Fansided

MLB Awards Watch: The wasteland of American League rookies

By Brad Rowland

Tampa Bay Rays right fielder Steven Souza Jr. (20) hits a solo home run off Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Miguel Gonzalez (50) (not pictured) during the second inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Tampa Bay Rays right fielder Steven Souza Jr. (20) hits a solo home run off Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Miguel Gonzalez (50) (not pictured) during the second inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 7
Next
Tampa Bay Rays right fielder Steven Souza Jr. (20) hits a three run home run against the Los Angeles Angels during the sixth inning at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
Tampa Bay Rays right fielder Steven Souza Jr. (20) hits a three run home run against the Los Angeles Angels during the sixth inning at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports /

AL Rookie of the Year

  1. Steven Souza, OF Tampa Bay Rays – Steven Souza is hitting .211 through 53 games, and he is still my choice for AL Rookie of the Year. Admittedly, this is a rough crop of candidates right now, but the talented outfielder has posted 11 home runs and 7 stolen bases through only 213 plate appearances, and that is a strong pace. The 36.6% strikeout rate is highly troublesome, but Souza is taking walks, and the production is enough to keep him here for a week.
  2. Devon Travis, 2B Toronto Blue Jays – Travis hasn’t appeared in an MLB game since May 16 as a result of injury, and he still lands among the top 3 in the ROY race. That is, of course, a bit of an indictment on the rest of the field, but the youngster was quite good (.504 slugging, 134 wRC+) before suffering the injury, and Toronto may have found their second baseman of the future.
  3. Trevor May, SP Minnesota Twins – This is a photo finish between May and Tampa Bay starter Nate Karns, but we’ll take the player with better peripherals. May is striking out 7.94 batters per 9 innings against only 1.43 walks per 9, and that leads him to a 2.80 FIP in 10 starts. The ERA (4.45) hasn’t followed to this point, but May has done a solid job to this point, and that is all that is required to land here in a weak class.

Next: NL Cy Young

Home/MLB