BBA Awards: Willie Mays Ballot

Call to the Pen is a member site of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. As such, we have the duty each year to cast our ballot in several postseason award categories. Similar to the BBWAA, the BBA is broken into chapters, with each chapter receiving a maximum of two votes per award. The votes will be tallied and the BBA will announce the winners via press release, and they will also be listed on the BBA homepage.

As was the case with our ballot for the Connie Mack Award, posted earlier today, we polled the staff here and our official ballot for the Willie Mays Award, honoring the top Rookie performer in each league, appears after the jump.

American League

3- Danny Valencia, Minnesota Twins- Valencia was a major contributor to the Twins as they took off in the second half. After going homerless in 185 Triple-A at bats before being called up, Valencia stepped in at third base for the big club and clubbed seven homers in 299 at bats in his rookie campaign. While his power was a surprise, the fact that he hit .311 in the majors shouldn’t be as Valencia had a .298 average over five minor league seasons. Valencia’s production helped the Twins offset the loss of Justin Morneau in the lineup and shows a bright future for the Twins at the hot corner.

2- Neftali Feliz, Texas Rangers- Feliz appeared in 20 games for the Rangers in 2009, but still qualified as a rookie this year. Stepping into the closer’s role, Feliz successfully solidified the ninth inning, converting on 40 save opportunities. He held opponents to a .176 average and allowed only 5.6 hits per nine innings. On the season, Feliz posted a 2.73 ERA and struck out more than a batter per inning. In most years that would be plenty good enough to take home this award, but when it came down to it, he played in fewer than 70 innings all season long.

1- Austin Jackson, Detroit Tigers- Jackson was the opening day starter in centerfield for the Tigers and played 151 games in his first taste of the big leagues. While he slumped a bit in September, Jackson still wound up hitting .293 on the season, despite leading the league in strikeouts.  Jackson became just the fifth rookie all-time to reach 100 runs, 180 hits, 30 doubles and 10 triples in his rookie season. His overall line, coupled with a knack for spectacular defensive plays made him our choice for the league top rookie.

National League

There were several NL rookies that easily could have been listed on this ballot, but we narrowed it down to three, somehow.

3- Mike Stanton, Florida Marlins- Stanton didn’t make his debut until June 8, but over the course of the rest of the season, all he did was club 22 home runs and knock in 59. He struggled with strikeouts, fanning 123 times in less than 360 at bats, but when he made contact, he generally did some damage. The Marlins, and all of baseball for that matter, had been high on him as a prospect and his power certainly didn’t disappoint.

2- Jaime Garcia, St. Louis Cardinals- After an unspectacular debut in 2008, followed by a date with Tommy John surgery left Garcia with little chance to make the Cardinals during camp in Arizona. He was spectacular during Spring Training and won a job in the rotation where all he did was make 28 starts and allowed fewer than a hit per inning. Garcia kept the ball in the yard, allowing only nine homers in 163 innings and finished the year with a 13-8 record and a 2.70 ERA, which was good enough for fourth in the National League.

1- Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants- Like Stanton, Posey had to wait to get the call to the big leagues this year, but once he got there, he took control of the Giants, settling in as the cleanup man on a division champion club. Posey handled the young pitching staff with the poise of a veteran and his bat was an even bigger story. Posey played in 108 games, netting 406 at bats. He posted a slash line of .305/.357/.505 for an OPS of .837. He clubbed 18 home runs and knocked in 72 on the season. In a field of rookie we haven’t seen the likes of, maybe ever, Posey was the class of the NL rookies and a deserving choice for this honor.