Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
November 13, 2007
The Right Rookie

Dustin Pedroia and Ryan Braun took home Rookie of the Year honors Monday. Pedroia won in a run away, while Braun and Tulowitzki finished in the closest race under the current voting system.

The two-point difference was the closest in the NL since the current voting system was adopted in 1980. The previous closest contest was last year, when Florida shortstop Hanley Ramirez edged Washington third baseman Ryan Zimmerman 105-101.

Mark Krieger doesn't seem to think defense was taken into account enough:

As you can see, the baseball writers really like their numbers. In all, they listed nine performance statistics apiece for the two leading candidates. Eighteen numbers. And every one of them reflected performance at the plate.

Nowhere in those five paragraphs will you find any mention of defense. This from a group devoted to explaining the game of baseball.

And that is why Braun, a wonderful hitter and lousy fielder, beat Tulowitzki, a slightly less wonderful hitter and spectacular fielder at a more difficult position.

I'll post PMR for third base later today, but I just checked and Braun is indeed near the bottom of the list, while Troy reigned supreme over defensive shortstops. However, offense does count for a lot, and win shares does put Braun ahead of Tulowitzki. According to The Hardball Times, Tulowitzki posted 25 win shares, 12 over bench, and a rate of .688. The win shares break down 14 offense, 11 defense, a great season for anyone, let alone a rookie. Braun posted 22 win shares, but 13 over bench, and with a rate of .816. Despite coming up on May 25th and being a poor defensive player, Braun contributed more to the Brewers than Tulowitzki did to the Rockies. Braun, however, did it all with offense (20 offense, 2 defense). The vote was just as close as it should have been, but there's no problem taking Braun's offense over Tulowitzki's defense.

Congratulations to Dustin Pedrioa and Ryan Braun on winning the Rookie of the Year and the Jackie Robinson award.


Posted by David Pinto at 07:19 AM | Awards | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I think defense should be stressed more than it is, but Braun was definitely head and shoulders above Tulo on offense. However, if you want to talk about which rookie contributed more or had more of an impact, I would have to argue for Tulo. Even the veterans on the team admit that he was their leader. There's no way the Rockies make the playoffs without him.

Posted by: dan at November 13, 2007 09:31 AM

That's a pretty tough call. I might have picked Tulo, but I've got no problem with Braun winning.

Posted by: Mr. Furious at November 13, 2007 11:07 AM
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