with him the entire way (he was actually higher in batting average). Troy put up phenominal numbers and in any other year he would have probably would have been rookie of the yar, but he just doesn't compare to Braun. I agree with the top three ranked players. Hunter Pence was third and probably could have been second if not for an injury.
Stayed tuned for the CY Young and MVP.
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