Corey Seager of the Dodgers and Michael Fulmer of the Tigers have been named the Rookies of the Year in their respective leagues by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Seager followed Kris Bryant in taking the National League RoY award by a unanimous vote. The only question with his candidacy is whether the trophy will be joined on his shelf by a 2016 N.L Most Valuable Player award. (Bryant stands as perhaps his strongest competition for that top honor.)
There were quality competitors, though. The Nationals’ Trea Turner might’ve made things interesting had he played at the major league level for the entire season — and managed to sustain his partial-season excellence for the long haul. As it turned out, he edged Dodgers hurler Kenta Maeda for second place. Three hurlers — Jon Gray of the Rockies, Steven Matz of the Mets, and Seung-hwan Oh of the Cardinals — received one third-place vote apiece.
The 22-year-old Seager had already taken the game by storm last year, but his 27-game run didn’t use up his rookie eligibility. He was great from start to finish in 2016, compiling a .308/.365/.512 batting line and knocking 26 long balls over 687 plate appearances. And he did all that at the plate while providing quality defense at shortstop, making him one of the game’s most valuable performers (and, given his cheap control, one of its top assets).
Things were a bit tighter on the American League side. Fulmer seemed to be running away with things before Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez emerged late in the year. Like Turner, he was just too late to make up the ground in the award hunt — but that doesn’t dampen the enthusiasm for his future. Indians outfielder Tyler Naquin came in third, with Astros hurler Chris Devenski landing in fourth.
Fulmer enjoyed a breakout campaign in his first major league action. The 23-year-old ran up 159 innings of 3.06 ERA pitching, with 7.5 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9. For a Detroit organization that is looking to get younger and add assets with greater control, Fulmer — who came over in the 2015 deadline deal that sent Yoenis Cespedes to the Mets — is a cornerstone.
Was rooting for Sanchez as a Yankee fan of course but Fulmer deserved it. Seager was an obvious no brainier.
Obvious and no brainer are the same thing in this context, no need for both
You forgot the period at the end of your sentence.
Justice.
Savage.
Ass
Would’ve been interesting had Aledmys Diaz and Story stayed healthy. Seager looks like a perennial stud, but I like Diaz’ bat.
Fulmer is an ace in waiting.
nah, he’s decent though. #3 starter
If the Tigers did not get rained out at the end of the year (they got eliminated in game 161), Fulmer would have won the ERA title as a rookie. Ace? Yep.
He will show flashes of great stuff, but will end up pitching to a 3.50-3.75 ERA. Good, but he won’t be a top 30 ace.
So exactly how many games did you scout Fulmer?
I have my sources
Right, that’s why teams wanted him at the deadline. Go have a few beers with your sources.
Well, I’ll be sure to bookmark this and come back in two years just to say I told you so.
Eh, he benefited from some BABIP and strand luck. He’s probably a 3.5-3.7 ERA guy moving forward. I’d consider him a high-end 3 right now with the potential to be a 2, but he’s not a true #1 without a drastic uptick in the strikeout rate. Disagree that he’s better than Syndergaard or Degrom as you insinuated below.
Hello, fellow rational person.
Exactly, the evidence is in the numbers.
While any pitcher (Fulmer included) can break pass his ceiling and play above it, it isn’t a common thing.
Thanks for the definitive opinion. Perhaps you can begin writing for SI and MLB Trade Rumors with all of your knowledge and insight…..
Where do I sign up?
Where can I get what you and your sidekick are smoking? Crap, it’s more powerful than the bud I smoked in BC.
Instead of citing mumbo-jumbo sources and stats that you and your sidekick have no idea how to calculate (surely as an expert in statistics you can you tell me how to calculate a t-test), watch the game and learn.
Syndergaard and degrom have been in the majors for more than a year. Fulmer has shown hes great, but now the calendar year has passed. I think its too early to give him the title of a bonafide ace but he sure pitched like one in 2016. We ll have to see, I do think hes due for regression but I think he ll still be fantastic. Rich Dubee really has been successful w working w him
DEF: Pseud-otroll- one that attacks without substance. User of substances.
Ah yes, keep things pure, gotta live the American dream, baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet..
Smoking pot is on it’s way to being made legal in Canada and substance abuse is higher in the US.. Thanks for the insight.
A #3 starter? Whatever you’re smoking I want some. He has one of the best sliders I’ve seen in the last 10 years. His fastball and Changeup are nothing to scoff at.
He’s a #1 potential ace with a floor of a high end #2.
#3 my butt
Let’s break down what you just said:
1) He has the best sliders YOU’VE seen in the last 10 years. How many MLB sliders have you seen the past 10 years. Now let’s just say he really does have the number 1 slider, it doesn’t mean he is an automatic ace. It takes more than just 1 amazing pitch.
2) His FB and changeup are nothing to scoff at. Gotta love how you’re describing the pitches. If only it was really that easy to be a talent evaluator. “You know Mike, he has an amazing fastball and his changeup is redonkulous.”.
He’s a 3, 2 tops. He’ll regress, go look at the actual tangible peripherals/stats instead of saying things like “nothing to scoff at”. In before someone calls me a nerd or something…
Staff ace type. High 2 ceiling with the floor of a solid 3. Heck of a pitcher though, wish he wasn’t in the AL Central.
