MLB Dirt

First off, I would like to apologize for my disappearance over the last few weeks. I’ve just been very busy but a break should be coming soon!

Here are my American League regular season award winners for 2011:

Rookie of the Year: Michael Pineda

The top 5 candidates for me were Pineda, Jeremy Hellickson, Ivan Nova, Mark Trumbo, and Dustin Ackley. Ultimately Pineda had the edge and he really turned out an impressive rookie season. Pineda was second in theALamongst rookie pitchers in WAR with 3.4. He had a 3.74 ERA and a 3.42 FIP which ranked first amongst AL rookie starters. He had a very impressive 9.11 K/9 ranking first among rookie starters and third amongst all AL starters with at least 50 innings pitched. He proved to have one of the best (and fastballs in the entire league). It was a great year for Pineda and he is very deserving of this award.

Most Valuable Player:  Jose Bautista

This was a very hard choice for me. The guys I was considering were Bautista, Jacoby Ellsbury, Miguel Cabrera, Curtis Granderson, and Adrian Gonzalez. Bautista started off the season on an absolute tear and despite a small decline in the second half, he still put up very good numbers over the course of the season. He had an 8.3 WAR, ranking second in the AL. His 43 homeruns lead the entire league and his .447 OBP was only .001 point behind the major league leader, Miguel Cabrera. The rest of his triple slash line was also very impressive. He had a .608 SLG percentage, which was first in the majors, and a .302 average. Bautista proved his 2010 numbers were no joke as he was dominant again in 2011.

Cy Young Award:  Justin Verlander

Verlander was excellent the entire year and he edged out my other candidates of Jered Weaver, and CC Sabathia. Verlander was second amongst AL starters in WAR with 7.0, just 0.1 win behind the first place Sabathia. Verlander had anALleading ERA (2.40) and an FIP of 2.99 which was amongst the best in the league. He had great strikeout numbers with an 8.96 K/9 and a low walk rate to go with. He was a work horse all year long as he led the AL in innings pitched (251.0), game started (34), and quality starts (28). To top it all off, Verlander went a very impressive 24-5, leading the entire majors in wins.

Jonathan posted his AL picks a while ago but here is how ours compare:

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis Tagged: | Adrian Gonzalez, American League, CC Sabathia, Curtis Granderson, Cy Young Award, Dustin Ackley, Ivan Nova, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jered Weaver, Jeremy Hellickson, Jose Bautista, Justin Verlander, Mark Trumbo, Michael Pineda, Miguel Cabrera, MVP, Rookie of the Year