Mike Trout, Bryce Harper top rookies

[CameronCrazy06]

NEW YORK -- Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels became the youngest AL Rookie of the Year on Monday and Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals was voted the second-youngest winner of the NL honor.

Trout, who turned 21 on Aug. 7, received all 28 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers' Association of America's AL panel. The center fielder was the eighth unanimous AL pick and the first since Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria in 2008.

Trout, who hit .326 with 30 homers and 83 RBIs, received the maximum 140 points. Oakland outfielder Yoenis Cespedes was second with 63, followed by Texas pitcher Yu Darvish (46), who joined Trout as the only players listed on every ballot.

Detroit second baseman Lou Whitaker had been the youngest AL winner in 1978, but he was 2 months, 26 days older than Trout when he took home the award.

In addition to Trout and Longoria, the only other unanimous AL winners were Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Jeter, Tim Salmon, Sandy Alomar Jr., Mark McGwire and Carlton Fisk.

Trout, a son of former Minnesota minor league infielder Jeff Trout, spent some time in the majors last year but still retained his rookie status. He began this season in the minors and made his first big league appearance this year on April 28 -- the day of Harper's major league debut. Trout's season put him in contention for the AL MVP award along with Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera of Detroit. That voting is announced Thursday.

For winning the award, Trout earned a $10,000 bonus on top of his $482,500 salary.

Harper turned 20 on Oct. 16. The outfielder got 16 of 32 first-place votes and 112 points from the NL panel. Arizona pitcher Wade Miley was second with 12 first-place votes and 105 points, followed by Cincinnati slugger Todd Frazier with three firsts and 45 points.

Harper was the top pick of the 2010 amateur draft and batted .270 with 22 home runs and 59 RBIs as Washington brought postseason play to the nation's capital for the first time since 1933. Only Tony Conigliaro (24) hit more home runs as a teenager.

Harper became the youngest position player in All-Star history. At 20 years, 27 days on Monday, he was 24 days older than New York Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden when he won the NL award in 1984.
At this time last year, Trout and Harper were teammates on the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League. The pair were among a record five rookie All-Stars.

 

[Pugz]

surprise surprise.

 

[CameronCrazy06]

I'm not at all convinced Harper deserved the award, I think the media hype won it for him

 

[Elite]

I'm not at all convinced Harper deserved the award, I think the media hype won it for him

Yeah, a guy who hit .270 with a .340 OBP, 20 HRs and 20 SBs while playing really good defense didn't deserve the ROY

 

[CameronCrazy06]

He had a late surge towards the end of the year that brought that average up substantially. Wade Miley was consistent the whole year and should have won the award.

 

[Elite]

He played really well in May and June, struggled in July and August, then played fantastic in September. He played really well for the majority of the season. His first half numbers are actually better than his second half numbers.

 

[CameronCrazy06]

Yeah because of what you just pointed out hahaha.

He never deserved to make the ASG. And like I said.

Wade Miley was very consistent. He deserved to win it, but I didn't expect him too because the media loves Harper.

 

[snipezo]

He posted some great numbers for a 19 year old...