2012 MLB Spring Training: American League Rookie of the Year Candidates

One of the most exciting things about spring training is the possibility of the young stud prospect on your team getting to show his stuff with the big league players for perhaps the first time.

Some Rookie of the Year candidates will make the team straight out of spring training, while others may be forced to wait a few months until a player ahead of them gets injured or a spot opens up on the roster. Here are some of the players to keep an eye on for American League Rookie of the Year, in their attempts to follow Jeremy Hellickson as the league's best young star.

SP Matt Moore: Tampa Bay Rays

Any time a pitcher goes out and throws an absolute gem in a clutch spot in the playoffs for their second career start, you know that there's something special there.

When that player is only 22 years old and arguably the best prospect in baseball, you know you may just have a franchise pitcher for years to come. 

Moore is the hands-down favorite for AL Rookie of the Year this year, after his brilliant season in both the majors and minors in 2011 and the stunning hype surrounding him. He will break the Rays rotation this year without a specific innings limit, and will be given a chance to compete in a loaded rotation with James Shields, David Price and Jeremy Hellickson.

Moore could be special this year. He could potentially even compete for the Cy Young Award for now. But even if he is not that good, he will be in contention for Rookie of the Year if he stays healthy.

SP Yu Darvish: Texas Rangers

Darvish is the first of a few international prospects that will be in contention for the top rookie in the league this year. The 25-year-old has been in the eye of American baseball fans for more than five years now, but will finally be making his first appearance in the Major Leagues with the Texas Rangers this year.

Darvish has been an elite pitcher since entering the Japanese professional league in 2005, going 18-6 with a minuscule 1.44 ERA last season. While it is often difficult to translate those numbers to the major leagues (see Matsuzaka, Daisuke), Darvish's success in the World Baseball Classic should make him a very hard pitcher to hit this season.

CF Yoennis Cespedes: Oakland Athletics

Cespedes was the second-biggest international target for big league teams this season, behind Darvish, because of both his incredible athleticism and his success offensively in the very competitive professional league in Cuba. 

It was Billy Beane who took the risk on Cespedes, in a suprising move because Beane seemed motivated to save money rather than spend it this offseason. Beane, of Moneyball fame, must have seen some huge star quality in Cespedes to take a chance on him, and he will most likely start in the outfield for Oakland from the get-go. If he is anywhere near as talented as he is being hyped to be, Cespedes will be right in the mix for Rookie of the Year.

C/DH Jesus Montero: Seattle Mariners

In any other year, Matt Moore would probably be a unanimous, hands-down selection for preseason Rookie of the Year, but this year a big-time slugger will be making his full season debut in Seattle.

Montero is an incredible hitter, but questions surrounding his ability to be a full-time catcher made him nothing more than big trade bait for the loaded offense of the Yankees. When they were finally able to get something back for him that they wanted (Michael Pineda), the Yanks loaded him over to Seattle, where he will be immediately placed into the middle of the lineup there.

Montero will hit, and will hit very well, which will put him into contention for Rookie of the Year right off the bat. The fact that he will most likely DH more than catch, though, may hurt his chances.

CF Mike Trout: Los Angeles Angels

Trout played a decent amount of time in 2011, as a 20-year-old youngster, leading to some debate as to whether or not he should be classified as a rookie in 2012. 

Despite that, the top prospect in baseball in a few lists will be classified as a rookie when he suits up for the Angels at some point this season.

Trout is a long shot for the Rookie of the Year because there are so many other good candidates to compete with, and because he will most likely start the season in Triple-A due to the fact that the Angels outfield is absolutely loaded at the moment. If and when he gets the call back to the big leagues he will more than likely be more successful than last season where he only hit .220 in 40 big league games, as his pure athleticism is too much to ignore.

RP Addison Reed: Chicago White Sox

After the top five candidates, who are all household names, the next group of potential candidates can all be considered dark horses in the Rookie of the Year race.

The first of these dark horses is Chicago White Sox reliever Addison Reed, the No. 1 prospect in their organization. Reed will compete with Matt Thornton and Jesse for the closing role, and whether he is closing or setting up, he will be a very efficient relief pitcher. 

The 23-year-old former teammate of Stephen Strasburg at San Diego State put up a tiny 1.26 ERA with a .728 WHIP in four different levels of the minors last year, before getting a September call up with the big league team.

SP Wei-Yin Chen: Baltimore Orioles

Though they were not able to secure a big name like Yu Darvish, the Baltimore Orioles seriously improved their rotation this offseason by signing two pitchers from the Japanese league, Wei-Yin Chen and Tsuyoshi Wada.

Chen, to me, has a better chance of winning Rookie of the Year because he is younger in age (only 26), as well as coming over with an incredible amount of success in Japan. Chen's ERA in the 2009 season of 1.54 not only led the league, but was the lowest ERA in Nippon Pro Baseball since 1968. 

Chen could come in as a sleeper and possibly be just as effective as the more well known Yu Darvish.

SP Jarrod Parker: Oakland Athletics

As much as I loved to bash what Billy Beane did this offseason, his team becomes the first to have two players to be mentioned on this list of Rookie of the Year candidates. While, of course, this means that much of their talent is unproven, it also shows that as dreary as it may seem in Oakland this upcoming season, there is a lot of superb young talent to look forward to.

Jarrod Parker is one of a few excellent young pitchers the A's picked up this season, coming over in a trade for an already proven young pitcher, Trevor Cahill. Parker got a call-up at the end of last season for the Arizona Diamondbacks, where the now 23-year-old threw 5.2 shut out innings in his big league debut.

The No. 1 prospect in the Oakland Athletics system should see success in his first year in the big leagues this season.

SP Brad Peacock: Oakland Athletics

Peacock becomes the third member of the Oakland Athletics to make this list, coming over as the main chip from Washington in the Gio Gonzalez trade.

Since Billy Beane has been general manager of the A's they have had three, now four, groups of young starting pitchers come through the system and leave when they couldn't be afforded. First, it was Zito, Hudson and Mulder, then it was Haren, Haren and Blanton.

Most recently it was Brett Anderson, Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez, but now, with Cahill and Gonzalez traded, it looks like Peacock and Parker will have to create a new group of young pitching stars. Look for Peacock, who tore up Double-A with the Harrisburg Senators most of last year, to be very productive in his first year in the big leagues.

SP Jacob Turner: Detroit Tigers

Jacob Turner at just 20 years old, comes into Detroit Tigers camp this season as the organization's No. 1 prospect and a very good chance to crack the big league rotation.

Despite struggling in his short time with the Tigers last season (0-1, 8.53 ERA in three starts), Turner had a very solid year in the minors between Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo, and his stuff is undeniable. Mixing in a nasty hard curveball with a fastball that hits 98 MPH, Turner has as good of pure stuff as any young pitcher in the league, and with some fine tuning, he could form a deadly one-two punch with Justin Verlander at the top of their rotation.

1B Chris Parmelee: Minnesota Twins

There are three things that are inevitable for the lowly Minnesota Twins: death, taxes and former MVP Justin Morneau being injured. 

Morneau is planning on playing on Opening Day this year, hopeful that his lingering concussion symptoms will finally be put behind him, but if he isn't ready to play at any point, most likely Chris Parmelee will be called upon to provide time at 1B and DH.

Parmelee had a very good season at Double-A New Britain last season before being a surprise success with the big league club as a September call-up. If given the chance, Parmelee could be a sleeper and have a very successful season at the major league level.