AL Rookie of the Year Rankings: Matt Moore Moves Up, Mike Trout Still Dominating

Jun 7, 2018

The best left-hander in the Tampa Bay Rays' starting rotation is David Price. No further discussion is needed to prove that point.

Lately, though, rookie lefty Matt Moore has been just as good. After a disappointing first half, Moore has become one of the most dominant pitchers in all of baseball since the All-Star break.

Moore probably doesn't have a chance of catching up to Mike Trout in the chase for the American League Rookie of the Year award. Trout is leading the race by roughly a million miles or so, and he's showing no signs whatsoever of slowing down anytime soon.

Moore could, however, end up being the answer to a tricky trivia question asked in baseball circles many years from now:

Who finished second to Mike Trout in the AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2012?

That's what the AL Rookie of the Year race is all about now, and Moore is just one of many AL rookies in the running for the not-so-coveted honor.

Scroll ahead to see where he ranks in this week's rankings.

Note: All stats are current as of the start of play on Wednesday, August 22, and they come from Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

Honorable Mentions

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Ryan Cook, RP, Oakland A's

Cook has strung together three straight scoreless appearances, which, needless to say, is a good sign seeing as how he allowed six earned runs in three appearances at one point earlier in August. His ERA is down to 2.63, and he may be back to closing games in the near future.

Yu Darvish, SP, Texas Rangers

Darvish has bounced back to pitch well in his last two starts, allowing six earned runs over 13.2 innings while striking out 18. Unfortunately, the word from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is that he's going to miss his next start with a bad wheel.

Sean Doolittle, RP, Oakland A's

Doolittle is the best secret weapon in the American League. He leads all rookie relievers in FIP, according to FanGraphs, and boasts an impressive 13.50 K/9.

Will Middlebrooks, 3B, Boston Red Sox

Middlebrooks would be in the top five if his season wasn't over, but, well, his season probably is over. He hit .288/.325/.509 with 15 home runs in 75 games.

Jesus Montero, C/DH, Seattle Mariners

Montero has really come alive since the All-Star break, hitting .300/.351/.458 with five homers and 21 RBI. He's walked nine times after walking just 14 times in the entire first half of the season.

Robbie Ross, RP, Texas Rangers

Ross is 6-0 pitching out of the Rangers' pen with a shiny 1.72 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. He's had his ups and downs in July, but he's working on a 1.29 ERA and a .192 opponents' batting average in August. All is well.

On the Cusp

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Why yes, this is a new feature in these rankings. There were too many darned honorable mentions every week. This is a good way to give the especially honorable honorable mentions their due.

Jarrod Parker, SP, Oakland A's

Parker was dominant against the Indians his last time out, scattering six hits and walking only one in eight scoreless innings. He's now 8-7 with a 3.48 ERA, and he ranks second among AL rookie pitchers in WAR, according to FanGraphs. Let's see if he can keep it up against opponents that aren't hopeless.

Jose Quintana, SP, Chicago White Sox

It isn't always pretty when Quintana takes the mound, but he's allowed no more than two earned runs in any of his last three starts. He has his ERA down to 2.76, and he really deserves better than his 5-2 record.

Addison Reed, RP, Chicago White Sox

Reed leads all AL rookies with 22 saves, and he's collected nine of those since the All-Star break with a 2.92 ERA. He's only allowed one earned run in August so far.

5. Wei-Yin Chen, SP, Baltimore Orioles

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Last Week: No. 3

It's impossible to predict what you're going to see from Wei-Yin Chen every time he takes the mound. He's effective more often than not, but he also has days where he just isn't fooling anyone.

He's had a couple of those days recently. He allowed seven earned runs in 4.2 innings against the Kansas City Royals on August 9 before bouncing back with a strong start against the Boston Red Sox, but then followed that up by giving up five runs in five innings against the Detroit Tigers this past weekend.

Chen managed to win that start anyway, and has won three out of his last four to push his record to 12-7. His ERA, however, is up to 3.87, the highest it's been since early July.

There are still plenty of things to like about the season Chen is having. He's pitched more innings than any other rookie in the AL, and he's been far more consistent than other standout rookie hurlers like Yu Darvish, Jarrod Parker and Tommy Milone.

Presently, Chen is tied for third among AL rookie starters in WAR at 2.1, according to FanGraphs. He's been right around the top of the pack in that category all season long, and that isn't likely to change given the way he manages to avoid stringing together poor outings.

But we'll see. The word from the Baltimore Sun is that the O's are going to give Chen a little extra rest before his next start, a sign that there's at least some concern that he may be wearing down a little.

