Nutritious Rookie Facts
Some pretty interesting facts have come to light over the past few days in the reportage and windbaggery surrounding the announcement of the AL and NL Rookies of the Year yesterday…
1. Did we know that Ryan Braun had the highest rookie slugging percentage in the history of baseball? Wow.
2. Troy Tulowitzki saved the Rockies something like 50 runs on defense, no matter which method you use. That is even more amazing, and probably means he’s the best defensive player in the game today. Although I can’t help wondering if Coors Field may be at least slightly skewing those numbers due to more balls in play or something.
3. Did we know Dustin Pedroia played the last 2 months of the season and the playoffs with a broken hand? Gamer!
4. Daisuke Matsuzaka had a higher VORP than Dustin Pedroia. This makes me feel a bit better about me having picked him as AL ROY back in my October 2 post. Still, after watching Pedroia’s amazing performance in the postseason, and now hearing about the broken hand, I realize I should have picked him over Matsuzaka. Giving that I also went knee-jerk with Braun over Tulo without even looking at the defensive stats, this now puts me in the embarrassing situation of having to admit to Sarah that I was wrong and she was right about BOTH Rookie of the Year picks. Ouch.
November 13th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
The day is mine! This is truly a first in Sarah-Nick relations. I graciously accept and would like to thank my family, my agent, and God.
Seriously though, how about that DP. Plus, I know a lot of the reports said it was his hand that was broken, but the actual bone is the hamate bone, which looks more like a wrist bone to me. For a guy who swings so hard and makes so much contact to be able to produce with a broken wrist is insane! No wonder Boston women are suddenly all drooling over this little 5′5″ guy with a face like a hamster.
Hamate:
Hamster:
[Report comment]
November 13th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
RE: Tulo
A bit of park effect at Coors, though not what you’d think.
They mentioned during World Series games that the infield grass is grown deliberately long at Coors; something like 1.75 inches versus a normal 1.25 inches, in order to slow down the ball. I would guess that this was done to reduce overall scoring there.
Long grass good glove = better glove.
I don’t know if such things as home/road splits are available defensively, but it would be one way to look at it.
[Report comment]
November 14th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Nick, I’ve just learned a fifth nutritious rookie fact! Braun is the first Jewish player ever awarded a Rookie of the Year award, according to some newspaper in Jersualem.
[Report comment]