Phillies' J.A. Happ Making Strong Case for N.L. Rookie of the Year Award

(Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

There remains just over a month to play in the 2009 baseball season, and it is time to start looking at the potential candidates for major league baseball's most prized individual awards.

Albert Pujols seems to be a lock for the MVP award and the Cy Young award will most likely come down to a battle of Giants (Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain) or Cardinals (Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright).

The Phillies' own J.A. Happ seems to have the edge on the rest of the National League for the Rookie of the Year award.

Happ currently leads all rookies with 10 wins and his 2.59 ERA is fifth best among all major-league starters, first among rookies by close to half of a run. His .833 winning percentage and two shutouts are tops among all NL pitchers.

And this is a man who wasn't even supposed to be a starter when this season began.

For the Phillies during their World Championship season of '08, Happ hurled 31.2 innings as a relief pitcher and occasional spot starter. He posted a solid 3.69 ERA with an adjusted ERA of 117.

There were rumors that Happ would be given a chance to start in '09, and he was given every shot to win the job.

Happ lost a well-publicized battle at the beginning of the season for the Phillies' fifth starting spot. The competition seemed to be among Happ, Chan Ho Park, Carlos Carrasco, and Kyle Kendrick.

Kendrick appeared to be the favorite, with 24 big-league wins under his belt, including a key role in the Phillies' 2007 NL East division championship, but he never got it together like the club wanted. Kendrick struggled to pitch consistently in spring training, which led to his demotion to Triple-A.

Same with Carrasco.

A once promising prospect with a strong future ahead of him, Carrasco has been inconsistent in Triple-A this season, posting a 10-10 record with a so-so 4.80 ERA thus far.

Park, a former starter with 15 years big league experience and 117 wins to his credentials, beat out Happ for the spot.

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