BtBWAA Awards: AL Rookie of the Year: Michael Pineda

by Lewie Pollis on Oct 25, 2011 11:30 AM EDT in Awards & Honors

At the end of the season, 11 Beyond the Box Score writers held our own vote for the most important annual MLB awards, and last week we unveiled the first of the 2011 BtBWAA awards results by naming Toronto's Alex Anthopoulos our MLB Executive of the Year. This week, we're moving on to the Rookies of the Year—the NL results will be released Thursday, and the AL results are a couple inches down on your screen.

As with the real RoY voting, each writer picked their top three players, and votes were scored on a 5-3-1 scale. Here are the top finishers: (number of first-place votes in parentheses)

1.	Michael Pineda, Mariners — 41 (7)
2.	Dustin Ackley, Mariners — 21 (2)
3.	Brett Lawrie, Blue Jays — 10

Full results after the jump.

4.	Eric Hosmer, Royals — 9 (1)
5.	Alexi Ogando, Rangers — 6 (1)
6.	Zach Britton, Orioles — 4
7.	Jeremy Hellickson, Rays — 3
8.	Desmond Jennings, Rays — 2
T9.	Vinnie Pestano, Indians — 1
T9.	Jemile Weeks, Athletics — 1

If anyone's interested, with my ballot, I picked Ackley, then Lawrie, then Pestano, and to be honest I'm not quite sure why. If I voted again today, Lawrie would be my No. 1 and I'd probably put Pineda second. I stand by my picking Pestano, though, and not just because I'm a Tribe fan: he had a fantastic season (fun fact: fWAR has him as more valuable than Hellickson this year despite Hellickson's pitching more than thrice as many innings) and I figured (correctly, as it turns out) that he wouldn't get any love from anyone else.

As an aside, I find it amusing that the Mariners got more points than the other 13 teams combined. My theory: some of our writers are involved in a secret conspiracy orchestrated by the pro-Seattle lobby. I can't prove anything, but I have reason to believe that a BtB writer who I am not at liberty to name (it's J-Doug) is actually a double-agent working undercover for Starbucks to help them infiltrate a blog about baseball statistics. It's all part of the plan.

Stay tuned for the NL results on Thursday.

Poll

Who's your AL Rookie of the Year?

Michael Pineda

51 votes

Dustin Ackley

8 votes

Brett Lawrie

16 votes

Someone else

48 votes

123 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 10 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

Ah, the FanGraphs rookie leaderboard,

making people vote for Ogando (who wasn’t a rookie). Not that it would have changed the winner of the vote, but it could have affected 3rd place.

I’m surprised that Jennings didn’t get more support, though I’m happy with the top 3.

The NL results will be very, very interesting.

"Yeah, and I have an enchanted jock strap." -- Karl Karlson
I now twitter as @junkstats and blog about made-up stats and general baseball stuff at JunkStats.

by Jacob Peterson on Oct 25, 2011 11:59 AM EDT reply actions

Remember when Edinson Volquez got two first-place votes in 2008?

That was funny. Especially since there was no FanGraphs rookie leaderboard to mislead them into thinking he was a rookie.

Contributor @ Beyond the Box Score. Editor @ Wahoo's on First. Sophomore @ Brown University. Twitter: @LewsOnFirst
"Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona."—George Will

by Lewie Pollis on Oct 25, 2011 12:03 PM EDT up reply actions

I proudly avoided making that mistake

Although I’m pretty sure that’s just because I recalled making the mistake at some previous point.

I think the 1-2-3 here is entirely defensible.

You can check out my work at Beyond the Box Score, MLB Daily Dish, SBN Chicago, SBN Denver and SBN St. Louis .

I make jokes/observations on Twitter, too.

by Satchel Price on Oct 25, 2011 12:37 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm going on the record and saying Hosmer will outshine every one of these guys.

Managing Editor at Beyond the Box Score and MLB Daily Dish. Follow me @justinbopp

by Justin Bopp on Oct 25, 2011 12:46 PM EDT reply actions

But analytical types will know Ackley's more valuable overall. :)

by The Ancient Mariner on Oct 26, 2011 1:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Things I did not know:

Vinnie Pestano had a K/9 of 12+ in 50+ innings this year.

I write a Giants blog. I also write for MLB Daily Dish and Beyond the Box Score

by Julian Levine on Oct 25, 2011 2:12 PM EDT reply actions

My vote: Jeremy Hellickson

This was a tough decision. I had it down to Hellickson, Pineda, and Hosmer. I think Hellickson is beats out these other two candidates because of his elite ERA that he posted this season. He may not have had the high K/9 that Pineda did but ultimately the most important thing a pitcher is trying to do out there is limit the number of runs he gives up. Would you rather have a pitcher with a 3.74 ERA with a 3.1 SO/BB (Pineda) or a pitcher with a 2.95 ERA and a 1.6 SO/BB. Also Hellickson’s ERA ranked 8th in the AL among starting pitchers. I think Hellickson beats out Hosmer because even though Hosmer put up very good numbers for a rookie (.293/.334/.465) his .799 OPS was middle of the pack for AL first basemen. Hellickson was among the top AL pitchers this season and I think he deserves to be AL rookie of the year.

by CUBSfan on Oct 26, 2011 12:05 AM EDT reply actions

Oops

Meant that as a reply.

I write a Giants blog. I also write for MLB Daily Dish and Beyond the Box Score

by Julian Levine on Oct 26, 2011 1:30 AM EDT up reply actions

The most important thing a pitcher is trying to do is limit baserunners and suppress home runs

A: K/9 5.33 BB/9 3.10 BABIP .283 ERA 3.70 FIP 4.01 xFIP 4.16
B: K/9 5.57 BB/9 3.43 BABIP .223 ERA 2.95 FIP 4.44 xFIP 4.72
C: K/9 9.11 BB/9 2.89 BABIP .258 ERA 3.74 FIP 3.42 xFIP 3.53

Pitcher A is Ivan Nova
Pitcher B is Hellickson
Pitcher C is Pineda

For 2011, Pineda > Nova > Hellickson

Columnist at Beyond the Box Score and Amazin' Avenue.

by Bill Petti on Oct 26, 2011 8:34 AM EDT up reply actions 7 recs