Mike Trout unanimously won the American League Rookie of the Year award on Monday night. If we’re being honest, the Baseball Writers Association of America really didn’t even need to announce it. We all knew it months ago.
What was surprising however was the fact that Orioles starting pitcher Wei-Yin Chen received a couple of third place votes.
Chen finished fourth overall with two points ahead of Athletics pitcher Jarrod Parker (1) and behind Trout (140), Yoenis Cespedes (63) and Yu Darvish (46).
“Two points?” you ask.
I’ll explain.
For Rookie of the Year voting, the writers vote for first, second and third place. A first place vote is worth five points, a second place vote is worth three points and a third place vote is worth one. Chen was voted third on two of the 28 ballots.
MASNSports.com’s Roch Kubatko kept him off of his ballot. But The Baltimore Sun’s John Eisenberg and Michi Murayama of Tokyo Chunichi Sports each gave him a third place nod.
