Orioles’ Mountcastle not a finalist for AL Rookie of the Year

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• While it is always brought up (especially amongst fans) how big of an effect does having a small market team and/or a bad team have on awards voting? With the wonders of the internet and mlb extra innings, there should be no excuse for not following certain players (e.g. only reading box score instead of watching the national game of the week)

  • Stephen, each market is equally represented. There are 15 teams, and each has two voters. I think there was an unusually large number of excellent candidates this year, including Ryan Mountcastle. I thought he'd be a finalist, but didn't think he'd win. I think the point about being a good player on a bad team may be valid.

    • Thanks Rich! I didn’t know about the 2 voters per mkt rule.

  • So do New York, Chicago etc get double votes or just two for two teams?…go O’s…

  • Two writers who cover the Yankees and White Sox get votes for the American League Rookie of the Year. Two writers who cover the Mets and Cubs get votes for the National League Rookie of the Year. It’s the same for each club.

  • Thx for clarifying…go O’s…

• If he played in Boston and New York, he would win running away. If a bum like Heaney gets 8.5 million, we are in trouble!

• With all due respect Rich, this is an indictment on the nation's sports media. Despite the close proximity and direct access to the teams, perhaps they're not quite the sports experts they purport themselves to be. Not having Mountcastle in the same class as Franco, who only played about half a year, (at-batwise) is a joke. Shame on those voters.

  • While I have stated here before that if I had a vote it would be for Franco after seeing this tweet by Nathan Ruiz I’d have to seriously rethink that statement:

    “Wander Franco made his debut June 22 and hit .288/.347/.463 (.810 OPS) with seven home runs in 70 games.

    Ryan Mountcastle from June 22 on: .249/.326/.505 (.831 OPS) with 21 home runs in 78 games.”

    While I believe Franco will be the better player long term these stats say RM is getting screwed in the RoY voting. And don’t worry, I’m not going to say why I believe that’s happening as I don’t want to stir up a hornets nest again.

  • Dave, players on winning teams have a distinct advantage over losing teams. I’m
    eager to see what the breakdown was and who voted for whom.

    This was an unusually strong year for rookies, the strongest I can remember.

    Had I been a voter, I doubt I would have had Franco in my top three because he only played in 70 games, but he did have a 3.5 WAR, which is sensational for less than a half-season.

    Arozarena’s WAR was 4.1, Luis Garcia’s was 2.5 and Mountcastle’s was .9. He had a 1.5 offensive WAR and a -1.5 defensive WAR.

    I thought Cleveland reliever Emmanuel Clase with a 2.8 WAR should have been a finalist, too.

    WAR is very important in awards voting. Combine Mountcastle’s WAR and playing for a team that lost 110 games, and that’s why he wasn’t a finalist.

• Players got it right, that's what matters!

• Voted ROY by your peers means way more than the media, over 800 voters vs 30…guarantee some of the voters never saw him play a game…go O’s…

• Ryan Mountcastle promises to be a very productive and valuable player for the future of this team. That’s the most important takeaway for me.

  Those two guys in Tampa Bay are very flamboyant and talented two-way ballers.

  Was going to be difficult for Ryan to be more noticed compared to them.

  • Great points BC.
    I recall some of the discussion about Mountcastle earlier in the season on this forum were his positive attributes of apparent humility, and blue collar approach to his job. He’s decidedly not flamboyant and as such perhaps “grabs” less attention.
    Instead, he shows quiet commitment, steady demeanor and a workman like attitude. His mettle won’t get him splashed across ESPN constantly, but are lifelong traits which hopefully carry him a long way in baseball and in his life beyond this game.
    Playing for a basement dwelling team certainly doesn’t help move the needle for him, either.
    I’ll take productivity over notoriety anyday.

• Baker’s minor league stats make him an interesting pick up.

• Diaz is sounding more & more like Harvey….go O’s…

  • That’s so true CalsPals and I gotta add, SO disappointing. I had so much promise for Harvey after his brief but very successful stint in 2019. I was sure they’d found their closer for the next 6-7 years at least. And as for Diaz, I was excited about having this “5 tool” player coming to Baltimore. While I’m disappointed neither of them reached their potential in Baltimore I’m far more disappointed in Diaz. Both had injury setbacks but Diaz even when healthy simply

  • Continued from above. Diaz simply never performed anywhere near expectations. He is a classic example of why I try not to ever get too excited about “prospects”. The O’s are loaded with prospects now so I’m hoping that even just a few of them reach their potential.

• I posted earlier this year that Randy Arozarena would be selected as the American League Rookie of the Year. Don't wish to argue analytics. In my opinion, Randy's bat speed, and aggressive style of play (the man stole HOME in a Rays - Red Sox playoff game) takes him to another level. I know, it wasn't during the regular season. But it's an example of his style of play.

  I've watched baseball for many, many years and Arozarena passes my "eye-test" of a extremely talented hitter. Not surprised that he's one of the finalists.