AL Rookie of the Year Rankings: Mike Trout Continues to Pull Away from Field

Jun 7, 2018

If you've been following along with my weekly American League Rookie of the Year rankings, you'll know that the race is already over. At this point, nobody is catching Mike Trout.

You should know this even if you haven't been following along. Trout has been the best player in baseball since the Angels called him up in late April, and the scary part is that he's only getting better as the season moves along.

He's a lock for the AL Rookie of the Year. He's also my front-runner for the AL MVP award.

The only downside of Trout's breakout season is the fact that it's overshadowing the good work being done by some of his AL rookie comrades. Trout is obviously the best of the bunch, but overall this year's AL rookie class is very strong.

As always, this week's rankings will pay homage to all the other AL rookies who are doing work in Trout's sizable shadow.

Note: All stats come from Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

Honorable Mentions

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Quintin Berry, OF, Detroit Tigers

He's hitting .279 with a .362 on-base percentage, and he actually ranks third in the AL among rookie position players in WAR, according to FanGraphs. Almost top-five material, but not quite.

Travis Blackley, SP, Oakland A's

Blackley has been a money pitcher for the A's recently. He's compiled a 2.69 ERA in 13 appearances (nine starts). Lately, he's helped himself by not putting runners on base via the walk.

Wei-Yin Chen, SP, Baltimore Orioles

Chen has been Baltimore's most consistent starting pitcher this season. He's 8-6 with a solid 3.82 ERA in 20 starts. Of those, 11 have been quality starts.

Ryan Cook, RP, Oakland A's

Cook has allowed solo home runs in each of his last two appearances. His ERA is all the way up to 1.70. What is this world coming to?

Scott Diamond, SP, Minnesota Twins

Diamond has a record of 8-4 for a bad Twins team to go along with a 3.16 ERA. He's hittable when his sinker isn't sinking, but he can definitely pile up ground-ball outs with the best of 'em.

Tommy Milone, SP, Oakland A's

People have been yelling at me to include Milone in the Honorable Mentions section for some time now. I'll admit, this is overdue. He's 9-6 with a 3.34 ERA, and his last three starts have gone very well. He could be top-five material before long.

Jose Quintana, SP, Chicago White Sox

Quintana has settled into a nice pattern. He's either going to spin eight brilliant innings, or he's going to battle his way through five or six while giving up a handful of runs. On the whole, he's 4-1 with a 2.58 ERA. I just need to see some consistency out of him before I can put him in the top five.

Addison Reed, RP, Chicago White Sox

He leads all AL rookies with 16 saves. That's about it.

Robbie Ross, RP, Texas Rangers

Ross has a lower ERA than any other qualified AL rookie at 1.08. He's been Texas' most unsung hero this season.

Tom Wilhelmsen, RP, Seattle Mariners

Wilhelmsen has nasty stuff, and he's used it to nail down 11 saves while posting a K/9 over 10.00. He's another guy knocking on the door of the top five.

5. Jarrod Parker, SP, Oakland A's

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Last Week: Unranked (honorable mention)

Jarrod Parker was looking to snap out of a small slump when he took the mound for the A's against the Yankees on Saturday. He had allowed a total of 10 earned runs over his last two starts, which spanned 10.2 innings.

Parker's performance on Saturday was just what the doctor ordered. He allowed just one earned run on five hits and a walk over eight innings, striking out five. He picked up his seventh win of the season, lowering his ERA to an even 3.00 in the process.

Among AL rookie starting pitchers, only Quintana and A.J. Griffin have lower ERAs than Parker. What gives Parker the edge over the two of them is the fact that he has made 16 starts this season— the same as Quintana and Griffin combined.

There's also the fact that Parker has both of them beat in the FIP category, according to FanGraphs. There's nothing at all fluky about Parker's success.

This has a lot to do with how polished he is as a pitcher. He changes speeds as well as anyone, and his changeup is an absolute killer. It's his swing-and-miss pitch, and he can also go to it when he needs a ground ball.

The future is bright for Parker. He still has room for improvement as far as his control is concerned, but that's about it. Every other aspect of his game is impressive.

