10 MLB Rookie of the Year Candidates For 2015
As spring training winds down, top prospects are making their case for roster spots. Who are the top ten MLB Rookie of the Year candidates for 2015?
Spring Training is a wonderful time of the year. All 30 Major League Baseball teams are optimistic that the moves they made over the off-season put them in position to not only be competitive over the course of the 162 game schedule, but there’s hope that each and every team has what it takes to make it to the World Series.
Even the Chicago Cubs (and this year, especially the Chicago Cubs).
Part of the Cubs’ renewed sense of optimism is a minor league cupboard stocked full with some of the top prospects in the game. Jorge Soler and Javier Baez got their feet wet in the big leagues last season while Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, C.J. Edwards and others are knocking on the doorstep.
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Despite being sent back to Triple-A Iowa Monday, Baez is no longer a rookie because he saw action in 52 Major League games in 2014 in which he had 213 at bats. However, the rest of the aforementioned group is eligible for – and some are among the favorites to win – the Rookie of the Year Award in the National League.
As the winners of the 2014 awards can attest, there are multiple routes to becoming Rookie of the Year. Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu, a veteran free agent from Cuba, slugged his way to the trophy with 36 home runs and 107 RBI in 146 games, including a start on Opening Day.
Abreu was 27 years old and the top prospect in the White Sox system when he made his debut, and was a big name before he ever played in a Major League game.
On the other hand, right-handed pitcher Jacob deGrom was just the tenth ranked player in the Mets system in 2014 according to Baseball America. He was sent to minor league camp after four appearances in the spring of 2014 and made seven starts in Triple-A before earning a call-up to the big leagues in May.
In a farm system stocked with young flamethrowers, deGrom was often overshadowed as a 9th round draft pick in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft. Still, as a 25-year old rookie, he posted a 9-6 record and 2.69 ERA in 22 starts to rise to the top of the 2014 rookie class in the NL.
Whether a player signed a huge contract as an International free agent like Soler or Abreu, was a first round pick like Baez or Bryant, or even an under the radar prospect like deGrom, like 30 teams with World Series hopes, there’s a large crop of aspiring big leaguers with their eyes on the prize that is the Rookie of the Year award.
Let’s take a look at the top ten MLB Rookie of the Year candidates for 2015 – five from each league.
Next: AL Rookie of the Year Candidates