Internet Baseball Awards: Rookies of the Year
by Greg Spira
For the fourth time in the last five years, Internet Baseball Awards™ voters
chose a pitcher as the National League Rookie of the Year. This 2002 winner is
Jason Jennings, who impressed voters by prospering despite the unique
challenges presented by his home park, Coors Field. He is the first Rockie to
win any Internet Baseball Award. Two Rockies have previously finished second:
Larry
Walker in the 1997 NL MVP voting and Todd
Helton in the 1998 NL Rookie voting. While Jennings won easily, four
other players earned over 100 first place votes--Austin Kearns, Damian
Moss, Brad Wilkerson and Mark Prior. Not one of the top five
finishers were projected to be one of the top ten rookies in the majors by
Baseball America.
Name 1 2 3 B P
Jason Jennings 664 257 122 1043 4213
Austin Kearns 205 341 257 803 2305
Damian Moss 229 258 171 658 2090
Brad Wilkerson 149 216 162 527 1555
Mark Prior 146 169 168 483 1405
Kaz Ishii 47 71 116 234 564
Jason Simontacchi 34 49 102 185 419
Josh Fogg 22 60 117 199 407
Josh Beckett 10 19 31 60 138
Dennis Stark 3 19 20 42 92
Ryan Jensen 5 11 10 26 68
Oliver Perez 2 7 15 24 46
Tim Spooneybarger 1 6 14 21 37
Mike Koplove 2 6 5 13 33
Carlos Hernandez 2 3 7 12 26
Kirk Saarloos 1 4 9 14 26
Sean Burroughs 2 2 6 10 22
Carlos Zambrano 0 6 3 9 21
Brett Myers 1 3 4 8 18
Ty Wigginton 0 4 5 9 17
Ramon Vazquez 0 3 5 8 14
Nick Neugebauer 2 0 1 3 11
Jake Peavy 0 3 2 5 11
Brandon Puffer 2 0 1 3 11
Mike Bacsik 2 0 0 2 10
Mike Crudale 0 2 4 6 10
Kevin Gryboski 0 2 3 5 9
Damon Minor 0 1 4 5 7
Rickey Stone 0 2 1 3 7
Jamie Cerda 0 1 2 3 5
Jared Fernandez 0 1 2 3 5
Jeremy Fikac 1 0 0 1 5
Reggie Taylor 1 0 0 1 5
Carlos Silva 0 0 4 4 4
Dennis Tankersley 0 1 1 2 4
Yorvit Torrealba 0 1 1 2 4
T.J. Tucker 0 1 1 2 4
Mark Corey 0 1 0 1 3
Morgan Ensberg 0 1 0 1 3
Raul Gonzalez 0 1 0 1 3
Luis Pineda 0 1 0 1 3
Aaron Cook 0 0 2 2 2
Adam Everett 0 0 2 2 2
Jayson Durocher 0 0 1 1 1
Blaine Neal 0 0 1 1 1
Brandon Villafuerte 0 0 1 1 1
TOTAL 1533 1533 1383 4449 13647
There was a lot of hype about the AL rookie crop before the season, especially about big name prospects like Hank Blalock, Carlos Pena and Nick Johnson. However, none of them fully blossomed in 2002. Instead, third baseman Eric Hinske, whom J.P. Riccardi's Blue Jays acquired in the offseason from the Athletics for Billy Koch, established himself early in the season as the top AL rookie and easily won the IBA AL Rookie of the Year award. Hinske was a solid if not spectacular prospect before the season, but the second place finisher, Orioles starting pitcher Rodrigo Lopez, finished second a year after being released by the Padres. Designated hitter Josh Phelps, who finished third, appeared in only 74 games but impressed voters with his .309 batting average and 36 extra base hits. Jorge Julio, the Orioles' new closer, finshed fourth, giving the Orioles and Blue Jays a sweep of the top of the AL rookie charts in 2002.
Name 1 2 3 B P
Eric Hinske 1157 185 37 1379 6377
Rodrigo Lopez 163 563 141 867 2645
Josh Phelps 44 194 308 546 1110
Jorge Julio 14 106 146 266 534
Bobby Kielty 15 90 118 223 463
Nick Johnson 10 52 70 132 276
Mark Ellis 21 37 47 105 263
John Lackey 12 37 45 94 216
Carlos Pena 4 42 52 98 198
Kevin Mench 5 27 48 80 154
Casey Fossum 11 18 44 73 153
Joe Crede 11 21 33 65 151
Tony Fiore 4 9 17 30 64
Aaron Harang 2 14 12 28 64
Mike Cuddyer 2 13 12 27 61
Dustan Mohr 0 11 18 29 51
Brendan Donnelly 1 8 17 26 46
Orlando Hudson 1 3 27 31 41
Rafael Soriano 2 7 4 13 35
Covelli Crisp 3 3 8 14 32
Pete Walker 2 4 9 15 31
Hank Blalock 4 2 3 9 29
Toby Hall 0 7 6 13 27
Travis Phelps 0 6 5 11 23
Corey Thurman 1 5 3 9 23
Carl Crawford 1 2 8 11 19
Joaquin Benoit 1 3 3 7 17
Jeremy Affeldt 2 1 3 6 16
Runelvys Hernandez 1 3 2 6 16
John McDonald 2 1 3 6 16
Geronimo Gil 0 3 6 9 15
George Lombard 1 2 2 5 13
Ryan Drese 0 3 3 6 12
Travis Driskill 0 3 2 5 11
Chris Magruder 1 1 3 5 11
Juan Alvarez 0 3 0 3 9
Scot Shields 0 2 3 5 9
Mike Maroth 0 2 1 3 7
Jorge Sosa 1 0 2 3 7
Miguel Asencio 0 1 2 3 5
Willie Harris 1 0 0 1 5
Adam Bernero 0 1 1 2 4
Jeff Farnsworth 0 1 1 2 4
Ken Huckaby 0 1 1 2 4
Aaron Guiel 0 1 0 1 3
Oscar Henriquez 0 1 0 1 3
Mike Porzio 0 1 0 1 3
Ramon Santiago 0 0 3 3 3
Shawn Sedlacek 0 0 3 3 3
Rick Bauer 0 0 1 1 1
Brandon Berger 0 0 1 1 1
Travis Harper 0 0 1 1 1
Justin Miller 0 0 1 1 1
John Stephens 0 0 1 1 1
TOTAL 1500 1500 1287 4287 13287
Tomorrow, the Cy Youngs.
Greg Spira is an author of Baseball Prospectus. You can contact him by
clicking here.