I put together my list of winners at the end of the regular season, but didn’t have the time to write it up because I was pretty busy with Brew Fair at the time. This is mostly for the benefit of the eleven suckers I beat in fantasy this year. I hope you enjoy reading this, and that it will inspire some debates among friends.
AL Rookie of the Year - Jose Abreu: Masahiro Tanaka was the only other serious contender for this award, but his injury in July put an early end to that effort. That said, Abreu put together a truly historic rookie season and would have probably ran away with the award even if Tanka remained healthy. Abreu’s swing is quick and much shorter than a prototypical slugging first baseman, which allows for him to make quick adjustments, and makes it very difficult for opposing pitchers to find a hole in his swing. Abreu batted .317, hit 36 HRs, led the league in slugging percentage, and has posted an outstanding .383 OBP. And while defensive metrics don’t always paint the most accurate picture, Abreu ranks among league leaders at his position. In a different season, Abreu’s numbers could’ve won him the MVP in addition to ROY.
NL Rookie of the Year - Billy Hamilton: This race came down to two guys: Jacob deGrom and Billy Hamilton.Entering the 2014 season, Jacob deGrom was perhaps the least regarded of New York’s promising stable of young pitchers. But since his call up in mid May, deGrom has been a very pleasant surprise; posting a 9.2 K/9 rate, and amassing a higher WAR than other rookie pitcher, despite only appearing in 22 games. On the other hand, Billy Hamilton became the fastest man in the MLB the moment that he entered the league. He lived up to that reputation, by stealing 56 bases in 79 attempts in 2014. Hamilton also managed to surprise some with his generally solid defense in CF, a part of his game that was an area of concern during his time in the minors.
This award could go either way, but I would give the edge to Hamilton because I believe he has the higher ceiling. Hamilton is two years younger than deGrom and still has room to develop physically. While he’ll certainly never be a slugger, he can still add some strength which would improve his hitting as well as his arm from the outfield. The .292 OBP Hamilton posted is definitely a red flag, but during his time in the minors he had exhibited more patience at the plate. It isn’t unreasonable to believe that he’ll improve upon 2014’s 5.5 BB% during the next season. And if he does that, he has a legitimate shot to steal 75 bases in 2015.
AL Cy Young - Corey Kluber: Probably the tightest of the award races, the AL CYA race featured a lot of the usual suspects: Felix, Sale, Scherzer, Price, Lester, and Corey Kluber, who had a surprising breakout season.
Price was an early frontrunner, but struggled after his trade, a fact that may be attributed to Detroit's less than stellar defense. Sale would’ve also been a compelling case if he had managed to pitch more than 174 innings. So the award basically came down to Hernandez and Kluber, two players that pitched the entire season and put up fairly similar numbers.
This one is another toss up for me, and I’ve changed my opinion on it several times. In the end, I’d give the award to Kluber, who struck out more batters and posted a better FIP. However, my best guess is that the award will go to Hernandez based on name recognition and the fact that he captured both the WHIP and ERA crowns.
NL Cy Young - Clayton Kershaw: This one was not a toss up at all, and Kershaw will have three Cy Young awards before turning 27, an age when most pitchers only begin to enter their prime. Eight other pitchers have won three or more Cy Young awards: Carlton, Clemens, Johnson, Koufax, Maddux, Martinez, Palmer, and Seaver. Of those, only Clemens, Maddux, Martinez, and Seaver won the award before age 27. Kershaw's place in this elite group pretty much guarantees that he’ll have a plaque of his own in Cooperstown one day.
AL MVP - Mike Trout: Despite experiencing a significant decline in SBs, OBP, and AVG, Mike Trout is still the best player in baseball. In 2014, Trout will finally get the MVP award that he deserved the past two seasons. Even if 2014 was arguably his worst season in the bigs, Trout was still outperforming everyone else in the league. That being said, there are interesting cases to made for Donaldson, Bautista, and Michael Brantley, who along with Kluber will look to bring Cleveland into contention for 2015.
NL MVP - Clayton Kershaw: If McCutchen and Stanton weren’t both hit by pitches that took them out of action late in the season, there may have been room for debate. That not being the case, it’s impossible to argue that any player in the NL was more valuable than Kershaw (see above.)
Combined Sophomore of the Year - Anthony Rendon: This isn’t a real award but I wish it was, I feel like it’d be way less flukey than the sometimes silly-in-retrospect ROY award. Anthony Rendon would be the obvious choice here. Via FanGraphs, Rendon only fell behind Trout, McCutchen, and Brantley for total WAR amongst position players, which stands as testament to his break-out bat, but also to his dynamic defense at both second and third base. Rendon should receive some MVP consideration, and rightfully so, as he anchored Washington’s division winning team.
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I’ve had a good stretch of finding books that I really enjoy, and may be writing some of those up in the near future. Will definitely be writing a piece previewing Yo La Tengo’s 30th anniversary show in Philly soon, as well as top ten albums and TV show lists towards the end of the year.
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