Dodgers’ Corey Seager and Tigers’ Michael Fulmer with NL and AL Rookie of the Year Honors
By Francisco Romero. – Easy it was, the decision to vote Dodgers’ Corey Seager as the National League Rookie of the year by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
For the second consecutive year the writers unanimously voted for a player as the rookie of the year, last year Cubs’ Kris Bryant was also voted ROY unanimously.
This election marked the 17th time a Dodgers player has been honored, the most in the history of the award dating to 1947 and the first time for a shortstop. The Dodgers have had winners at every position except third base: starring pitchers Don Newcombe, Rick Sutcliffe, Fernando Valenzuela and Hideo Nomo; relief pitchers Joe Black and Steve Howe; catcher Mike Piazza; first basemen Jackie Robinson and Eric Karros; second basemen Junior Gilliam, Jim Lefebvre, Ted Sizemore and Steve Sax and outfielders Frank Howard, Raul Mondesi and Todd Hollandsworth.
Seager finished the season with a .308 Avg., 26 HRs and 72 RBIs.
AL ROY Michael Fulmer (Detroit Tigers)
In the American League Tigers’ Michael Fulmer became the 16th pitcher overall and the 10th starter, only the third in the past 35 years, to win the AL award.
Fulmer finished his rookie season with an 11-7 record, a 3.06 ERA (159.0IP/54ER) and 132 strikeouts in 26 starts. Among American League pitchers with at least 150.0 innings pitched, Fulmer ranked third with a 3.06 ERA, while he was seventh with a .231 opponents batting average.
Fulmer is the fifth player in Tigers history to be named the AL Rookie of the Year, joining Justin Verlander (2006), Lou Whitaker (1978), Mark Fidrych (1976) and Harvey Kuenn (1953). Fulmer is the first pitcher to earn AL Rookie of the Year honors since Jeremy Hellickson in 2011.
The Baseball Writers Association of America will name The Manager of the Year on Tuesday.