November 13, 2017

Agreeing On Rookies

Aaron Judge won the Jackie Robinson AL Rookie of the Year Award unanimously:

Aaron Judge was the 10th player to win the AL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year award by a unanimous vote and the second with the Yankees, along with Derek Jeter in 1996.

The other unanimous choices: Carlton Fisk, Mark McGwire, Sandy Alomar Jr., Tim Salmon, Nomar Garciaparra, Evan Longoria, Mike Trout and Jose Abreu. There have been 12 unanimous winners in the National League. Judge was the seventh right fielder honored in the AL. The others: Tony Oliva, Curt Blefary, Tim Salmon, Ben Grieve, Ichiro Suzuki and Wil Myers. There have been three right-field winners in the NL.

At 6-foot-7, Judge is the tallest winner of the AL award and matches the record height of two NL winners, the Dodgers’ Frank Howard in 1960 and Rick Sutcliffe in 1979.

Records everywhere! Judge was both an easy and deserving choice.

Cody Bellinger, who set the NL record for home runs by a rookie, also won unanimously:

Cody Bellinger became the 23rd player overall and the 13th in the National League to win the Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year award by a unanimous vote. It marked the third consecutive year that the NL winner was unanimous, following Corey Seager last year and Kris Bryant in 2015, a record.

There had been back-to-back winners three times in the NL and once in the American League but never three in a row until now. It also marks the third time players from the same team were unanimous in consecutive seasons. The others were the Giants’ Orlando Cepeda in 1958 and Willie McCovey in 1959 and the Dodgers’ Mike Piazza in 1993 and Raul Mondesi in 1994.

Congratulations to both rookies on marvelous seasons!

The two also won the IBWAA ballot easily:

Los Angeles – The Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) announced the winners in its rookie category Monday, with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger winning the 2017 IBWAA National League Rookie of the Year award unanimously, and Aaron Judge, of the New York Yankees, being selected as the 2017 IBWAA American League Rookie winner.

Bellinger received 146 first-place votes (100%) and 730 points.

Judge received 143 first-place votes (97.95%) and 721 points while being named on 145 of 146 ballots (98.64%). Others receiving first-place votes include Andrew Benintendi (2) and Jordan Montgomery (1).

Election results are as follows:

NL Rookie:

1st Place: Cody Bellinger, Los Angeles Dodgers – 730 points
2nd Place: Paul DeJong, St. Louis Cardinals – 163
3rd Place: Josh Bell, Pittsburgh Pirates – 139

AL Rookie:

1st Place: Aaron Judge, New York Yankees – 721 points
2nd Place: Andrew Benintendi, Boston Red Sox – 305
3rd Place: Trey Mancini, Baltimore Orioles – 75

Ballot tabulations by Brian Wittig & Associates, using the Borda Method.

The IBWAA was established July 4, 2009 to organize and promote the growing online baseball media, and to serve as a digital alternative to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). Voting for full season awards takes place in September of each year, with selections being announced in November. The IBWAA also holds a Hall of Fame election in December of each year, with results being announced the following January.

Among others, IBWAA members include Tim Brown, Yahoo! Sports; Craig Calcaterra, NBC Sports Hardball Talk; Bill Chuck, Billy-Ball.com; Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Jon Heyman and Jesse Spector, Today’s Knuckleball; Danny Knobler, Bleacher Report; Kevin Kennedy; Kostya Kennedy, Sports Illustrated; Brian Kenny, MLBN; Will Leitch, Sports on Earth; Bruce Markusen, Hardball Times; Ross Newhan; Dayn Perry and Matt Snyder, CBSSports.com; Tom Hoffarth and J.P. Hoornstra Los Angeles Daily News; Pedro Moura, Los Angeles Times; Tracy Ringolsby, MLB.com; Ken Rosenthal, TheAthletic.com; Eno Sarris, FanGraphs; David Schoenfield of ESPN.com; Bill Bowden and Bill Arnold.

Association membership is open to any and all Internet baseball writers, with a $75 lifetime fee. Discounts for groups and scholarships are available. Members must be 18 years of age to apply.

For more information please visit www.ibwaa.com.

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