Josh Collmenter Fifth in NL Rookie of the Year Voting

Congratulations to Josh Collmenter, who came in fifth in the National League Rookie of the Year voting, getting one second- and two third-place votes. It was a unanimous choice for Braves' reliever Craig Kimbrel as the winner, the tenth such selection for the NL award [the last being Albert Pujols, I believe]. Somewhat inexplicably, the mediocrity which was Freddie Freeman came in second, but I've already complained enough about that.

It's the best showing for a DIamondbacks player in this award in four years. Gerardo Parra notched a single third-place vote in 2009, but you have to go back to Chris Young in 2007 to find a higher ranking. CY notched ten points and came in fourth overall. Of course, Brandon Webb was famously jobbed by Dontrelle Willis's leg-kick in 2003, and came in third - though to be fair, both men should probably have lost to the runner-up that year. Scott Podsednik, whose 6.3 bWAR was the best figure by any NL rookie since Pujols' 6.9 in 2001. Travis Lee also finished third in the franchise's debut year of 1998.

Collmenter can take some comfort from being the 'true' Rookie of the Year, as the four ahead of him all appeared in the majors last season. Indeed, just about all were more highly-ranked in their prospective organization, despite the weakness of the D-backs farm system then. At the end of last season, John Sickels of Minor League Ball ranked Kimbrel and Freeman #6 and #2 in the Braves organization, with Worley #9 for the Phillies, and Ramos + Espinosa #6 and #3 in Washington respectively, and Jansen was #4 with LA. Barney was the only other, besides Collmenter (#16, and lower than that in many places), to get votes and be listed by Sickels as outside his team's top 10.

I'm impressed by Atlanta finishing both #1 and #2, despite my qualms about Freeman's qualifications. They've had someone in the top three each of the past four occasions, which is testament to the production line of quality coming up through their system. But it's the first time any NL team has nailed the top two spots in the National League since Jerome Walton and Dwight Smith for the 1989 Cubs. Though as a warning to Atlanta, you're probably going "Who?" at those two names - and with good justification, because both flamed out thereafter. The Marlins came close in 2006, getting #1, #3 and #4 spots.

Jack Magruder says he had Freeman second and Ramos third on his ballot, not heard from any other Arizona writers (presumably Nick P) who they voted for. The Rays' Jeremy Hellickson won in the American League. After the AL Cy Young tomorrow, next up for the NL is Manager of the Year, which I believe is due to be announced at 11am Arizona time on Wednesday. I'm already working on a piece about that one, for obvious reasons. :)