AL Rookie of the Year

Winner: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay -- Story | Voting Results
User Choice: Evan Longoria
Danny Knobler's prediction: Evan Longoria.
It seems the Rays knew what they were doing when they used the third overall draft pick in 2006 on Longoria (after Luke Hochevar and Greg Reynolds went 1-2). It seems the Rays knew what they were doing when they signed Longoria to a six-year, $17.5 million contract after he had played just six big league games. It seems like manager Joe Maddon knew what he was doing when he made Longoria his cleanup hitter soon after the All-Star break. Now, unless a whole bunch of voters don't know what they're doing, Longoria will become the first Tampa Bay player to win a BBWAA award.

The candidates Elvis Andrus, SS, Rangers If Andrus wins the award, he would be the first Rangers player to win since Mike Hargrove in 1974. He was the highly-touted prospect with exceptional defense and arrived in the majors meeting all expectations. With a lackluster pitching staff, his defense helped keep the Rangers in contention. He also managed to be productive offensively and was able to steal 33 bases, tied with Cecil Espy's club record for rookies back in 1988. AB HR AVG RBI R SB 480 6 .267 40 72 33 Jeff Niemann, SP, Rays He entered the season in competition for the fifth spot, but ended up leading the Rays in wins (13) and threw two complete-game shutouts. Instead David Price, the Rays' No. 1 pick in 2007, impacting the club in ’09 it was Niemann. The triple threat of Niemann, Price and Wade Davis leave the Rays’ loaded with young pitching talent. IP W-L SV ERA Ks BB 180.2 13-6 0 3.94 125 59 Rick Porcello, SP, Tigers Tigers Manager Jim Leyland had enough confidence in his 20-year-old rookie starter that Porcello was tagged to pitch the AL tiebreaker where he performed like a seasoned veteran under the pressure. Like Niemann, Porcello was a surprise to make the rotation out of spring training and tallied 14 wins for the Tigers (second only to Justin Verlander’s 19). He finished the season as one of four pitchers to win 14 or more games 20 years old or younger. IP W-L SV ERA Ks BB 170.2 14-9 0 3.96 89 52 Andrew Bailey, RP, Athletics Bailey managed to swipe the closers job from Brad Ziegler in the beginning of the season and the A’s never looked back. Bailey saved 26 games in 30 opportunities and kept his era below a 2.00. He was the only rookie on both All-Star rosters and he set a new club record for saves by a rookie – besting Huston Street’s 23 saves in 2005, the same season he was named AL Rookie of the Year. IP W-L SV ERA Ks BB 83.1 6-3 26 1.84 91 24 Honorable mention: Gordon Beckham, White Sox, Matt Wieters, Orioles

Select Award AL - Most Valuable Player NL - Most Valuable Player AL - Cy Young Award NL - Cy Young Award AL - Rookie of the Year NL - Rookie of the Year AL - Manager of the Year NL - Manager of the Year Poll Who will be the AL Rookie of the Year? 74% Evan Longoria TB   13% Alexei Ramirez CHW   12% Jacoby Ellsbury BOS   2% Armando Galarraga DET   Total Votes: 921   Past Results Year Winner 2007 Dustin Pedroia, Boston 2006 Justin Verlander, Detroit 2005 Houston Street, Oakland 2004 Bobby Crosby, Oakland Complete list