He is already an ace. Excellent Old/Young 1/2 punch.
Baseball is in good shape, there are a lot of great young players. There is a changing of the guard with players like Seager and Turner. They are some of the best players in the game after one year. It started with Trout, Cutch, and Donaldson then Bryant ,Harper and has continued . Seager is the kind of player that doesn’t come around very often.
This literally happens non-stop. It isn’t some new thing. Players get old, new ones take their place.
You can have Fullmer or Sanchez right now, pick. That’s what I thought.
Sure, but that’s not what this award measures.
Fulmer. What is your point?
Fulmer
Fulmer
Let’s see what Sanchez does over the bulk of a full season.
And who’s Fullmer?
Fulmer
Wow. I definitely thought the ROY was going to Maeda.
Seriously ? Almost everyone knew Seager would win it unanimously
No I was being sarcastic, because it was clearly going to Seager.
Didn’t seem like sarcasm.
Well it’s hard to put sarcasm into text, that’s why I added in the definitely.
Is there a way to see how all the votes ended up, I want to see if Dae Ho got any votes for top 10.
BBWAA web page.
Some of those votes are head scratchers, then again some of these voters probably get all O-faced knowing they can do whatever they want with their votes.
I’m glad Fulmer is flourishing in Detroit. It’s always great to see a win-win trade. Especially when you see it for both sides very quickly.
Not necessarily a win-win when NY accomplished nothing with Cespedes and are likely to just receive a compensation pick. They could’ve had Fulmer for 6 years on a rookie contract instead of spending $32M on Cespedes
Yeah, if only the Mets had won the NL pennant with Cespedes like that mystery team in 2015 did. If only…
Totally agree and Cessa was traded to get a solid bullpen piece in Justin Wilson. I dont hate it at all. Cespedes helped bring the Mets to the World Series and to the postseason the very next year while the Tigers future became much better.
Anyone who disagrees is a hater. I personally cant name too many win-win trades like this in which the scale isnt too tilted one way or another. Mets had to pull the trigger and hey, they gave it a good ride
How many of the “big 4” Mets starters will Fulmer surpass?
He was 4 innings short of an ERA title as a rookie.
Interesting question.
Probably just Matz. I still would take degrom Harvey or syndergaard over Fulmer. It will be interesting to see his development but I don’t see the “top 10 pitcher in baseball” talent I see in the other 3
I don’t think the Tigers would trade Fulmer for any of them right now.
Then they have really bad general management. Fulmer is a nice pitcher, but he’s not as good as Syndergaard or deGrom. Matz looks like a tossup.
they would trade him in a heartbeat for thor. they’d also definetly trade him for degrom, not are about harvey though
If you are cutting payroll such as the Tigers are, the more years they get under team control at lower salary the better.
I think youre getting ahead of yourself. Fulmer is very good. Degrom and syndergaard are established aces. Harvey was an ace and barring a drastic makeover, he could return to dominace at some point. Id take Fulmer over Matz and maybe at this point even Harvey.
Good players
Seager is unbelievable. HOF
This was his first year. Don’t get ahead of yourself
The voting was exactly as it should’ve been. Fulmer deserved it. Sanchez was exposed once the calendar flipped to September.
Seager deserved top rookie hands down. But attributing “quality defense” to him is a little wrong.
18 errors in 150 games, and very liberal official Dodger stadium scorers says the opposite. Include limited range and he is a fair to good defender.
Also having “Agon” at first digging them out at first helped him immensely.
Seager ended with the 6th highest defensive rating among all starting SS’s and 5th on range, according to fangraphs. The fielding bible also gave him positive marks, at +5 defensive runs saved.
Oh turned out to be a steal, good acquisition by Mo
What do you think Sanchez numbers look like with 500 at bats ? He actually surprised the organization with that torrid pace
The “but” with this assumption is that opposing teams will usually figure out a rookie in time. Might be a couple of weeks or a couple of months, but eventually they will figure them out. Tanaka was dominant in his first what 10-15 starts or something like that? And then after that, teams were figuring him out. He’s still good, but not as unhittable as he was when he was a “rookie”. If not, the schedule will usually tire them out since they’re probably not used to a schedule like it.
Exactly. I’m going to take the safe route and assume he’s not Babe Ruth, so he’s not going to continue slugging .660 or anything. He also strikes out quite a bit and probably won’t walk as much as he did. I’d guess something like .265/.325/.455 with 22-25 homers in a full season next year, coupled with obviously a rocket arm and better-than-expected defense. Still a great young player under cheap control, but not the best player in baseball or anything.
Seager should place a thank you call to Trevor Story.
I disagree. Seager was a finalist for the MVP award. Even in a full season, Trevor Story wouldn’t be in that discussion and he’s not even the best player on his team.
To be fair though Seager isnt the best player on the Dodgers either
Eh. Story got bit by the injury bug. It happens, for a similar reason why Sanche z didnt deserve the roy over fulmer, Story played less games than Seager. Its too bad it happened during his rookie year but it happened.