NL Rookie of the Year?

I voted for Hanson only because he has pitched in a wildcard race. I think it will come down to him and McCutchen.

It will be a tough call as to who gets the NL ROY award, there have been some pretty good performances- nobody really stands head and shoulders above the others although the list could probably be narrowed down to Happ, Hanson and Wells for pitchers. And Coghlan, Jones, McCutchen and McGehee for hitters. Among these guys, McCutchen has the biggest upside although his away stats are kinda disappointing. McGehee will get overlooked. Jones may not have enough at bats to be seriously considered. Coghlan had a nice season all around but I think most voters will vote McCutchen over him. He’s had one hell of a second half.

Let’s take a look at these lines and see if you can match the rookie hitter in post All Star stats-

A- 255 AB’s, .275/.359/.478/.838
B- 245 AB’s, .302/.381/.559/.940
C- 278 AB’s, .363/.416/.532/.948
D- 190 AB’s .284/.346/.474/.820

As a side note, the home/away splits really hamper Cabrera’s and Venable’s chances. Actually I am not even sure Venable qualifies as a rookie. Dexter Fowler’s injury opened the door for Carlos Gonzalez and now Dexter isn’t playing that much. But his 5 sb’s in a game are worth something. He’s just not had a good a year overall as the top four.

From above-

A. McCutchen B. Jones C. Coghlan D. McGehee

Interesting links on the four players from fangraphs-
McCutchen- http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=9847&position=OF
Jones- http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=2714&position=1B/OF
Coghlan- http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=6878&position=OF
McGehee- http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=6086&position=3B

It appears that defensively only McCutchen has a positive value, albeit minimal. So maybe defense will not play a big part of the voting? Beats me. But McCutchen does play the sexy CF spot while Coghlan and Jones do not. McGehee does have 3b on his resume but played pretty much everywhere else as well. So he looks more like a super utility guy on paper.

But based on all the above I think the finalist, hitting wise, are reduced to Jones and Coghlan. Jones has been a very good player the second half but his power numbers have been coming back down to earth since his inspiring July. On the other hand, Coughlan had a tough July. But since then has been nothing short of spectacular to finish the final two months of the year having lines of .385/.449/.582/1.031 and .373/.420/.482/.902 respectively. To put this in perspective, compare Coghlan’s August to the July of Jones where he had one of the best rookie months ever hitting 10 HR’s and having a line of .310/.361/.762/1.131.

I think Coghlan has finished way too strong to not be considered the NL ROY as far as hitters go.

Pitchers may be in a later post.