4. Will Middlebrooks, 3B, Boston Red Sox

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Last Week: No. 3

There's kind of a growing sense that the Red Sox may have made a mistake in trading away Kevin Youkilis so that Will Middlebrooks could play everyday. Youk has been a difference-maker for the Chicago White Sox, while Middlebrooks has struggled to maintain his early success.

It's actually not that bad. Middlebrooks has collected two hits in three of Boston's last four games, and he's hitting an even .300 since the All-Star break with a homer and five RBI.

There are complaints to be made about Middlebrooks' game. He doesn't walk much, and he unfortunately strikes out a lot. In the field, you never know when he's going to mess up a seemingly routine play.

But you can only complain about Middlebrooks so much. He's hitting .293/.323/.507 for the season with 11 home runs and 42 RBI. Among AL rookies, only Mike Trout and Yoenis Cespedes have Middlebrooks beat in homers and RBI.

According to FanGraphs, Trout is the only AL rookie position player with a higher WAR than Middlebrooks.

And for what it's worth, Middlebrooks' 1.3 WAR is higher than Youkilis' 0.8 WAR.

So don't worry, Red Sox fans. The powers that be in Boston didn't make a catastrophic mistake in trading Youkilis.

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3. Yu Darvish, SP, Texas Rangers

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Last Week: No. 4

All the Rangers have to do is keep Yu Darvish away from the Seattle Mariners. If they can do that, he'll be fine.

After getting knocked around by the Mariners for a third time this season back on July 14, Darvish responded by holding the Los Angeles Angels to two runs over seven innings on Saturday to pick up his 11th win. He struck out 11 and allowed just three hits.

Darvish lowered his ERA to 3.88, and he now has a 10.24 K/9 that ranks first among all AL rookie starting pitchers. In fact, the only American League pitcher who has him beat in K/9 is Max Scherzer, and Darvish is closing the gap.

Darvish's numbers would be even better if it wasn't for those blasted Mariners. In three starts against them, he has an ERA of 9.00. In 15 starts against everyone else, he has an ERA of 3.06.

Even despite his struggles against the Mariners, Darvish still ranks as the top rookie pitcher in the American League in terms of WAR, according to FanGraphs.

Some think he's overrated. Some think he's overpaid. It's hard to argue either point.

But hey, he's still a good pitcher.

2. Yoenis Cespedes, OF, Oakland A's

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Last Week: No. 2

It's only becoming more apparent with each passing day that the A's made a good move when they went out of their comfort zone to sign Yoenis Cespedes.

Cespedes has been as hot as anybody in baseball since the start of June. Over his last 36 games, he's hit at .341/.387/.598 with eight home runs and 27 RBI. He hasn't walked much and he's still striking out a lot, but the ball has been crushed when he's managed to make contact.

He's been even hotter since the break. In 10 games, Cespedes has hit at .475/.512/.825 with four homers and 12 RBI.

And no, this does not include his RBI double in the first inning of Oakland's tilt with the Toronto Blue Jays up in Canada on Wednesday.

Cespedes entered the day leading all AL rookies with 48 RBI, and he trailed only Trout in home runs with 13 dingers.

Trout may be the best all-around rookie in baseball, but Cespedes has staked a claim to the honor of being the best rookie slugger in baseball this year.

1. Mike Trout, OF, Los Angeles Angels

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Last Week: No. 1

Mike Trout went 0-for-3 on Tuesday against the Kansas City Royals. He only managed to draw a walk, and he failed to score a run for the first time in 15 games.

The Angels also lost the game by the final of 4-1. In all, it was a dominant effort by the Royals.

But they had to know that the good vibes would be short-lived. If Trout has proven anything in his brief time in the big leagues, it's that slumps aren't his thing.

Sure enough, Trout went 2-for-4 on Wednesday with a double, a homer, a pair of RBI and three runs scored, leading the Angels to an 11-6 win. It was a typical Mike Trout kind of game.

Trout is now hitting .356/.413/.606 with a 1.019 OPS, 16 homers, 49 RBI, 74 runs scored and 31 stolen bases. He leads the AL in hitting, runs and steals, and his OPS ranks second behind David Ortiz.

Truth be told, I'm running out of ways to praise the guy. He's baseball's very own answer to LeBron James.

...With the key exception being that nobody hates him, of course.