Back in the middle of September I was assigned the task of predicting who would win the rookie of the year awards. Now two months later the winners were announced, Oakland A’s reliever Andrew Bailey in the American League and Florida Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan. I had predicted Rockies outfielder Dexter Fowler in the NL and Rangers SS Elvis Andrus in the AL.
In 2008 the A’s converted Bailey from a starter to a reliever in AA Ball in 2008. Andrew immediately experienced success in the bullpen, carrying that success over into the 2008 Arizona Fall League, and on into the 2009 regular big league season. He finished the season with 26 of 30 saves, a 6-3 record, a 1.84 ERA, with 91 strikeouts & 49 hits allowed in 83′ innings, and was Oakland’s lone All Star representative.
Chris Coghlan also enjoyed a conversion that enabled him to star in the big leagues, the former infielder was moved to leftfield. He brought his bat out to the outfield with him, batting .321 with a .390 OBP, with 31 doubles, 6 triples, & 9 home runs, as the Marlins leadoff hitter.
Elvis Andrus, my choice for AL Rookie of the Year, the Rangers 21 year old shortstop out of Venezuela, finished 2nd in the balloting behind Bailey. Elvis batted .267, with 33 stolen bases, 72 runs scored, & 128 base hits, with a very impressive range factor in the field of 4.86. Right on the heels of Andrus was Detroit’s 20 year old righthanded starting pitcher Rick Porcello (14-9 & 3.96 ERA). The 6’9″ Tampa Bay’s righthander, Jeff Niemann (13-6 & 3.94) was next, he was 17-0 with a 1.70 ERA as a Junior in 2003 with Rice. Then came The Sporting News choice for Rookie of the Year, the White Sox very own, thirdbaseman Gordon Beckham (.270, 28 doubles, 14 homers, 63 RBIs). Rounding out this crop of AL rookies was another pitcher from Oakland, southpaw Brett Anderson (11-11, 4.06 ERA, & 150 strikeouts in 175′ IP).
Closely behind Coghlan, over in the Senior Circuit, was The Sporting News choice for NL Rookie of the Year out of the University of Northwestern in Evanston, IL, Philadelphia’s lefthander J.A. Happ (12-4 & 2.93). A distant 3rd was Atlanta’s phenom righthanded starting pitcher Tommy Hanson (11-4, 2.89, & 116 K’s in 127″ IP). The Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen wasn’t far in back of Hanson, batting .286, 26 doubles, 9 triples, 12 homers, 74 runs scored, to go along with 22 steals, while playing a very good centerfield for the Buccos. Next up the Brewers thirdbaseman Casey McGehee received some love, .301, 20 doubles, 16 homers, & 66 RBIs. Interestingly six other rookies received very little support in their quest for league’s top rookie honors. They were Randy Wells of the Cubs (12-10 & 3.05), Pittsburgh slugger Garrett Jones (21 HRs & .293), Padres SS Everth Cabrera (25 SBs & 59 runs), my choice Dexter Fowler Colorado outfielder (73 runs, 27 SBs, 29 2Bs, & 10 3Bs), Diamondbacks outfielder Gerardo Parra (.290, 21 2Bs, 8 3Bs, 60 RBIs), and last, but not least, Cardinals centerfielder Colby Rasmus (22 2Bs & 16 HRs).
The Arizona Fall League has six teams composed of young up & coming baseball players from all 30 major league teams. Tonight the MLB Network will broadcast the AFL Rising Stars Game at 7:00 PM Chicago time. Stephen Strasburg was supposed to start for the East, but will be replaced by Tommy Mendoza, Strasburg has a strained neck muscle. Mike Minor will be on the hill for the West. One of the Rising Stars is power hitting centerfielder Grant Desme of the Oakland A’s. Desme hit 11 home runs at Kane County before being promoted to A+ Stockton, where he hit another 20 home runs in 2009. Grant has already hit ten more long balls in the Fall, while batting .354.
The Sporting News has announced the winners of the 2009 Rookie of the Year Gordon Beckham of the White Sox and J.A. Happ of the Philadelphia Phillies.
WHITE SOX WIN 4-2 in METRODOME FINALE, coming back from two runs down, nobody on, two outs, two strikes, against Joe Nathan, Gordon Beckham HOMERS, Paul Konerko HOMERS, pinch runner Dewayne Wise (running for Jermaine Dye, who’d walked), SCORES after stealing second, on a shallow single to left by Alexei Ramirez, another run scores on a wild pitch, and Bobby Jenks gets them 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th to close out the Metrodome.
I was at the Cell today to witness, firsthand, Gordon Beckham’s major league debut with the White Sox. The University of Georgia’s Beckham was the first player drafted by Chicago in the 2008 rookie draft. As a SS, Gordon led the nation in homers as a senior Bull Dog. I’d seen the White Sox twice this season and the combined score in those two ballgames was 20-0 Bad Guys, so anything Mr. Beckham could provide, would be greatly appreciated. 
The White Sox don’t look nearly as good as the ones pictured here. Not even one quarter of the way through the 2009 season and they’ve already been shutout six times. Their offense has been missing in action, with an all or nothing approach, for the most part it’s been station to station base running. There is very little team speed, when runners are on base, the chance for a doubleplay comes up more often than a timely longball. And if it’s conceivably possible, the starting pitching has been worse. The young starters have been disappointing, to say the least, while the old guys have been worse, the only guy who can be counted on has been Mark Buehrle.
There is a current battle underway for the starting secondbase spot with the Chicago White Sox, with the incumbent Alexei Ramirez sliding over to SS replacing Orlando Cabrera. So the guys battling are Jayson Nix, Chris Getz, and Brent Lillibridge. What I really don’t understand is why there hasn’t been more discussion about leaving Alexi at 2B, with Gordon Beckham taking over the starting SS position.