Los Angeles Dodgers right-handed fireballer Walker Buehler (29) finished third in the 2018 National League (NL) rookie award. He played an active role in 24 games (137⅓ innings) with 8 wins, 5 losses, an average ERA of 2.62 and 151 strikeouts, but only one vote for first place. Ronald Acuña Jr. (Atlanta Braves) and Juan Soto (then Washington Nationals, now San Diego Padres) were behind in first and second places. Both players are outfielders.
It seems that Buehler still has regrets from that time. On the 17th (hereinafter Korean time), ‘CBS Sports’ of the United States said, ‘Buehler wants a rookie award made only for pitchers. One rookie award is awarded for each league, but Buehler hopes for separate rookie awards for pitchers and hitters.”
Buehler, who is in rehabilitation after undergoing Tommy John surgery last year and aims to return next month, expressed his opinion on the podcast ‘Just Baseball Show’ earlier this week. Buehler said, “I think there should be a Cy Young Award for rookies. Not that I should have received it, but I was third in the rookie award after Acuña Jr. and Soto. Both players are players beyond generations, but they did not throw the ball. So who am I competing with? “Let’s give the best rookie pitcher the Fernando Valenzuela Award.”
The Rookie of the Year Award has been named the ‘Jackie Robinson Award’ since 1987 to commemorate the achievements of Jackie Robinson, who was the first major league rookie to win the award in 1947. Buehler came up with the idea of giving a separate rookie pitcher of the year award after Valenzuela, the legendary pitcher of the Dodgers. Valenzuela is a legend who won the 1981 NL Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young Award, leading the Dodgers to win the World Series. Last week, his number 34 was permanently removed.
Buehler made this argument because the Major League Rookie of the Year award is unfavorable to pitchers. Excluding Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels), who doubles as a pitcher, only one pitcher out of 12 rookies in the two major leagues over the past six years since 2017. Devin Williams (Milwaukee Brewers) is the only reliever to receive the 2020 NL Rookie of the Year award.
This year, outfielder Corbin Carroll (Arizona Diamondbacks) in the NL and shortstop Gunner Henderson (Baltimore Orioles) in the American League (AL) are likely to win the rookie award this year as well. The most recent case in which a starting pitcher received the rookie award was AL Michael Fulmer (then Detroit Tigers, current Chicago Cubs) in 2016. In the NL, Jacob deGrom (then New York Mets, now Texas Rangers) is the last in 2014.스포츠토토
CBS Sports said, ‘These days, winning the rookie award means more than simply receiving a trophy. Players who placed 1st or 2nd in Rookie of the Year are eligible for one year of service time, regardless of the number of days they are registered on the active roster. If each league selects one hitter and one pitcher for the rookie of the year award, the players’ union will definitely like it because more players are guaranteed service time,’ he explained.
According to the Major League New Labor-Management Agreement (CBA) signed in March of last year, the players ranked 1st and 2nd as rookies of the year are recognized for the number of registered days (172 days) per year of service time regardless of the call-up period. It is a system to prevent the case of Chris Bryant (Colorado Rockies), who received the NL Rookie of the Year award from the Chicago Cubs in 2015, but failed to complete a year of service time with a difference of just one day, and the acquisition of free agency was delayed for a year.
If there had been a separate rookie award for pitcher, George Kirby (Seattle Mariners), who was the only pitcher to receive the vote after finishing 6th in the AL Rookie Award last year, would have been able to shorten the free agency acquisition period by filling up one year of free time. Last year, Kirby fell 21 days short of his full year of happy time.
CBS Sports said, “I like Buehler’s idea regardless of the happy hour impact.” I am in favor of separating the hitter and pitcher rookie awards. It would be nice to give a prize to the player who performed the best on the plate and on the mound,” he supported. Just as there is a Cy Young Award for pitchers besides the MVP, which hitters almost dominate, it remains to be seen whether the rookie award will be divided between pitchers and hitters.
