MLB Awards Watch: Nolan Arenado is a superstar
By Brad Rowland
From familiar faces to virtual unknowns, this year’s MLB award races are quite interesting. As mid-June arrives, the contests are heating up in a very real way, and with each MLB club playing at least 60 games by this point, the sample sizes continue to grow.
Do you believe in these numbers? Are we talking about flukes? That is for you to decide, but we do our best to handicap the pursuits on a regular basis (post-Memorial Day edition here) and we’re back for another attempt. Let’s get it going with NL Rookie of the Year.
NL Rookie of the Year
71. <p>The MLB world got a glimpse of Seager’s talents at the end of the 2015 season, and it almost feels unfair that he is eligible for this award. That’s how good he is. The talented shortstop has 15 home runs in only 64 games this season, and Seager holds a .288/.344/.520 slash line with strongly above-average defense to go along with it. He’s a legitimate “star” even now if he can keep this pace, and Seager is a solid favorite here.</p>. SS. Los Angeles Dodgers. Corey Seager. 1. player
Steven Matz. 2. player. 3. <p>25-year-old left-handers with high-end stuff usually garner a great deal of attention, and it partially feels as if Matz is undervalued in the grand scheme. Part of that is undoubtedly due to the attention paid to Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey, but Matz has been the best rookie hurler in the majors this season, and his 2.71 ERA (2.59 FIP) speaks for itself.</p>. SP. New York Mets
71. <p>The Dodgers badly need Maeda to be good, and he has delivered. Los Angeles is weaker in the rotation than a casual fan would expect, and aside from Clayton Kershaw, the depth is fairly ugly. Enter Maeda, who is excelling to the tune of a 2.70 ERA in 70 innings (12 starts) and he shouldn’t be punished for being 28 years old in his rookie season.</p>. SP. Los Angeles Dodgers. Kenta Maeda. 3. player
Next: AL Rookie of the Year