The 2007 major league regular season is in its final week, and voters in both the American and National Leagues are expected to have a difficult time deciding on some of the major award winners. Among the most hotly-contested awards will be for Rookie of the Year.
We’ll take a stab at picking the winners in each league over the next couple of days, as well as identifying a representative list of the top 10 rookies. We chose our 10 best N.L. rookie candidates this past Wednesday; today we’ll focus on the A.L.
No American League rookie created quite the buzz or intrigue that New York Yankees set-up man Joba Chamberlain (2-0, 0.42, 22 innings/31 strikeouts) did in the final six weeks of the season, but his short-term impact didn’t stand up when measured against the season-long contributions of Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia and Tampa Bay outfielder Delmon Young—or even some of the other top rookie pitchers in the A.L. Pedroia, our top choice, was extremely steady on both offense and defense for a team that maintained a season-long grip on first place in the A.L. East.
Here’s our look at the A.L.’s 10 best rookies for 2007: |
| |
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Player, Pos., Team |
Performance |
| 1. |
Dustin Pedroia, 2b, Red Sox |
.315-7-49, 35 2B, 46 BB/42 SO |
| 2. |
Delmon Young, of, Devil Rays |
.294-13-93, 35 2B |
| 3. |
Daisuke Matsuzaka, rhp, Red Sox |
14-12, 4.48, 197 IP/193 SO |
| 4. |
Brian Bannister, rhp, Royals |
12-9, 3.61 |
| 5. |
Jeremy Guthrie, rhp, Orioles |
7-5, 3.65 |
| 6. |
Reggie Willits, of, Angels |
.294-0-34, 26 SB |
| 7. |
Joakim Soria, rhp, Royals |
1-3, 2.59, 17 SV, 66 IP/72 SO |
| 8. |
Alex Gordon, 3b, Royals |
.253-15-59, 36 2B |
| 9. |
Hideki Okajima, lhp, Red Sox |
3-2, 2.28, 4 SV, 67 IP/60 SO |
| 10. |
Josh Fields, 3b-of, White Sox |
.249-22-65 | |
| --ALLAN SIMPSON |
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