The votes have been tallied and the results are in for the 2019 Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) awards winners.
This means it’s time for me to grade last week’s predictions.
American League Rookie of the Year
My Prediction: Yordan Ãlvarez
Winner: Yordan Ãlvarez
Running Tally: 1/1
National League Rookie of the Year
My Prediction: Pete Alonso
Winner: Pete Alonso
Running Tally: 2/2
The Rookie of the Year category was the easiest to predict by far. There wasn’t much of a competition given that some of the finalists missed significant time due to injuries. However, Ãlvarez’s status as a member of the 2019 Astros may forever taint his award following the electronic sign-stealing allegations raised against the organization.
American League Manager of the Year
My Prediction: Aaron Boone
Winner: Rocco Baldelli
Running Tally 2/3
I picked the wrong manager of a 100+ win team.
National League Manager of the Year
My Prediction: Mike Shildt
Winner: Mike Shildt
Running Tally: 3/4
Writers love a good underdog story, even though the Cardinals are never underdogs.
American League Cy Young Award
My Prediction: Gerrit Cole
Winner: Justin Verlander
Running Tally: 3/5
This was my biggest miss. I underestimated baseball writers’ love of pitcher wins and durability, which were the categories where Verlander outperformed the competition this year.
National League Cy Young Award
My Prediction: Jacob deGrom
Winner: Jacob deGrom
Running Tally: 4/6
When no candidate has totally run away with the season, the award will go to last year’s winner.
American League Most Valuable Player
My Prediction: Alex Bregman
Winner: Mike Trout
Running Tally: 4/7
The BBWAA avoided a major black eye by voting Trout, the most deserving candidate, MVP over Alex Bregman after news broke of alleged electronic sign-stealing by the Astros since their 2017 championship season.
National League Most Valuable Player
My Prediction: Cody Bellinger
Winner: Cody Bellinger
While I pointed out last week that Christian Yelich had followed up his 2018 MVP campaign with an even better 2019, I knew he would likely finish behind Bellinger, who tied Yelich for the lead in fWAR and excelled at multiple positions for the league-leading Dodgers. Yelich’s loss will preserve the reputation of the BBWAA, since the Brewers have also been implicated in the electronic sign-stealing scandal rocking baseball. Yelich’s disparate 2019 home/road splits (Home: .347/.451/.750 vs. Road: .312/.409/.597) are of note when considering the allegations involving the Brewers.
Final Tally: 5/8 (63% – D)
I barely made a passing grade this year!
Categories