New York Yankees: Breaking down each AL Rookie of the year candidate – Yanks have best chance to win
By Alex Jordan
Shohei Ohtani
Ohtani has been billed as the “Japanese Babe Ruth.” He has certainly lived up to the hype. He did great as both a pitcher and a hitter.
Ohtani hit .285 with 22 home runs, 61 RBIs, and a .925 OPS in 104 games.
On the mound, he was 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA , and stroke out 11 batters per nine innings. He is first player ever since to hit 15 home runs and strike out 50 batters in a season.
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Shohei joins Babe Ruth as the only players ever to hit 15 home runs and pitch 50 innings. He had Tommy John surgery after the season and is not expected to pitch next year.
As I said earlier, Ohtani seems to be the favorite to win.
It seems like he is a shoe-in to win the ROY. If there were not two other finalist who had Rookie of the Year caliber years, then he would be a lock for rookie of the year.
Ohtani had a great year and has his work cut out for him for Rookie of the Year.
The only nag on Ohtani is not really his lack of ability, but the fact that he spent significant time injured.
Like with other baseball awards, the fact that the Angels were a below average team might be taken into consideration.
However, he has just a much as “best rookie” in the American League as anyone else does.