AL Rookie of the Year Rankings: Wei-Yin Chen Re-Enters Top 5, Yu Darvish Slides

Jun 7, 2018

The Baltimore Orioles have had problems with their starting pitching all season long. Their rotation has been wrecked by injuries, and the starters they have been able to plug in have been largely ineffective. To date, Baltimore starters have a 4.73 ERA.

The one exception to the rule is Wei-Yin Chen. He's the only Baltimore starter to log more than 20 starts to this point, and he's long since emerged as the rock in Buck Showalter's starting rotation. When Chen pitches, Showalter knows he's going to get quality innings. He'll thus live a few extra years because of Chen.

Not bad for a rookie with less-than-overpowering stuff. Chen has adapted well to the major leagues.

He's adapted to the major leagues better, I'd say, than Yu Darvish. Darvish has been brilliant at times, but you just never know when he's going to walk the ballpark and allow a load of runs to cross the plate. Contrary to Chen, Texas' rookie hurler has pitched like a rookie.

Chen was a mainstay in the top five of my weekly American League Rookie of the Year rankings for several weeks before a rough stretch forced him out. He's back in this week, and ahead of Darvish to boot.

Here's a look at this week's rankings.

Note: All stats are as of the start of play on Wednesday, August 1, and they come from Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

Honorable Mentions

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Quintin Berry, OF, Detroit Tigers

Berry hit the skids a little bit in July, hitting just .250 with a .668 OPS. Nonetheless, he still boasts a solid .283/.364/.383 line, and he has a WAR of 1.2 that ranks fourth among AL rookie position players, according to FanGraphs.

Ryan Cook, RP, Oakland A's

Cook allowed runs in three straight outings recently, boosting his ERA from a sparkly 1.34 to a slightly-less sparkly 1.90. He rebounded in his most recent outing, though, pitching two scoreless innings against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Scott Diamond, SP, Minnesota Twins

Diamond entered the day with a 9-4 record and a 2.88 ERA and was fresh off a complete-game shutout of the Cleveland Indians. I'll cheat a little bit and mention that he pitched very well once again on Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox. He's in a strong position to score a spot in the top five before long.

Tommy Milone, SP, Oakland A's

Milone has struggled in his last two starts, giving up 11 earned runs over 13 innings. He still boasts a record of 9-8 and a 3.68 ERA, numbers that will do for a rookie.

Jesus Montero, C/DH, Seattle Mariners

Very quietly, Montero has been on fire since the All-Star break. He's hitting .344/.423/.508 thus far in the second half, and he finally has his OBP over .300 for the season, a good sign for Seattle.

Jarrod Parker, SP, Oakland A's

Parker was in my top five last week, but he didn't look so good in his last start against the Orioles, giving up eight hits and six earned runs in five innings.

Jose Quintana, SP, Chicago White Sox

Quintana has hit a rough patch, as he's given up eight earned runs over 13.1 innings in his last two starts. The word from the Chicago Tribune is that he's going to get a little extra rest before his next start. Hopefully, that will sharpen him up.

Addison Reed, RP, Chicago White Sox

Reed leads all AL rookies with 17 saves, but Tom Wilhelmsen is starting to catch up to him in that category.

Robbie Ross, RP, Texas Rangers

Ross got lit up on Monday against the Angels, giving up four earned runs in just two-thirds of an inning. That outing boosted his ERA from 1.08 to 1.78.

Brayan Villareal, RP, Detroit Tigers

Villareal now has the second-lowest ERA of any AL rookie reliever at 1.36, and he also boasts an impressive 11.73 K/9.

Tom Wilhelmsen, RP, Seattle Mariners

Wilhelmsen has 14 saves, a 2.52 ERA and a K/9 of 10.73. He's been as good as any rookie reliever in the AL this season.

5. Yu Darvish, SP, Texas Rangers

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Last Week: No. 3

There are two different versions of Yu Darvish. There's the Filthy McNasty version, and there's the Daisuke Matsuzaka version.

The latter version of Darvish showed up his last time out against the Chicago White Sox, as he was touched up for eight hits and six runs (five earned) in 6.1 innings. He walked three and struck out six.

Darvish took a loss, his seventh of the season, and he saw his ERA jump from 3.88 to 4.05. This is the first time his ERA has been over 4.00 since April 14.

That's the kind of second half it's been for Darvish thus far. In three starts, he's posted a 6.41 ERA and walked 11 in 19.2 innings pitched.

