Ryan Braun is the my choice for the NL rookie of the year. It's quite an easy choice, and that's despite the fact that there were some other very good NL rookies this year.

Braun lead the NL in slugging percentage at .634 which went along nicely with his .324 batting average. I'm not sure when the last time a rookie lead his league in slugging percentage or even if it's ever happened before. Let me know if you find out about that. He also lead all NL rookies with 34 home runs. His 34 homers placed him 5th in the NL overall. He hit his 34 homers in only 451 at bats. He also finished 5th in AB/HR ratio behind Prince Fielder, Ryan Howard, Adam Dunn, and Barry Bonds.

There were also some other great rookies in the NL this year such as Arizona's Chris Young who hit 32 homers (although he hit only .237), Colorado's Troy Tulowitzki who had 24 homers and 99 RBI, the Dodgers James Loney who hit .331 with a .538 slugging percentage, and Houston's Hunter Pence who hit .322 with a .539 slugging percentage.

Labels: Ryan Braun

A look at the NL Rookies of the Year if the season ended today. Interestingly all three of these guys have never played a single game in the big leagues before this season and they all got called up with the season well under way.

Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers - 3B

Despite not being called up until May 24th, Brewers 3B Ryan Braun is the easy choice for NL Rookie of the Year if the season ended today. He leads all major league rookies with 23 home runs and would likely be challenging for the league lead if he had not started late. He is hitting .354 with a .684 slugging percentage. He would be leading the NL in both stats if he had enough plate appearances and if he stays healthy for the rest of the year, there's a good chance he will qualify by season's end.

When was the last time a rookie lead the league in batting average or slugging percentage? Much less both? That's not a rhetorical question, I'm really asking. Has that ever happened before? There's a chance for it to happen this year. Braun's only faults appear to be a lack of patience at the plate (21 walks to 64 strikeouts) and in the field where he has a .893 fielding percentage (18 errors thus far.)

Runners Up:

Hunter Pence, Houston Astros - CF

Pence was called up on April 28th. Pence was just put on the 15-Day DL but he's been having an excellent rookie season thus far: He is hitting .330 with a .564 slugging percentage. Pence has shown the ability to hit for extra bases but many more doubles than home runs so far (25 doubles, 12 home runs.) Similarly to Braun he has had trouble with his patience at the plate. He has only 11 walks to 60 strikeouts.

Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants - Starting Pitcher

Lincecum was also called up late (although not quite as late as Braun.) He's had a somewhat up and down season but he has shown flashes of absolute brilliance. For example in the month of July Lincecum went 4-0 with a 1.62 ERA. But in June he was 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA. His overall numbers put him at 6-3 with a 3.88 ERA. Very strong numbers for a rookie starting pitcher. But it's his strikeout power that is most impressive. Despite his late start he is 12th in the NL in strikeouts. He has the most strikeouts per 9 innings of any NL pitcher with at least 100 innings pitched at 9.78 K/9.

Labels: Hunter Pence, Ryan Braun, Tim Lincecum