2009 SB Nation Awards: Rookies of the Year (Brett Anderson was Robbed)

by Freneau on Nov 10, 2009 8:30 AM EST in Kansas City Royals News

Every season, the baseball team at SB Nation gets together and votes on the same name-brand season awards that the official baseball writers do. We follow the same format and the same points system. Like the BBWAA, votes are due before the postseason.

So who claimed the coveted SB Nation Rookie of the Year title?

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Elvis Andrus	Texas Rangers	6	9	6	63
2	Andrew Bailey	Oakland Athletics	11	1	3	61
3	Jeff Niemann	Tampa Bay Rays	3	5	3	33
4	Rick Porcello	Detroit Tigers	2	7	2	33
5	Brett Anderson	Oakland Athletics	5	1	3	31
6	Gordon Beckham	Chicago White Sox	1	2	8	19
7	Nolan Reimold	Baltimore Orioles	1	-	1	6
8	Matt Wieters	Baltimore Orioles	-	1	3	6
9	Brad Bergesen	Baltimore Orioles	-	1	-	3
10	Ricky Romero	Toronto Blue Jays	-	1	-	3
11	Travis Snider	Toronto Blue Jays	-	1	-	3

Weird results, which is not uncommon for Rookie of the Year. I voted: 1) Brett Anderson, 2) Elvis Andrus, 3) Jeff Niemann. Did you know that Brett Anderson posted a 3.8 WAR this season? Apparently not many SB Nation baseball bloggers did. I'm disappointed that he finished behind Rick Porcello, who may have a brighter future, but was literally half as valuable (1.9 WAR) in 2009.

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Brett Anderson	11-11	30	30	1	1	0	0	175.1	180	94	79	20	45	150	4.06	1.28

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Jeff Niemann	13-6	31	30	2	2	0	0	180.2	185	84	79	17	59	125	3.94	1.35

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Rick Porcello	14-9	31	31	0	0	0	0	170.2	176	81	75	23	52	89	3.96	1.34

As for the rest of my ballot, Niemann/Andrus could go either way. Niemann actually posted a slightly better WAR (3.2 to 3.0) but I made a slightly old-schoolish choice of Andrus over Niemann due to a slight preference for everyday players in close calls like this. My random decision basically gave Andrus the overall title over Andrew Bailey.

Side prediction: Elvis Andrus will not post a 3.0 WAR in any of the next two seasons. Side prediction 2: Rick Porcello will pitch better in 2010, but have a higher ERA.

Here are the National Leage results:

Rk	Player	Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Pts
1	Tommy Hanson	Atlanta Braves	9	9	6	78
2	J.A. Happ	Philadelphia Phillies	6	9	7	64
3	Andrew McCutchen	Pittsburgh Pirates	8	3	5	54
4	Chris Coghlan	Florida Marlins	7	5	4	54
5	Dexter Fowler	Colorado Rockies	-	3	1	10
6	Randy Wells	Chicago Cubs	-	-	6	6
7	Garrett Jones	Pittsburgh Pirates	1	-	-	5
8	Casey McGehee	Milwaukee Brewers	-	1	2	5
9	Seth Smith	Colorado Rockies	-	1	-	3

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Comments

Man...

Im jealous of how many relatively good young players Baltimore has.

This space for rent.

by averagegatsby on Nov 10, 2009 9:44 AM EST reply actions

How can it not be Niemann

The man 2 hit the Royals in 100 pitches! That takes greatness of a rare kind.

Meh on Andrus. He had a lot of hype. Which isn’t his fault of course, but I prefer the Bailey’s of the world who come from relative nowhere.

by kcbottom9th on Nov 10, 2009 10:11 AM EST reply actions

Whatever happened to Colby Rasmus?

At the All Star Break, everone was ready to give him Rookie of the Year. And then he sort of disappeared.

by NotAHippie on Nov 10, 2009 11:23 AM EST reply actions

That's what I was going to say

He didn’t exactly hit the cover off the ball but he was decent at the plate and great in the field, putting up the 2nd best UZR/150 for a CF in the NL, and he was even better in the corner OF positions. I was surprised to see he didn’t even get a third place vote from anyone.

by Soria's Unibrow on Nov 10, 2009 3:06 PM EST up reply actions