AL Rookie of the Year: Mike Trout Making a Move Up the Rankings

Jun 7, 2018

The chase for the American League Rookie of the Year award is starting to get pretty interesting.

In recent weeks, it's been difficult to put together a list of the top five contenders for the ROY in the American League, as there just weren't many options to choose from. But in the last 10 days or so, several prominent American League rookies have caught fire and put themselves in the Rookie of the Year discussion.

Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout is one of them. He was billed as the top prospect in baseball before the start of the season, and he's living up to that billing with a .316 batting average and three home runs in just 15 games.

Trout is now one of the top five contenders for the AL Rookie of the Year award, but where does he rank?

Let's take a look.

Note: Feel free to check out last week's AL Rookie of the Year rankings.

Honorable Mentions

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Will Middlebrooks, 3B, Boston Red Sox

He has a legitimate case to be in the top five, but I can't put him there knowing he's going to lose his job once Kevin Youkilis gets healthy. See The Boston Globe for more on that.

Yoenis Cespedes, CF, Oakland Athletics

It had been a while since his last home run, and the A's had to place him on the disabled list with a hand issue. He'll be back, but he's out of the top five for now.

Addison Reed, RP, Chicago White Sox

He pitched his way out of the top five by giving up six earned runs in a third of an inning against the Royals this past Sunday. Yuck.

Ryan Cook, RP, Oakland Athletics

He has nine holds. You guys like holds, right?

Scott Diamond, SP, Minnesota Twins

Who is this guy and where did he come from?

5. Jesus Montero, C/DH, Seattle Mariners

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Last Week: No. 4

On May 1st, Jesus Montero went 4-for-4 against the Tampa Bay Rays, upping his batting average to .294 and his OPS to .762.

Montero's batting average is now all the way down to .256, and his OPS has shrunk to .696. He's struggling.

His lack of patience isn't helping. Montero only has six walks all season in 137 plate appearances, and he's seeing just 3.59 pitches per at-bat. He's being too aggressive for his own good, and that's something he needs to work on.

Still, Montero has played in six more games than any other rookie in the American League, and he's playing pretty well despite his growing pains. The Mariners can rest easy knowing that Montero is only going to get better.

And yes, they can rest easy knowing that they're the clear winners of the Montero-Pineda trade.

4. Drew Smyly, SP, Detroit Tigers

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Last Week: No. 2

Drew Smyly had an AL-best 1.59 ERA heading into his most recent start against the Chicago White Sox.

They proceeded to give Smyly's ERA a boost. He gave up four earned on five hits in five innings. Two of those hits left the yard, and he got the hook after throwing just 69 pitches.

That was a surprise, but Smyly probably wouldn't have lasted any longer than six innings anyway. Six innings has been the high-water mark for him all season long, and that's easily the biggest knock against his Rookie of the Year candidacy.

Smyly is going to be able to stay in the ROY race as long as he can keep giving the Tigers six good innings every time he takes the mound, but he's going to have a hard time making up ground. He's been good, but he's not an ace.

Smyly may have the best ERA of any rookie with at least 30 innings pitched, but three other rookies with at least 30 innings pitched have him beat when it comes to WAR, according to FanGraphs.

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3. Mike Trout, CF, Los Angeles Angels

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Last Week: Unranked

The Angels are a mess, but Mike Trout has been a major bright spot since the team called him up in late April.

Trout started off slow, collecting just a single hit in his first 11 at-bats. Since the start of May, though, he's been on fire. He's 17-for-46 this month, good for an average of .370. He's hitting .417 over the last week.

Three of those 17 hits have left the yard, and Trout has added three stolen bases. He was hyped as a great combination of power and speed, and he certainly looks like one so far.

It's early yet, but Trout already has an impressive batting line of .316/.369/.561. His OPS is .931.

Better yet, Trout already has the highest WAR of any rookie hitter, according to FanGraphs. Pretty impressive seeing as how he's only played in 15 games.

Come next week, he could very well be No. 1 on this list.

2. Wei-Yin Chen, SP, Baltimore Orioles

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Last Week: Unranked

Last week, all I had to say about Wei-Yin Chen was this: "He's 2-0 with an ERA under 3.00 in five starts."

Well, he's now 4-0 with a 2.45 ERA, and his last two starts have been excellent.

On May 10th, Chen pitched 7.2 innings and allowed one earned run on six hits and a walk. On Tuesday, he allowed two earned runs over seven innings, allowing four hits and two walks in the process.

The first start was against the Texas Rangers. The second start was against the New York Yankees. They currently rank first and third in the American League in runs scored, respectively.

In the words of Darth Vader, "Most impressive." Maybe I should have written that the first time around.

Oh well. I'm writing it now. While I'm at it, I'll point out than Chen's WAR of 1.0 is the highest among AL rookie pitchers, according to FanGraphs.

1. Yu Darvish, SP, Texas Rangers

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Last Week: No. 1

Despite Trout's hot streak and Chen's great pitching, Yu Darvish is still the man to beat in the American League Rookie of the Year race.

Darvish's numbers are solid. He owns a 5-1 record and a 2.84 ERA, and he currently ranks fourth in the American League with 51 strikeouts. Only his WHIP doesn't look so great, as it checks in at 1.42.

It's true that Darvish has been touched up a little bit in his last two starts, but that's no cause for panic. He struck out 11 hitters in his loss to the Cleveland Indians on May 6th, and his most recent start was marred by a lengthy rain delay.

In the long run, Darvish is going to be just fine. His control is erratic, but hitters are still having trouble adjusting to his filthy stuff. As long as Darvish's stuff stays sharp, hitters are going to fear facing him.

Darvish ranks just behind Chen in WAR, per FanGraphs, but Darvish has the edge in the ROY race thanks to his wins, his strikeouts, and his slight lead in innings pitched.