Today we’ll start looking at some rookie of the year prospects. There is no such thing as “pitcher rookie of the year” – anymore. But there have been some very notable rookie performance so far this year. I’m going to only look at starters in this case with a minimum 100 innings pitched.
American League (top 4-5 per stat):
Most Wins:
1. Matt Shoemaker, LAA, 14
2. Masahiro Tanaka, NYY, 12
3. Yordano Ventura, KC, 12
4. Odorizzi, Elias, Stroman, 10
ERA:
1. Masahiro Tanaka, NYY, 2.51
2. Collin McHugh, HOU, 2.79
3. Yordano Ventura, KC, 3.25
3. Matt Shoemaker, LAA, 3.25
WHIP
1. Masahiro Tanaka, NYY, 1.01
2. Collin McHugh, HOU, 1.04
3. Matt Shoemaker, LAA, 1.10
4. Marcus Stroman, TOR, 1.16
K/9
1. Masahiro Tanaka, NYY, 10.1
2. Jake Odorizzi, TB, 9.7
3. Collin McHugh, HOU, 8.9
4. Matt Shoemaker, LAA, 8.7
OBA
1. Collin McHugh, HOU, .209
2. Masahiro Tanaka, NYY, .231
3. Jake Odorizzi, TB, .236
4. Yordano Ventura, KC, .239
5. Matt Shoemaker, LAA, .241
Top 3:
Mashahiro Tanaka leads in just about every category above. If he had stayed healthy, he’d likely be at the top in Wins as well. He no doubt has had an impressive rookie season that was somewhat tainted by his early exit.
Matt Shoemaker tops the AL rookies in Wins and he started out the season in the bullpen. He’s been pretty impressive and managed a 22 inning scoreless streak through August.
Collin McHugh has also been very impressive and if he were on a team that was even halfway decent, his numbers would be scary good. His WHIP, ERA and K/9 are all very impressive, let allow his incredible .209 OBA. He’d be near the top in wins if he only had run support from his team.
It’s a tough call. Hard to give it to Tanaka with his early exit though he was amazing until his elbow problems. Shoemaker is helping his team get to the playoffs so you almost have to give it to him at this point unless Tanaka can make a comeback before season end. McHugh is left out in the cold because he has the unfortunate position of being on one of the worst teams in baseball.
