MLB Rookie of the Year Award 2013: American League

Major League Baseball announces their American League Rookie of the Year award winner later today, but the Fake Teams writers got together to provide you with our take on who should win the award, along with stating the case for several of the candidates.

Rays' outfielder Wil Myers is the favorite to win the American League Rookie of the Year award, but we make the case for several other candidates, including Rangers starter Martin Perez and Myers teammate, Chris Archer.

American League Rookie of the Year

Making the ROY Case: Wil Myers

by Brian Creagh

Myers debuted on June 18, 2013 and took little time to adjust, hitting 3 HRs and a .296 to finish out June. The only blip in Myers radar was the month of August where he slashed .209/.317/.314 but even in a down month it's nice to see the OBP maintain a decent level. It shows that he wasn't pressing or altering his approach in the face of failure; Myers is an extremely mature hitter at 22 years old. Even better to see was his improvement in September with a .308/.362/.542 triple slash line.

One of the more quickest measures of a player's value to his team, is their records with and without said player. In Myers case the team went 36 - 33 (.523) prior to his joining the team and 55 - 38 (.591) after June 17th. Myers isn't the only reason for the improvement, since Chris Archer's breakout and David Price's return to form had a lot to do with it as well, but his presence in the middle of the lineup was crucial to the Rays staying competitive in a stacked AL East.

Of all AL Rookies in 2013, Myers is tied with David Lough with a fangraphs WAR of 2.4. Lough had an 8 game advantage on Myers and while arguably equally as important, Lough's success was thanks mostly to his glove and when it comes to post-season award voting, the offense usually gets the nod. Myers finished only 1 HR behind Oswaldo Arcia for the AL Rookie lead and only a few points behind J.B. Shuck and Jose Iglesias in AVG. Myers did lead the league in some of the more important non-traditional stats like wRC+ and and wOBA where he finished with a 131 and .357 respectively. He ran laps around the competition in these two categories with a late-surging Kole Calhoun being the only player in reaching distance.

Wil Myers 162-game extrapolation looks like 92 R, 24 HR, 98 RBI, 9 SB and .293 AVG. Those are monster numbers for a 22 year old and a ‘no doubt' All Star. Myers is the slam dunk Rookie of the Year over other finalists Chris Archer and Jose Iglesias.

Making the ROY Case: Chris Archer

by Zack Smith

The 2013 AL Rookie of the Year award will be a bit tighter race a season after Mike Trout ran away with it last year. The 2013 selection comes down, in my mind, to two teammates. Last year's Baseball America Player of the year and current Rays right fielder, Wil Myers, is up against yet another star in the long line of Rays young pitchers, Chris Archer. There was a lot of talk about Myers coming into this year after his performance at Double and Triple A in 2012 and an offseason move in which James Shields was sent to Kansas City in exchange for his services. In the offseason, he was undoubtedly one of the favorites to win this award and, although he was called up later than some would have liked, his impression was felt immediately. The same can be said for Archer who was called up on June 1^st, just two weeks before Myers, and was 5-0 with a 0.73 ERA during the Rays torrid summer run in July. Myers will probably win the award and Archer has stated that he's ok with that. I'm here to tell you why Archer should take home the trophy and shouldn't settle for being a nominee.

(Let me preface the rest of the article by saying my argument is not against Will Myers or Jose Iglesias, for that fact, but in favor of Chris Archer.)

Archer finished second among AL rookies in strikeouts and innings pitched (Dan Straily led both categories) fanning 101 batters in 128.2 innings. He threw two complete games shutouts and only gave up four or more earned runs five times. Armed with a lethal fastball-slider combo, Archer held opposing hitters to a .223 batting average in 2013. This combo is death to right handed hitters and his changeup has come a long way and should help to neutralize lefties as it progresses. Archer has been known to have some control issues in the minors but he posted a 1.13 WHIP in the big leagues thanks to an above average walk rate that left hitters with little hope of reaching base when facing him. Those who were lucky (or skilled) enough to reach were stranded almost 79% of the time.

Chris Archer finished the year worth 1.2 wins above replacement but his value to the Rays cannot be summed up with that number alone. He provided stability to a rotation that suffered injuries to David Price, Matt Moore and Alex Cobb. He was an integral part of the run that catapulted them back into the race for the AL East. He continued the legacy that the aforementioned pitchers as well as Matt Garza, James Shields and Jeremy Hellickson left behind. An impressive statistical season considered in the context above makes a compelling case for Archer as the AL Rookie of the Year.

Making the ROY Case: Martin Perez

by Daniel Kelley

I'm not much of an advocate for contextual arguments for Most Valuable Player and Cy Young awards. I don't care if you were great for a 50-win team or a 90, so long as you were great. Baseball players are adults, and they should be able to perform no matter what their buddies are doing.

I am slightly more amenable to it, however, in the Rookie of the Year conversation. Rookies are ... well, they're rookies, which means jitters and the like are just part of the game. So when I say the Rangers' Martin Perez deserves strong consideration for the AL Rookie of the Year, I say it not only because of what he did, but because of what was happening around him.

Perez pitched to a 114 ERA+ in 124.1 innings in the middle of a season in which the Rangers were without Matt Harrison, Colby Lewis, Neftali Feliz, and - occasionally - Alexi Ogando. His team needed him to have any hope, which is a big load for a rookie. Wil Myers was great in Tampa, and his team needed him as well, but the pressure was bigger on Texas' rookie than it was on Tampa's.

Below you will find the results of our votes. Note, not all ballots contained five votes.

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