SB Nation Rookie of the Year Award: Kimbrel, Pineda Claim Top Honors; Vance Worley Finishes Fourth

by WholeCamels on Nov 7, 2011 1:04 PM EST

Braves closer Craig Kimbrel and Mariners starting pitcher Michael Pineda have been voted SBNation's 2011 Rookies of the Year in the National and American Leagues, after a poll of individual site bloggers throughout the network. Vance Worley, the Phillies rookie starting pitcher, placed fourth in National League balloting.

Kimbrel posted a 2.10 ERA, saving 46 games and striking out 127 batters in 77 innings pitched. Pineda, 22, finished with a 3.74 ERA and 173 strikeouts in 171 innings.

Your humble ballots from The Good Phight:

WholeCamels -

1. Craig Kimbrel; 2. Vance Worley; 3. Brandon Beachy

FuquaManuel -

1. Vance Worley; 2. Craig Kimbrel; 3. Brandon Beachy

Complete results after the jump...

SBNation National League Rookie of the Year

Num	Name	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
1	Craig Kimbrel	22	4	2	124
2	Danny Espinosa	4	6	8	46
3	Freddie Freeman		8	3	27
4	Vance Worley	1	5	3	23
5	Wilson Ramos	1	2	5	16
6	Brandon Beachy		1	4	7
7	Corey Luebke		1		3
8	Lucas Duda		1		3
9	Mark Melancon			1	1
10	Allen Craig			1	1
11	Kenley Jansen			1	1

SBNation American League Rookie of the Year

Num	Name	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
1	Michael Pineda	9	4	3	60
2	Jeremy Hellickson	4	5	4	39
3	Eric Hosmer	5	4	3	40
4	Dustin Ackley	1	5	3	23
5	Ivan Nova		5	5	20
6	Alexi Ogando	2	1		13
7	Mark Trumbo	1		3	8
8	Desmond Jennings	1		2	7
9	Brett Lawrie	1		1	6

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Comments

Fuqua: always such a homer!

by taco pal on Nov 7, 2011 1:11 PM EST reply actions

I initially had Kimbrel as my first choice, but something about it just didn’t look right.

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by FuquaManuel on Nov 7, 2011 1:58 PM EST up reply actions

Kimbrel is a deserving winner, he was truly a force despite being a reliever. Espinosa actually belongs where he is; he’s a solid starter at 2B (and will get even better). Freddie Freeman? Average bat for the position, horrendous defense, started 157 games and managed a whole one fWAR. Maybe the defensive stats are an outlier for him, but regardless he belings behind Worley, Ramos, and Beachy.

Speaking of which, if Espinosa breaks out, Ramos plays every day, Strasburg is healthy, and Werth has even an average season, the Nationals could be a very good team in 2012. That’s not even considering the possibility of them buying another high-profile free agent.

by Rujasu on Nov 7, 2011 1:23 PM EST reply actions

Kimbrel, I get. He was pretty outstanding, all things considered. I’m just not sold on Pineda.

Speaking of the Junior Curcuit, your table is out of order—Hellickson and Hosmer (who should have won, I think) are switched.

by Phrozen on Nov 7, 2011 1:34 PM EST reply actions

Pineda was very good this year. What’s not to like?

by Rujasu on Nov 7, 2011 4:03 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

It’s not that I don’t like him or think he is good, I mean I’m not sold on him as the Rookie of the Year.

by Phrozen on Nov 7, 2011 4:57 PM EST up reply actions

Anyone in particular you prefer? I think Ackley deserved to be higher on the list, and may turn out to be the best player of the bunch, but Pineda led the pack in WAR.

by Rujasu on Nov 7, 2011 9:31 PM EST up reply actions

Hosmer and Ackley, I think, in that order. Pineda isn’t a bad choice, really, I just disagree.

by Phrozen on Nov 8, 2011 12:01 AM EST up reply actions

AL Rookies ranked by WAR (FanGraphs)

Pineda 3.4
Ackley 2.7
Lawrie 2.7
Nova 2.7
Jennings 2.4
Trumbo 2.3
Hosmer 1.6
Hellickson 1.4

I only looked up players on the list. There could have been someone else who fits into this list, but I didn’t go looking for them.

