Box-Toppers’ leading rookies easily won each league’s Rookie of the Year Award Monday.
First baseman Jose Abreu of the White Sox won the American League award unanimously and Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom won the National League award with 26 out of 30 first place votes. (See the charts below for voting results.)
Abreu led all rookies with 15.5 Box-Toppers points. Abreu ranks 14th among all players and first among AL batters. deGrom led all NL rookies with 13.0 Box-Toppers points, ranking 26th among all players and 12th among NL pitchers.
However, the award, voted upon by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, completely left off their ballots the rookies with the second-most Box-Toppers points in each league:
• Blue Jays rookie pitcher Marcus Stroman was not among the 11 players receiving votes for the AL award, though he had 13.7 Box-Toppers points in 2014, ranking 23rd among all players and 12th among AL pitchers.
• Padres rookie pitcher Odrisamer Despaigne was not among the 11 players receiving votes for the NL award, though he had 7.7 Box-Toppers points in 2014, ranking 96th among all players and 43rd among all NL pitchers.
One rookie voted by writers, Mets pitcher Jeurys Familia, has no Box-Toppers points and since he has yet to earn Player of the Game honors even once, does not appear in Box-Toppers player rankings. Familia received two third-place votes from writers, finishing eighth in the voting.
There are six rookies who received votes who are among Box-Toppers top 100 players in 2014, five of them in the AL. In addition to Abreu and deGrom, they were:
• Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, 12.7 Box-Toppers points, ranking 27th among all players, 14th among AL pitchers. Tanaka finished fifth in AL Rookie of the Year voting. Prior to a midseason injury that curtailed his season, Tanaka led all players in Box-Toppers points as late as June 27, with the same 12.7 point total that he finished with. At the time, the Japanese star seemed on track for the Cy Young Award.
• Astros pitcher Collin McHugh, 11.8 Box-Toppers points, ranking 35th among all players, 20th among AL pitchers. McHugh finished fourth in AL Rookie of the Year voting.
• Angels pitcher Matt Shoemaker, 11.7 Box-Toppers points, ranking 38th among all players, 22nd among AL pitchers. Shoemaker finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting.
• Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura, 8.7 Box-Toppers points, ranking 75th among all players, 33rd among AL pitchers. Ventura finished sixth in AL Rookie of the Year voting.
American League Rookie of the Year voting
Jose Abreu of the White Sox was unanimously voted as AL Rookie of the Year. Below are the AL rookies in order of their voting finish. Also shown are the votes they received from writers for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and the overall voting point totals. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2014 and their overall rank among all players.
| Finish | AL rookies | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Pts | BTP | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Abreu | White Sox | 1b | 30 | 150 | 15.5 | 14 | ||
| 2 | Matt Shoemaker | Angels | pi sp | 12 | 4 | 40 | 11.7 | 38 | |
| 3 | Dellin Betances | Yankees | pi mr | 7 | 6 | 27 | 4.7 | 215 | |
| 4 | Collin McHugh | Astros | pi sp | 6 | 3 | 21 | 11.8 | 35 | |
| 5 | Masahiro Tanaka | Yankees | pi sp | 3 | 7 | 16 | 12.7 | 27 | |
| 6 | Yordano Ventura | Royals | pi sp | 1 | 6 | 9 | 8.7 | 75 | |
| 7 | Danny Santana | Twins | cf | 1 | 3 | 3.5 | 302 | ||
| 8 | Nick Castellanos | Tigers | 3b | 1 | 1 | 2.0 | 465 | ||
| 9 | Brock Holt | Red Sox | 3b | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 688 | ||
| 10 | Jake Odorizzi | Rays | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 9.0 | 69 | ||
| 11 | George Springer | Astros | rf | 1 | 1 | 3.0 | 357 | ||
| * | Marcus Stroman | Blue Jays | pi sp | 13.7 | 23 |
* Marcus Stroman of the Blue Jays was Box-Toppers’ top-ranked AL rookie who did not receive any votes for AL Rookie of the Year.
National League Rookie of the Year voting
Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom was voted as NL Rookie of the Year. Below are the NL rookies in order of their voting finish. Also shown are the votes they received from writers for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and the overall voting point totals. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2014 and their overall rank among all players.
| Finish | NL rookies | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points | BTP | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacob deGrom | Mets | pi sp | 26 | 4 | 142 | 13.0 | 26 | |
| 2 | Billy Hamilton | Red Sox | cf | 4 | 23 | 3 | 92 | 3.5 | 293 |
| 3 | Kolten Wong | Cardinals | 2b | 1 | 11 | 14 | 5.5 | 182 | |
| 4 | Ken Giles | Phillies | pi mr | 2 | 2 | 8 | 2.0 | 467 | |
| 5 | Ender Inciarte | Dbacks | cf | 4 | 4 | 1.0 | 689 | ||
| 6 | Joe Panik | Giants | 2b | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 701 | ||
| 7 | Travis d'Arnaud | Mets | ca | 2 | 2 | 4.0 | 267 | ||
| 8 | Jeurys Familia | Mets | pi | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | --** | ||
| 9 | Kyle Hendricks | Cubs | pi sp | 2 | 2 | 5.0 | 205 | ||
| 10 | Chase Anderson | Dbacks | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 5.0 | 204 | ||
| * | Odrisamer Despaigne | Padres | pi sp | 7.7 | 96 |
* Odrisamer Despaigne of the Padres was Box-Toppers’ top-ranked NL rookie who did not receive any votes for NL Rookie of the Year.
** Jeurys Familia of the Mets has yet to earn Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors and so has no Box-Toppers points and no ranking.
Box-Toppers complete postseason awards coverage
Here are links to more details on each of baseball’s 2014 postseason awards, including Box-Toppers points leaders in each category and the full voting results and analysis:
Silver Slugger Awards
Box-Toppers points leaders win only four of the 18 awards in each position, voted on by baseball coaches and managers.
Rookie of the Year Awards
Box-Toppers points leaders win both the AL award (Jose Abreu of the White Sox) and NL award (Jacob deGrom of the Mets) as voted by baseball writers.
Cy Young Awards
Box-Toppers points leaders win both the AL award (Corey Kluber of the Indians) and NL award (Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers) as voted by baseball writers.
Most Valuable Player Awards
Box-Toppers overall points leader Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers, a pitcher, wins the NL MVP, as voted by baseball writers. However, the leader in Box-Toppers points among AL batters, Jose Abreu of the White Sox, finishes behind the AL MVP as voted by baseball writers, Mike Trout of the Angels.