Demigods pitcher Yu Darvish
Continuing a recent trend, a large number of pitchers were exceptionally dominant in the 2013 baseball season. Among DTBL newcomers, pitchers ruled the season as well. In coming up with the 20 finalists for the Rookie of the Year award, I usually try to include a few more hitters than pitchers since they occupy a larger number of roster spots. However, that simply wasn’t possible this year with so many great rookie pitchers in the league. One of them clearly stood out among the rest though. Demigods pitcher Yu Darvish is the 2013 Rookie of the Year.
Darvish was the shining light in an otherwise dim rotation. The Demigods finished last in the league in pitching points. Everyone but Darvish should be blamed for that. Darvish led the entire league in strikeouts (277), finished fourth in ERA (2.83) and eighth in WHIP (1.07). He won 13 games. His strikeout total destroyed the Demigods single season franchise record, which was previously held by Cole Hamels (216). 277 is the most strikeouts a DTBL pitcher has recorded since Randy Johnson had 290 in 2004. I haven’t 100% confirmed this, but I believe it is also a league rookie record.
It was a pretty easy choice for the Demigods when they picked Darvish with the fourth overall pick in this year’s draft. He was the second pitcher taken, immediately after Kris Medlen. He wound up being the most productive player out of the first round class by a fairly comfortable margin. While he was not able to turn around the Demigods pitching staff by himself, he certainly gives them a solid piece to build around next year.
Darvish received nine out of the ten first place votes. He also received one second place vote, making him the only player to appear on all ten ballots. He finished with 97 points, making him a clear cut winner of the Rookie of the Year award. Pitchers dominated the vote, finishing in the top three spots. The Mavericks’ young fireballer Matt Harvey came in second place with five second place votes and 46 total points. An elbow injury derailed his season in late August, effectively handing the award to Darvish. Harvey probably would have been the favorite to win this award had he stayed healthy. Both Darvish and Harvey figure to get some love in the Cy Young vote as well. Finishing in third place with 38 points was the Gators’ Hisashi Iwakuma. Perhaps the biggest surprise on this list, the 7th round pick Iwakuma was among the league leaders in ERA and WHIP. Next, we finally have a hitter. Gators shortstop Jean Segura received the one first place vote that didn’t go to Darvish. He notched 32 points to finish fourth. Segura was the Gators 8th round pick. So with consecutive picks in the second half of the draft, the Gators managed to pick two of the top four rookies of the year. Finally, rounding out the top five is Mavericks third baseman Manny Machado. Machado and Harvey gave the Mavericks their own pair of rookie sensations.
Click here to view the full Rookie of the Year voting results.
The schedule for the announcement of the other two awards is not firm, but I plan to announce the Cy Young award winner either tomorrow or Friday, with the Most Valuable Player award announcement coming next Monday.