Andujar, Not Ohtani AL Rookie of the Year Favorite
- Yankees’ Miguel Andujar is favored to win the AL Rookie of the Year award
- Last season, Aaron Judge was the first Yankee to be ROY since Derek Jeter in 1996
- The Yankees have never produced back-to-back ROY winners
Updated odds for the American League Rookie of the Year award have been posted and it’s a three-player race, including a pair of New York Yankees, third baseman Miguel Andujar and second baseman Gleyber Torres.
Los Angeles Angels pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani is the other top contender.
2018 AL Rookie of the Year Odds
| American League Rookie of the Year | Odds |
|---|---|
| Miguel Andujar | -110 |
| Shohei Ohtani | +200 |
| Gleyber Torres | +225 |
| Ryan Yarbrough | +2500 |
Andujar Takes Control
In a distance run, the wheat ultimately separates from the chaff, and that’s what we’re witnessing with the AL rookie race. Now, no one is saying that Ohtani and Torres aren’t fine ballplayers, it’s just that since the weather heated up, so did Andujar, and while the others have faltered, he’s exhibited no signs of a slowdown.
During nine-game run from August 7th-15th, Andujar hit .378/.410/.892 with nine runs, 14 hits, four doubles, five home runs and 11 RBI.
Named AL rookie of the month in June, Andujar repeated that honor in August via a torrid month in which he led all AL rookies in runs scored, hits, home runs, RBI, extra-base hits, and doubles. Andujar, 23, became the second rookie in Yankees history to bat at least .320 with ten-or-more home runs in a calendar month, joining Judge, who did so last June during his rookie-of-the year run.
Andujar is on pace to become the seventh rookie in AL history to bat at least .299 with a minimum of 38 doubles and 23 home runs.
Should he attain these benchmarks, he’ll join Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio (1936) and Ted Williams (1939), along with Dale Alexander (1929), Hal Trosky (1934), Tony Oliva (1964) and Nomar Garciaparra (1997) in this exclusive club. Both Oliva and Garciaparra won the rookie award.
Ohtani is a Unique Rookie
The most effectively versatile performer in pro sports since the Pittsburgh Steelers unveiled quarterback/wide receiver Kordell Stewart, a.k.a. Slash, in 1997, Ohtani recently returned to the mound for the first time since June 6th, when he was sidelined from pitching by a UCL sprain.
AL Rookie Pitching Statistics
| American League Rookie Pitching Stats | W-L | IP | ERA | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shohei Ohtani | 4-2 | 51.2 | 3.31 | 1.161 |
| Ryan Yarbrough | 13-5 | 129.2 | 3.68 | 1.234 |
Not since the mighty Bambino, Babe Ruth, has MLB witnessed a player of Ohtani’s ilk, able to display elite ability on the pitching mound and as an everyday player. In fact, when he suffered a 4-2 loss on September 2nd against the Houston Astros, Ohtani joined Ruth in rarefied company.
Shohei Ohtani is the first player since Babe Ruth in 1919 with 50 IP and 15 HR in a single season.
That's 99 years! pic.twitter.com/0h1kPJL4wL
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 3, 2018
Were it not for the injury that halted the pitching side of Ohtani’s remarkable combination, it’s likely that his unique skill set would have left the others chasing him for this award.
Torres is No Slouch
In Andujar and Torres, the Yankees suit up just the sixth combination of rookies to hit 20 home runs and the first since Mike Jacobs, Dan Uggla and Josh Willingham all did it for the Florida Marlins in 2006. The last AL club to accomplish this feat was the 1982 Minnesota Twins with Kent Hrbek and Gary Gaetti.
AL Rookie Statistics
| American League Rookie Stats | BA | HR | RBI | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miguel Andujar | .299 | 23 | 76 | .859 |
| Shohei Ohtani | .277 | 15 | 43 | .897 |
| Gleyber Torres | .279 | 22 | 66 | .857 |
It’s not difficult to make a case for Torres, 21, as the top rookie in the AL. In Yankees history, only DiMaggio (29 in 1936) and Mickey Mantle (23 in 1952) hit more homers in a season age 21 or younger. But his batting average has plummeted almost 20 points since the All-Star Break, and his OPS dropped from .905 to .857.
The AL Rookie of the Year Award is Andujar’s to Lose
At this point, you would have to say that the smart money is on Andujar getting the AL rookie nod. It would likely require a meltdown of epic proportion over the final month of the season to cost him this honor. But while it’s Torres who is skidding and Ohtani’s body is displaying wear and tear from his double duty, Andujar just keeps on rolling.
He’s about to join the likes of Judge, Jeter, Dave Righetti, Tony Kubek, Tom Tresh, Gil McDougald, Thurman Munson and Stan Bahnsen, all of them Yankees who were named AL Rookie of the Year.
An industry veteran, Bob literally taught the course on the history of sports at Elder College. He has worked as a Sports Columnist for Postmedia, appeared as a guest on several radio stations, was the Vice President of the Society For International Hockey Research in Ontario, and written 25 books.
