No Indians Players Receive Rookie of the Year Votes

The Baseball Writers Association of America released the results of its Rookie of the Year voting Monday, and no Cleveland Indians players were named on any of the 28 American League ballots.

Jeremy Hellickson (17 first-place votes) took home the AL honors, followed by Mark Trumbo (5), Eric Hosmer (4), and Ivan Nova (1). Michael Pineda, Dustin Ackley (1), Desmond Jennings, and Jordan Walden also received votes.

It wasn’t a surprise that no Cleveland players got significant support, but with a number of rookies making big impacts this past year I expected the Indians to at least get some consideration.

Jason Kipnis was fantastic in his limited playing time, raking to the tune of a 131 OPS+ while playing second base. Lonnie Chisenhall‘s on-base percentage was just seven points lower than second-place-finisher Trumbo, and Chiz plays a harder position. (I don’t think Chisenhall was better. I’m just saying.) Heck, Vinnie Pestano threw 62 innings with a 2.32 ERA and a K/9 rate over 12. He even had a higher fWAR than Hellickson (1.5 to 1.4).

The right man, Craig Kimbrel, won unanimously in the National League, followed by Freddie Freeman, Vance Worley, Wilson Ramos, Josh Collmenter, Danny Espinosa, Darwin Barney, and Kenley Jansen. That Espinosa was named on only one ballot is almost as embarrassing as the BBWAA’s misspelling his name.