The Rookie of the Year voting this year was pretty much a shoo-in for both the National League with the Cubs’ Geovany Soto winning it all and the American League with Tampa’s Evan Longoria taking it. I don’t know of anyone who predicted otherwise.
That didn’t stop Cincinnati pitcher Edison Volquez, who wasn’t even officially a rookie, from getting some votes from the the baseball writers. By doing so, Cincinnati performed a hat trick by getting Volquez, Joey Votto, and Jay Bruce in the top five.
Under baseball rules, if a player spends more than 45 days on a team’s active roster in a previous year, he is not considered a rookie.