Jose Abreu voted Sporting News AL Rookie of the Year
Sep 24, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu (79) receives congratulations from left fielder Jordan Danks (20) after scoring in the sixth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
In what is to be most likely the first of his American League Rookie of the Year awards, Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu was voted as the AL ROY by the Sporting News.
A press release stated that Abreu secured 149 of the 160 votes for the award, with Matt Shoemaker of the Los Angeles Angels gaining four votes, followed by New York Yankees’ Dellin Betances and Masahiro Tanaka each with three and White Sox teammate Marcus Semien with one vote.
My question is who are the 11 people who didn’t vote for Abreu, and what were they watching all season? Abreu should have been an unanimous winner of the award, but anyway, it was good to see Abreu honored for his achievements this season.
But really though, what were those 11 voters watching this season?
For his ’14 rookie season, Abreu batted .317 with 176 total hits. Of those hits, he had 35 doubles and 36 home runs, becoming the first rookie since Albert Pujols to put up those type of numbers.
In the press release, it also stated:
“Abreu also became the first rookie in major-league history to rank among the Top 5 in his league in each Triple Crown category and joined Hal Trosky (1934), Ted Williams (1939) and Albert Pujols (2001) as the only rookie in history to record 30 doubles, 30 homers and 100 RBI in a season.”
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Abreu, who is now the 11th White Sox player to be a Sporting News ROY, in ’14 became the next leader of the White Sox, hoping to be able to fill the spot left vacated by Paul Konerko as he retired at the end of this past season. Abreu set other rookie marks in the franchise this season, including breaking the rookie home run mark previously held by Ron Kittle, along with being the AL Player of the Month in April and July.
The White Sox slugger, who was also an All-Star, was also the AL Rookie of the Month three times.
It was a pure joy to watch Abreu this past season, and he’ll only (hopefully) continue to get even better as his career continues and he becomes even more accustomed to the MLB schedule and pitching he’ll face in his second year with the White Sox.