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On Monday night, the Baseball Writers Association of America released the finalists for four different awards, including Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, Cy Young, and MVP for their respective leagues.
One name missing as a finalist for National League Rookie of the Year was Colorado Rockies shortstop Trevor Story.
Kenta Maeda, Corey Seager, and Trea Turner were crowned the three finalists for the NL.
Trevor Story played a key part in Colorado’s success early on in the season, demonstrating both power and defense from the shortstop position. Unfortunately for Colorado and Story, his season came to an end after suffering a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb. The injury happened after Story slid into second against the New York Mets on Jul. 30. He then re-aggravated the injury later on in the game after diving for a ground ball.
As soon as Story went down, it seemed like the Rockies went down with him.
Story played in just 98 games this year, slashing at a line of .272/.341/.567 with 21 doubles, four triples, 27 home runs, 35 walks, and 72 RBI. What’s even more remarkable is the fact that Story led all rookies in home runs and tied for first with Corey Seager in RBI with 72 apiece.
Corey Seager, Los Angeles Dodgers: 157 games — .308/.365/.512, 40 2B, 26 HR, 72 RBI, 54 BB.
Trea Turner, Washington Nationals: 73 games –.342/.370/.567 14 2B, 8 3B, 13 HR, 40 RBI, 14 BB.
Kenta Maeda, Los Angeles Dodgers: 32 starts — 175.2 IP, 16-11, 3.48 ERA, 179 K’s, 1.14 WHIP, .229 BAA.
Corey Seager should be the clear favorite for NL Rookie of the Year, and it’s not even close. Trea Turner appeared in just 73 games — a small sample size although a .342 average is good regardless. Say for instance if Story and Turner flip-flopped seasons. Story putting up those numbers toward the end of the season would be more feasible opposed to Turner doing so at the beginning. At that point, you’d have to think Story would be a finalist.
But alas, he was not and those who made a national case over DJ LeMahieu winning the batting title in a fashion they found less than savory have remained silent which helps put into perspective why former Rockies manager Walt Weiss went to extra lengths to help one of his players receive that kind of recognition.
There may be some argument for getting Nolan Arenado into the MVP conversation, but there are no good arguments for keeping Trevor Story out of ROY talk. His injuries at the end of the season did not dip his value below those of his competitors and creating more value in less time should not be counted against you. If anything, it’s another feather in his cap that Story was able to achieve so much in slightly limited time.
Both players are falling victim a bit to the complete rejection of RBI as a valid statistic, and it certainly doesn’t help that they play in Colorado and few people outside this area actually watch their games. But all awards aside, the Rockies are incredibly happy with their young core, and one suspects they wouldn’t replace Story with any other rookie in baseball.
Well … maybe Corey Seager.