So yeah, Hosmer wasn’t even the best 1B on the list, and it’s not all that close. He had an extremely overrated season, in fact. Awful defense, and decent hitting but not all that great for first base. You can knock WAR for pitchers since it uses FIP (though Pineda’s FIP, xFIP, and SIERA are all very close) but there are four position players who are 0.7-1.1 WAR ahead of Hosmer. Really though, Pineda is pretty far in the lead here. Ackley is the only other contender due to his putting up 2.7 WAR in half a season.

Also, Ogando got two #1 votes and a #2 vote on his 3.6 WAR, which is higher than any of these players. However, he pitched 44 games in 2010, which I’m fairly certain makes him ineligible. Why did he get three votes?

by Rujasu on Nov 8, 2011 8:48 AM EST up reply actions

If the Mariners can get another position player or two capable of hitting a baseball, they could be pretty damned good, really quick. King Felix, Pineda, Walker combined with good looking younger players like Franklin, Smoak, Ackley, Seager.

by Cormican on Nov 8, 2011 10:13 AM EST up reply actions

I guess I’m looking at the guy who put up a .800 OPS and 19 homeruns in 3/4 of a season while playing in a pitcher-friendly park.

And it’s a stretch to say he had “awful defense.” Adam Dunn plays awful defense. “E3” Encarnacion plays awful defense. Hosmer isn’t on that level.

by Phrozen on Nov 8, 2011 12:43 PM EST up reply actions

KC’s “Kauffman” (for now) is neutral on scoring overall, but stingy on homers (see here, update coming soon), and it showed in Hosmer’s stats.

He had 3 (THREE) home runs at home in 2011, in 264 PAs.
He had 16 HRs on the road, in 299 PAs.

Still his OPS was slightly higher at home, .804 to .793 (as was wOBA), because he had more of every other kind of hit at home.

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Celebrating over 50 years of slightly more Phils wins than losses: 1961-2011

by schmenkman on Nov 10, 2011 8:20 AM EST up reply actions

That photo caption deserves a slow clap.

.210/.308/.268

by Steve Jeltz on Nov 7, 2011 1:42 PM EST reply actions

I think too many people dismissed Worley as being merely “lucky,” and while it’s true that he was fairly lucky vis-a-vis his results and his expected performance, his peripherals were still reflective of a solid major league starter, not some scrub. He’s gonna be fine and should have a nice career if he can stay healthy.

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by WholeCamels on Nov 7, 2011 2:50 PM EST reply actions

Meanwhile, Beachy oddly got far fewer votes than I’d expected. His peripherals were spectacular.

The Good Phight, NotGraphs, Twitter, fun!

by FuquaManuel on Nov 7, 2011 3:10 PM EST up reply actions

I was thinking the same thing. The guy was a strikeout machine.

by Trev223 on Nov 7, 2011 3:48 PM EST up reply actions

Kimbrel

I know that saves are a very overrated stat, but I don’t understand why Kimbrel gets a pass for his 8 blown saves, especially considering one of them knocked his team out of the playoffs. The man was pretty poor in September; doesn’t that get held against him?

by phatti on Nov 7, 2011 4:20 PM EST via mobile reply actions

One month of struggling because your manager is a bumbling idiot with his bullpen does not overshadow a season of dominance.

Craig Kimbrel gives up one run. Ryan Madson gives up 2 runs in another game that night.

The Braves had a one run lead and the Phils had a 3 run lead. Peripherals and defense aside I think we’d all agree that Kimbrel probably pitched better(but CBP is a BANDBOX!!!!!!! /s) and still got a BS.

Not saying he didn’t have some blow ups in high leverage spot, but he was used SOOOOOOOOO damn much that total numbers there with BS are misleading, and that number is flawed to begin with.

Simply put, the kid can wing it. (unless it is in a save situation for a share of the WC….. HA! HA!)

Formerly... "You don't have to be sweet, to be good"

by Ed Van Chimp on Nov 8, 2011 9:44 PM EST up reply actions