BTF Awards - 2005 NL Rookie of the Year

This race was just as close as our AL balloting, with the top 4 fighting it out and getting most of the votes.

Baseball Think Factory’s 2005 NL Rookie of the Year - 1B Ryan Howard

Despite Jim Thome’s injuries and offensive collapse, the Phillies still managed to get a 260/350/468, 31 HR performance out of their first basemen, thanks solely to Ryan Howard.  After terrorizing the International League early on (371/467/690), the loss of Thome enabled Howard to step in and take the starting job.  He made the most of his opportunity, crushing 22 homers in only 312 at-bats.  The Phillies now have a real problem on their hands as Howard deserves the job but Thome is still under contract going forward.

2nd Place - SP Zach Duke

He’s not really a Duke, but if the Pirates ever establish their own monarchy, the rookie starter is a lock to wind up a member of the peerage.  Duke only required a half-season to take home the runner-up spot, going 8-2, 1.81 in 14 starts for the Bucs.  Duke and Paul Maholm were good enough to make the Pirates forget about Oliver Perez’ season, in which anything that could go wrong did.  If only the Pirates could identify players that can hit, they might be in business.  Don’t count on it.

3rd Place - OF Jeff Francoeur

Nobody will ever confuse Francoeur with a walk-happy Moneyball hitter, but when he’s on, he’s very effective at aggressive “see ball hit ball” hitting techniques.  Francouer will probably be frustrating to a lot of fans as he’ll go through a lot of hot and cold streaks.  He hit 300/336/549 with the Braves despite only hitting 275/322/487 for Mississippi.

4th Place - OF Willy Taveras

Apparently, some of our voters really think Taveras was a great defensive player (I’m not one of them).  Taveras hit 291/325/341 for the Astros in 2005, good for an OPS+ of 77, which would be the 3rd-lowest of all-time for a ROY award winner.  He does have a decent glove, though, and flashed the leather, if not a good arm, many times during the Astros run to the World Series.

5th Place - OF Ryan Church

Church made the most of his chance after Termel Sledge’s injury, hitting 287/353/466 and being a dependable source of offense for the Nationals during their playoff run.  Like most of the rest of the team, he went south after the All-Star break, going 231/315/353 for the second half.  If not for that, he might have been challenging for the award along with the top 4 players listed here.

6th Place - RP Chad Qualls

Qualls provided another valuable bullpen arm for the Astros this year and as the year went on, he became Garner’s go-to guy in clutch situations before Brad Lidge would be brought in for the save.  And the Astros sorely needed the quality relief work they got from Qualls, Lidge, Wheeler, and Gallo - they had to clamp down those leads in the 7th and later as the Astro offense wasn’t going to bail them out later.  Qualls finished with a 3.28 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 79 2/3 innings for the NL Champs.

7th Place - 3B Garret Atkins

After a late start thanks to an April injury, Atkins held down 3B for the very young Rockies, causing nobody to miss Vinny Castilla and being much better with the glove than his reputation (he’s always been considered a poor defensive 3B that was more interesting in working with the wood than the glove).  Atkins took advantage of his home park as much as the departed Castilla, with an OPS 138 points better on Planet Coors than on the rest of the earth.  Still, there’s a lot of offensive potential there and he’s a good breakout candidate in 2006.

8th Place - C/1B Mike Jacobs and OF Ryan Langerhans

Mike Jacobs got less playing time than anyone other position player that got a vote, but made the most of his hundred at-bats, hitting 310/375/700 for the Mets with 11 dingers.  He’s still halfheartedly listed as a catcher, but he will be in the 1B mix in 2006.  Even with the lack of playing time, Jacobs out-VORPed a few other players that got votes in our balloting, including Willy Taveras, Ryan Langerhans, and Nick Swisher.

Langerhans may have done a poor job at creating natural insulin in the pancreas for the Braves, but along with Francoeur and Kelly Johnson, did a lot to end the run deficiency that Raul Mondesi and Brian Jordan created on the team.  Langerhans hit 267/348/426 for the Braves with 8 home runs and decent defense at all 3 outfield positions.  It’s unclear where he will fit with the team in 2006 as the Braves have a bit of an OF glut.

RK       Player            PTS  Bal   1  2  3
————————————————————————————————————————-

 1       Howard, Ryan       63   17   8  7  2                                   
————————————————————————————————————————-

 2       Duke, Zach         43   15   4  6  5                                   

 3       Francouer, Jeff    36   14   4  3  7                                   

 4       Taveras, Willie    27    7   4  2  1                                   

 5       Church, Ryan        4    2      1  1                                   

 6       Qualls, Chad        3    1      1                                      

 7       Atkins, Garrett     2    2         2                                   

8T       Jacobs, M           1    1         1                                   

8T       Langerhans, Ryan    1    1         1                                   

Ballots Cast: 20