Pittsburgh Pirates fireballer Paul Skins, who had the most major league mound issues among rookies this year, was honored as the best rookie.
Skins was named the NL Rookie of the Year on Wednesday (Korea time). In a vote of 30 BBWAA reporters, he received a total of 136 points with 23 first-place votes and seven second-place votes, beating San Diego Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill. Merrill had a total of 104 points with seven first-place votes and 23 second-place votes.
Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Churio then ranked third with 26 points, and Chicago Cubs Japanese pitcher Shota Imanaga ranked fourth with four points, each with four third-place votes.
The NL Rookie of the Year competition was initially expected to be a two-way race. As Meryl won the NL Rookie of the Year award at the Sporting News NL Players’ Union Players’ Choice Awards, there were many opinions that she would be able to beat Skins again this time.
However, the results of the voting were unexpectedly wide. The voting for Sporting News is conducted by a panel of experts, and the voting for the Athletes’ Union Awards is conducted by athletes. They may clearly have different opinions from the BBWAA.
Since joining Pittsburgh as the No. 1 overall pick in the first round of the draft in July last year, Skins has been in the spotlight and has been on his way to the major leagues. He started against the Chicago Cubs on May 12 at PNC Park, his home stadium, and made an impressive and shaky debut with six hits, two walks, seven strikeouts and three runs in four innings. However, since then, he has been on a roll, showing off his top pitching in the major leagues.
He met the Cubs again on May 18 and won his first victory with no hits and no runs, allowing only one walk and 11 strikeouts, and later emerged as a candidate for Rookie of the Year by continuing stable and strong pitching of more than five innings and three runs or less in 13 consecutive games until the Arizona Diamondbacks match on August 5.
Pitching focused on control while lowering the average four-seam fastball speed to 98 miles, which was close to 100 miles, was the secret to the long run of the season.
In the end, Skins pitched 133 innings in 23 appearances for the season, recording 11 wins and 3 losses with an ERA of 1.96, 170 strikeouts, WHIP of 0.95 and a hit rate of 0.198. It is the first time a rookie has posted 170 strikeouts or more and below ERA of 2.00 since 1913, when 토토사이트 ERA appeared as an official record.
In addition, Skins will take the mound as an NL starting pitcher at the All-Star Game held at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas in July. Skins is the second rookie pitcher to start the All-Star Game after Hideo Nomo of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1995. Skins is the second Pittsburgh player to be named Rookie of the Year after outfielder Jason Bay in 2004.
In fact, Merrill’s performance was not easy. Merrill, who debuted in the Major League as the starting center fielder for the opening game this year, played 156 games and recorded a batting average of 0.292 (162 hits in 554 times at bat), 24 homers, 90 RBIs, 77 points, 16 steals, OPS of 0.826, and bWAR of 4.4. Notably, Merrill had a batting average of 0.314, 12 homers, 44 RBIs, and OPS of 0.945, leading San Diego to rank No. 1 in the NL wild card.
The AL was more competitive for the Rookie of the Year award. New York Yankees starting pitcher Lewis Hill scored 106 points including 15 first-place votes, 10 second-place votes, and one third-place vote, beating Baltimore Orioles outfielder Colton Kauser (101) by just five points to clinch the AL Rookie of the Year award.
Hill, a right-hander from the Dominican Republic, started 29 games this season and pitched 151 ⅔ innings with a 15-7 record, 3.50 ERA and 171 strikeouts, while Couser hit .242 (121 hits in 499 at-bats), 24 homers, 69 RBIs, 77 runs and an OPS of 0.768 in 153 games.