Jacob deGrom – the Mets pitcher who won the 2014 NL Rookie of the Year Award – had barely finished his acceptance speech when baseball fanatics turned their attention to heir apparent: Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant.
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Whether or not Bryant becomes a huge crossover star and cashes in on all that marketing potential, he definitely proved that he could play at this level, even with only 181 minor-league games on his resume. 275 with 26 home runs, 99 RBIs, 13 stolen bases and 87 runs scored as the Cubs reached 97 wins and a birth in the play-offs.
The AL Rookie of the Year was to be announced later Monday.
Most signs pointed to this outcome throughout the offseason, thanks in large part to Correa’s big home run numbers and because his team made the playoffs, but many felt Lindor could sneak away with more votes from the BBWAA based on being better overall statistically with much better defense. On Monday, the first one handed out was the National League Rookie of the Year award.
He is the second Astros player to win the rookie of the year.
Though it was officially ruled a double, Bryant’s first career round-tripper was of the Little League variety when he knocked a ball off the base of the wall in an April 20 game against the Pirates. 294 with 15 home runs and 82 RBI. Correa beat out Francisco Lindor, shortstop for the Cleveland Indians, by four votes, winning 17-13. see Alyson Footer’s Tweet below.
In June 2012, the Houston Astros bet their future on a young shortstop from Puerto Rico who wasn’t regarded as the consensus top pick in the draft. He committed a handful of defensive gaffes, the types of mental miscues first-year players tend to make. 857 OPS. He often batted third for the Astros. He didn’t turn 21 until September.
Correa ended the season batting.279/.345/.512 with 22 home runs, 22 doubles, and 68 RBIs in 99 games.
No Tigers will win major awards this postseason, although former Tigers left-hander David Price, who was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays at the trade deadline, is among the favorites to win the AL Cy Young Award.
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For Bryant, it wasn’t how he started but how he finished. “You want to be able to play in that atmosphere every single year”.