If the extra rest fails to have a positive effect, Chen could be on the outside of the top five looking in this time next week.

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4. Matt Moore, SP, Tampa Bay Rays

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Last Week: No. 5

Matt Moore actually showed signs of humanity in his last start. The Los Angeles Angels hit two long balls off of him, ultimately tagging him for five hits and two walks in 6.1 innings.

Moore, however, only surrendered two earned runs and he ended up walking away with his 10th win. He lowered his ERA a tad from 3.60 to 3.57.

He's now 5-1 in seven starts since the All-Star break, with a shiny 1.64 ERA and a .195 opponents' batting average.

To put those numbers in perspective, David Price is 5-0 in eight starts since the break with a 1.23 ERA and a .173 opponents' batting average. Moore has basically been a Price clone since the break, which is presumably the exact role the Rays had in mind for him all along.

As Ben Duronio of FanGraphs pointed out, Moore's turnaround in recent weeks has everything to do with his slider. He's throwing it more often than he was earlier in the year, and it's proven to be an effective swing-and-miss pitch.

Which makes sense seeing as how it's, you know, a slider.

Just as important, Moore has also done himself a big favor by cutting down on his walks. After walking 50 hitters in 99.2 innings in the first half, Moore has only walked 15 hitters in 44 innings in the second half. He hasn't walked any more than two in his last three starts.

If he can keep it up, he could be the runner-up to Trout in these rankings in no time at all.

3. Scott Diamond, SP, Minnesota Twins

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Last Week: No. 4

Scott Diamond pitched well enough to win his last time out, holding the Seattle Mariners to two earned runs in 6.2 innings of work at Safeco Field. Alas, the Mariners won 3-2 and Diamond walked away with a no decision.

Still, it was a typical Diamond outing. He gave up a lot of hits (nine, to be exact), but most of those were singles and Diamond further helped himself by not walking anybody.

So it goes. Diamond may have a fairly high opponents' batting average at .274, but he's holding opponents to a .407 slugging percentage. That puts him in the same territory as Jason Vargas and Jeremy Hellickson.

He has a BB/9 of 1.27, and he's in a league of his own in that category. He has the lowest walk rate of any qualified major league starting pitcher.

He also boasts the eighth-highest ground-ball rate in the majors at 55.9, a major reason why he doesn't tend to give up many extra-base hits.

According to FanGraphs, Diamond's 2.1 WAR ties him with Chen for third among AL rookie pitchers. His 2.95 ERA is good for sixth overall among all AL starting pitchers.

He's doing Minnesota's rotation proud.

Shoot, somebody has to.

2. Yoenis Cespedes, OF, Oakland A's

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Last Week: No. 2

Yoenis Cespedes came down with a sore wrist a few weeks ago, and it definitely had a negative effect on him at the plate. Between July 29 and August 15, Cespedes failed to record a single extra-base hit.

His wrist must be feeling a lot better. In his last six games, Cespedes has a pair of doubles and a pair of home runs. His slugging percentage had briefly dipped below .500, but it's back up to .512 now.

He's also hitting .303 with a solid .365 on-base percentage. He has 16 home runs and 60 RBI, numbers that both rank second among AL rookie hitters behind you-know-who.

Per FanGraphs, Cespedes has a weighted on-base average of .379. That actually ranks third among AL rookies, but don't let that fool you into thinking a .379 wOBA is nothing special. Jose Bautista has a .379 wOBA while Robinson Cano has a .380 wOBA.

That's as good a sign as any that Cespedes has been one of the AL's elite hitters when he's been healthy, and goodness knows the A's need as much production out of him as they can get. They're a different team when Cespedes is healthy and swinging the bat well.

That shows up in his splits. In losses, Cespedes is a .260/.317/.394 hitter. In wins, he's a .330/.396/.586 hitter.

The A's are 54-35 with Cespedes, and 12-21 without him.

1. Mike Trout, OF, Los Angeles Angels

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Last Week: No. 1

So then, what is Mike Trout up to these days?

Well, he looked like he was slowing down a little bit earlier in August, but that turned out to be a big tease. Trout is currently riding an eight-game hitting streak in which he's hitting .387 with three home runs.

For the season, Trout is now hitting .344/.407/.606 with 24 homers, 70 RBI, 97 runs scored and 39 stolen bases. He leads the AL in hitting, runs, steals, slugging and OPS.

According to FanGraphs, he also leads the Junior Circuit in weighted on-base average and WAR.

Yeah, he's not budging from the top spot in these rankings any time soon. For that matter, I still have him No. 1 in my AL MVP rankings despite the fact his Angels have gone in the toilet since the calendar turned to August.

He's that good.