Nearly a month until October baseball officially starts up, the MLB awards race on. Aside from the MVP and Cy Young awards, the Rookie of the Year award is a major award in the league. Each year, Major League Baseball awards two rookies, one from the American League and one from the National League, based off their talents during their first “full” season in the Major Leagues. For this particular award, the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) votes.
Today we take a look at the American League top contenders for the Rookie of the Year. Aaron Judge, of the New York Yankees and Andrew Benintendi, of the Boston Red Sox. Of course, these are the top two rookies who come from the biggest rivalry of Major League Baseball, making this argument between the fans harder than it should be.
Below, shows the hitting lines between the two rookies as of Aug. 22, 2017.
Aaron Judge, new york yankees
.284 AVG, 37 HR, 81 RBI, 167 SO, 121 Hits, 15 Doubles
Andrew Benintendi, Boston Red Sox
.278 AVG, 18 HR, 71 RBI, 82 SO, 121 Hits, 18 Doubles
Note that these statistics are year-to-date. Now let’s take a look at the statistics Post ALL-Star Game.
Post All-Star Game
Andrew Benintendi: .280 AVG, 6 HR, 19 RBI, 25 SO, 35 Hits, 4 Doubles
Aaron Judge: .169 AVG, 7 HR, 14 RBI, 58 SO, 21 Hits, 2 Doubles
When the season began in April, it was obvious that Judge was on pace to taking home the Rookie of the Year award, possibly being a MVP candidate as well. Going into the All-Star break, he led the majors with 30 total homers.
A couple days later, Judge took home the Home Run Derby trophy after blasting 500+ foot homers in Miami. After that night finished, Judge peaked for the year.
Since the All-Star Game, Aaron Judge has been a complete bust for the Yankees. He currently holds a 37-game streak with at least one strikeout in each of those games.
On the other side, Benintendi is on a hot streak. In his last 30 games, Benintendi is batting .315 with six homers and 16 runs batted in. In Judge’s last 30 games, he put up a whopping .169 batting average with only seven runs batted in.
Judge performed like no other before the All-Star break. Benintendi was different. Benintendi has been consistent in the Red Sox lineup the entire year. His batting average has sat in the .280 range the whole season, as well as creating hot streaks at various times.
He has moved to Boston’s three hole in the lineup, which has led to great success with batting with runners in scoring position. Benintendi is tied in homers with Mookie Betts, a MVP candidate last season, with 18 total.
Voting vs. fan based
Regardless of the the voting, these two players both deserve the award in their own ways. They both will seek great futures for their organizations.
However, Judge has a better chance of taking home the award. His pre All-Star hitting was unlike anything we have seen in any rookie. To take home the Home Run Derby as a rookie is insane.
That doesn’t mean that this competition isn’t close. It gives you a sense of 2012, when Bryce Harper and Mike Trout were both rookies. Of course they both went on to win the Rookie of the Year, due to the fact one was in the AL, and the other in the NL. Anyway, they still get compared today, five years later.
The competition is sparked between the rivalry of New York and Boston.
In a poll from NESN, the fans were asked if they would rather have Andrew Benintendi or Aaron Judge for the next 10 years. Benintendi was selected for 86 percent of the votes. NESN is based in and covers Boston area sports, so the vote was swayed in favor of Bendintendi for sure.
Yeah, Judge will probably take the American League Rookie of the Year award, but that doesn’t mean that Benintendi is a close-second and holds a bright future in the league.
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