Yankees rookie pitcher Ivan Nova has 15 wins. FIFTEEN!! If that’s not ridiculous enough to believe, then the fact that the Yankees have not lost a game with Nova on the mound since June 3rd must be impossible. Personally, I love to see him on the mound as a Yankee fan, because he creates some optimistic thoughts about young starting pitching that the bombers haven’t seen probably since the days of Andy Pettitte— he definitely has caused a stir. As a matter of fact, many reports say that he is the clear front runner for this years’ American league rookie of the year award. But is he really worth the honor of being thee best rookie of the AL.
He pitches with an aggressive swagger while blending a humble tone, which creates the perfect baseball character. Personality aside, he has a mix of pitches that makes him deadly if he uses them efficiently. It’s no secret that Nova is a groundball pitcher. However, after his call up from the minors in mid-season, Nova returned with a sharper slider, and coupled that with a mid -90s fastball and a curveball with a deceiving drop. His accuracy still needs some work, but the fact that his game dramatically increased and can’t be disputed. His stat line currently reads 15-4 (78.9%), 3.94 era, 1.34 whip— and that makes him the Yankees’ real number two pitcher. Other important stats are 87 strikeouts (definitely a groundball guy) and 50 walks. At age 24, this is definitely a guy the Yankees should keep and develop, but back to the question at hand, is he the rookie of the year?
Well his competition includes the Mark Teixeira-like Mark Trumbo on the Angels, the electrifying Eric Hosmer on the Royals, Michael Pineda of the Mariners, and Jeremy Hellickson of Tampa Bay.
I’m going to rule out Trumbo, because while homers (26) are pretty, low batting averages (.254) are hideous and they usually don’t produce award winners. Then I’ll cut Hosmer, because he slightly fell off the RoY radar while the pitchers got more looks, but his .287 batting average, and 16 homers in nearly 500 at bats makes him the most complete player, and definitely a future star. And then there were two.
Honestly Pineada, and Hellickson have better numbers than Nova. They could be better pitchers on worst teams. The Mariners and the Rays most likely are not making the post season this year. However, Pineada (9-9) collected a ridiculous 163 strikeouts to go along with his 3.74 era, and 1.09 whip, which makes him a fantastic pitcher a possible future number one. Also, Hellickson (12-10) has the lowest era of the three (2.90), 107 strikeouts and a 1.13 whip. The usually argument is, if these pitchers were on the Yankees, the results would be more similar—an argument that reflects the recent Zack Grenkie (16-8) and Felix Hernandez (13-12) Cy Young wins. But as the old saying goes “coulda, woulda, shoulda, but ya didn’t.” Who knows how those pitchers would have performed on the top stage. Look at former Yankee Javier Vasquez, who could be a great pitcher—just not on the Yankees. Hold up, the Yankees are still dealing with this kind of breakdown, now with Allan James Burnett. The 18-game winning season he had with a fourth ranked Blue Jays team in 2008, makes you wonder why he has never won more than 13 games for the “run producing” Yankees.
Neither Hellickson, nor Pineada, could rattle Nova’s exciting 15-4 record. One more win will tie the rookie with Yankees legend Ron Guidry’s rookie season, and if hits 17 he will tie the rookie seasons of CC Sabathia and Justin Verlander’s—Verlander by the way won the rookie of the year award that season. An unthinkable 18 wins would put Nova on another level since no AL rookie has done that since 1976.
In my opinion the new Yankee spectacle deserves the award as much as the other two or three guys. He handles the major league pressure just right and he rose from being sent down, to being relied on. At the end of the day the most important thing in a baseball game, or in any game, is to win, and Nova has done just that.
--La Guerre
Sources:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/836433-ivan-nova-front-runner-for-al-rookie-of-the-year
baseball-reference.com
To think that this man was sent down to AAA at one point this season to make room in the pitching rotation, is absurd. A.J. Burnett is surely a senior member of the Yankee rotation, along with C.C., but the best interest of the team should be the focal point of the coaching staff and upper management. If your starting pitcher isn't giving you a chance to win on a game to game basis, he is useless.
ReplyDeleteA note to Liam and everyone else -- always make sure to double and triple check your work. We're all going to make spelling errors, no doubt about it, but you definitely want to avoid spelling anyone's names, such as Pettitte in this post.
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