As a whole, Darvish's first season in the bigs still qualifies as solid. He leads all AL rookies with 11 wins and in K/9 at 10.15. Per FanGraphs, he has a 2.4 WAR that's tops among AL rookie starters.

But it's clear by now that Darvish is no ace. His stuff is indeed quite filthy, but he all too often has no idea where it's going. Developing some control is without a doubt his top priority going forward, but the Rangers shouldn't kid themselves by thinking that Darvish is going to morph into Greg Maddux overnight.

All they can do is cross their fingers and hope that Filthy McNasty shows up when it's Darvish's turn to pitch.

4. Wei-Yin Chen, SP, Baltimore Orioles

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Last Week: Unranked (honorable mention)

Yu Darvish has been the nastiest rookie pitcher in the American League in terms of pure stuff. In fact, there's not much of an argument there.

But the most consistent rookie starter in the AL this season? That honor goes to Wei-Yin Chen.

Chen has logged at least six innings in 13 of his 21 starts, and he's allowed three earned runs or fewer in all but four of them.

Most nights, Chen is far from dominant. His M.O. is to log five or six innings while allowing two or three earned runs and then departing with a lead.

But every once in a while...

There have been days when Chen has looked unhittable. His near-perfect game against Seattle in early July comes to mind, as does his brilliant start in early June at Fenway Park in which he out-dueled Josh Beckett.

His start on Sunday against the Oakland A's is another example. Chen only lasted 5.2 innings, but he held the A's scoreless on just three hits while striking out 12.

Keep in mind that this was against the hottest team in baseball. Props are very much deserved.

There are a lot of rookie pitchers in the AL who are pitching well right now, chief among them being Scott Diamond, A.J. Griffin and Travis Blackley. Chen gets the nod over them in these rankings because he's been pitching well all season.

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3. Will Middlebrooks, 3B, Boston Red Sox

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Last Week: No. 4

Will Middlebrooks made a lot of Red Sox fans start squirming in their seats when he went into a slump and then got hurt immediately after the team traded Kevin Youkilis. It looked like they had made a mistake.

Not quite. Middlebrooks has been healthy ever since the All-Star break, and he's caught fire in the last couple weeks.

Over his last 10 games, Middlebrooks is hitting at .378/.395/.595 with a pair of home runs and five RBI. His BABIP over this stretch is an absurd .500.

If his track record is any indication, Middlebrooks is bound to cool down sometime in the near future. He's been hot and cold ever since the Red Sox called him up in early May.

Despite that, Middlebrooks has never strayed far from the magical .300 line, and at the moment, his batting line checks in at .301/.331/.525.

His weighted on-base average, according to FanGraphs, is .364. That's good for third among AL rookie hitters.

In fact, among AL third basemen with at least 250 plate appearances, only Miguel Cabrera has a higher wOBA than Middlebrooks.

Translation: The kid has been pretty good.

2. Yoenis Cespedes, OF, Oakland A's

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Last Week: No. 2

All the scouts swore that Yoenis Cespedes had the ability to be a star player in Major League Baseball.

What they were less certain of was how soon Cespedes would become a star. The general consensus was that it would take a while.

It hasn't. Cespedes is a star right now.

It's impressive enough that Cespedes is hitting .305/.361/.532 with a .383 wOBA. What's more impressive is how hot he's been over the last two months.

Since the first of June, Cespedes is hitting .344/.389/.595 with nine home runs and 33 RBI. He's been especially hot since the All-Star break, hitting .423/.461/.718 with five homers and 18 RBI in 17 games.

He's a big reason why the A's have been so hot as a team. They're a different animal when Cespedes is in the lineup.

This shows up in the splits. When Cespedes plays, the A's are 44-27. When he doesn't play, they're 12-20.

If it wasn't for the next guy on this list, Cespedes would be the man to beat in the AL Rookie of the Year race by a wide margin.

1. Mike Trout, OF, Los Angeles Angels

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Last Week: No. 1

I don't have to justify this, right?

What the heck. I will anyway.

Trout is hitting .353/.411/.608 with 18 home runs, 55 RBI, 80 runs scored and 31 stolen bases. He's leading the American League in hitting, runs and stolen bases, and he ranks second in slugging and OPS.

Per FanGraphs, Trout leads all major league players with a .445 wOBA and a 6.5 WAR. In addition to being an offensive force, he's one of the top defensive outfielders in the game. He could very well win a Gold Glove.

Not to mention the AL MVP award. He leads that race by a significant margin right now.

The AL Rookie of the Year award? Psh. That's a mere formality for Trout right now.