With the 2011 MLB All-Star Game a little more than a week away, we head toward the unofficial halfway point in the baseball season with the Rookie of the Year races in both leagues heating up.
In the National League, a trio of hitters has stood out offensively while a handful of young pitchers are aiming for the crown.
While Domonic Brown drew all the praise before the season started, Danny Espinosa, Freddie Freeman and Darwin Barney are the leading position player candidates to take home the award.
Espinosa leads the group at this point despite a low batting average. Espinosa is the rookie leader in homeruns, stolen bases and RBIs in the NL and has posted an impressive 3.0 fWAR already this season for the Washington Nationals.
Freeman started off slow but has come on as of late. Since the beginning of May he has hit .299 with an .811 OPS. The Braves first baseman started last year in AAA off slowly before eventually turning things around to win the International League Rookie of the Year Award.
Barney has had a solid season for the Cubs but falls behind the other two because he lacks impact power or speed to compliment his solid batting average. While he has a solid .676 OPS he falls well behind Freeman and Espinosa in that category.
The top two pitching NL ROY candidates both come from the Atlanta Braves.
Brandon Beachy has arrived out of nowhere (he was undrafted just a few years ago) to be the best fifth starter in the NL. Although he has spent some time on the DL, his 1.2 fWAR leads all NL Rookie starters and he is striking out batters at a tremendous (10.54 K/9) rate.
Finally, Craig Kimbrel is trying to follow Neftali Feliz and take home the Rookie of the Year award as a closer. Kimbrel has been one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball this year, leading all relievers (not just rookies) in fWAR with 1.8 and striking out 14.27 batters per nine innings. His 1.47 FIP and 2.09 xFIP confirm that he has been dominant thus far.
Other NL candidates include the aforementioned Brown (he has the talent to turn things around), Josh Collmenter, Dillon Gee, Vance Worley and Juan Miranda.
In the American League, there are five strong ROY candidates thus far.
Offensively, Angels’ first baseman Mark Trumbo leads AL Rookies in homeruns, OPS and fWAR (with 1.3). Trumbo has shown a little speed on the base paths as well and could establish himself as the top rookie hitter if his on base percentage rises.
Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia is another strong candidate. The catcher is right behind Trumbo in homeruns and OPS while putting up 0.9 fWAR thus far in about 50 fewer plate appearances. Like Trumbo, Arencibia has a low OBP but his should start to rise. He hit over .300 in AAA last year and has just a .253 BABIP thus far in 2011.
Three AL pitchers stand above the rest of the field.
Jeremy Hellickson, rated as the top pitching prospect by some heading into the season, has put up solid numbers thus far. He is below the other pitchers because his strikeout and walk rates have been significantly worse than in the minors and his 4.13 FIP is unspectacular. He has put up 0.9 fWAR and could still catch the others with a strong second half.
Orioles prospect Zach Britton has been fantastic so far in 2011. His 3.38 ERA and 3.83 FIP are solid but what puts him ahead of the other candidates is his 1.5 fWAR so far. Britton is just below the 100 innings mark and could have his innings scaled back because of where the Orioles are in the division standings. If he can improve his strikeout rate to its minor league levels, Britton could make a run at the current leader.
The current leader would be Michael Pineda of the Mariners. Pineda leads all AL Rookies with 2.2 fWAR and has an impressive 2.65 ERA and 3.01 FIP. Pineda has solid peripheral ratios (including a 3.09 K/BB ratio) and won seven games for the offensively challenged Mariners. If there is a knock on Pineda, it’s his low .245 BABIP which could lead to a regression as the year progresses. Thus far, Pineda is the clear leader in the AL.
The most notable other candidates are Royals teammates Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas. Neither has produced much yet (Hosmer has 0.0 fWAR in 198 at-bats while Moustakas has just 57 total at-bats) but has the talent and opportunity to hit their way into the race.
As the season moves on, other candidates could emerge. A number of players have only 100 plate appearances so far but have played well. If they continue to perform with more playing time as the season progresses new names could challenge the current front runners for the Rookie of the Year award.
Used with permission of the author.
Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.