Atlanta Braves Closer Craig Kimbrel Unanimously Wins NL Rookie Of The Year Award
by gondeee on Nov 14, 2011 2:04 PM EST
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"The Little Closer That Could," Craig Kimbrel, completed his off-season hardware collection with the Nation League Rookie of the Year Award. Kimbrel is the first Atlanta Braves rookie to win the award since shortstop Rafael Furcal beat out Rick Ankiel (then a pitcher) in 2000. Fellow Braves rookie Freddie Freeman came in second to Kimbrel in this year's voting. Starter Brandon Beachy did not receive any votes.
Kimbrel becomes the Braves first pitcher to win the ROY. All of the franchise's previous five winners were position players. He also becomes just the 10th unanimous selection for ROY, the last one being Albert Pujols in 2001. Kimbrel and Freeman also became the first two teammates to finish first and second in ROY voting since Cubs teammates Jerome Walton and Dwight Smith accomplished that in 1989.
It was a tough decision last year as Jason Heyward was beaten out for the award by Buster Posey. Heyward did win the Sporting News rookie of the year, which while prestigious, is not considered the "official" award. Kimbrel also won the Sporting News ROY earlier this off-season.
There have been several Braves rookies since 2000 to receive votes for the NL ROY. Do you remember Damian Moss? He came in fifth in a very forgettable 2002 rookie class. Jeff Francoeur received two first place votes, but came in third in 2005. Yunel Escobar received one third place vote in 2007. Jair Jurrjens came in third in 2008, and Tommy Hanson placed third in 2009. Jonny Venters also received one third place vote last year.
| Player, Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta Braves | 32 | 160 | ||
| Freddie Freeman, Atlanta Braves | 21 | 7 | 70 | |
| Vance Worley, Philadelphia Phillies | 8 | 16 | 40 | |
| Wilson Ramos, Washington Nationals | 1 | 3 | 6 | |
| Josh Collmenter, Arizona Diamondbacks | 1 | 2 | 5 | |
| Danny Espinoza, Washington Nationals | 1 | 3 | ||
| Darwin Barney, Chicago Cubs | 2 | 2 | ||
| Kenley Jansen, Los Angeles Dodgers | 2 | 2 |
The AL ROY results are after the jump, for your arguing pleasure.
| Player, Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeremy Hellickson, Tampa Bay Rays | 17 | 5 | 2 | 102 |
| Mark Trumbo, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim | 5 | 11 | 5 | 63 |
| Eric Hosmer, Kansas City Royals | 4 | 4 | 6 | 38 |
| Ivan Nova, New York Yankees | 1 | 5 | 10 | 30 |
| Michael Pineda, Seattle Mariners | 3 | 2 | 11 | |
| Dustin Ackley, Seattle Mariners | 1 | 1 | 6 | |
| Desmond Jennings, Tampa Bay Rays | 1 | 1 | ||
| Jordan Walden, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim | 1 | 1 |
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Unanimous.. Congrats Craig!
I never doubted he was going to win, but to win it unanimously is impressive.
No votes at all for Brandon Beachey?
that’s a travesty
by LEastCoastBears on Nov 14, 2011 2:06 PM EST reply actions
Especially since he probably would have won it without the DL trip.
If we can land [Stephen Drew], I will give FW a bj.
~justincredubil02
by king of games on Nov 14, 2011 2:28 PM EST up reply actions
I think part of it was
Kimbrel and Freeman, between the two of them they were both on 28 of 32 ballots, and I doubt anyone wanted a ballot of all Braves. If you vote for Kimbrel 1, and Freeman 2, as the majority did, they’d want to include someone from another team.
http://sportsandgrits.com/
what a shocker...
Confratulations for the kid….
the exponent in the equation is a matter of preference and "fit" it can vary depending on what the user believes to yield the curve that best predicts a team’s ability to win games.
by Ivan the Great on May 20, 2011 12:31 PM VET
Hellickson won the AL ROY
ahead of Trumbo and Hosmer
I was surprised that Pineda didn’t get it and not be even in the top 3. Maybe Ackley took some of his votes?
by LEastCoastBears on Nov 14, 2011 2:08 PM EST reply actions
really...? wow...
so good thing we did not win it all then…. you could had died…..
the exponent in the equation is a matter of preference and "fit" it can vary depending on what the user believes to yield the curve that best predicts a team’s ability to win games.
by Ivan the Great on May 20, 2011 12:31 PM VET
Gratz to CK
But what makes no sense to me is how 4 people left FF off the ballot.
Isaiah Crowell for Heisman!!
They voted for Vance Worley. He’s the best 5th starter ever, remember?
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that." George Carlin
by DolphinNation on Nov 14, 2011 2:14 PM EST up reply actions
What's wrong with leaving Freddie off the ballot?
I ranked him 6th, behind Kimbrel, Ramos, Beachy, Espinosa, and Worley. Freddie was pretty good (especially for his age) but it was a very deep rookie class.
"Yeah, and I have an enchanted jock strap." -- Karl Karlson
I also blog about weird statistics at JunkStats.
Follow @junkstats
by Jacob Peterson on Nov 14, 2011 2:26 PM EST up reply actions
Is the "ballot"
Only 1st, 2nd, and 3rd? I’m guessing, based on the numbers above.
"Don't go ninja'n nobody that don't need ninja'n!" ~ Kung Fu Hillbilly.
Yeah.
Don’t know why it’s only top 3. They recently expanded the CY voting to top 5 and of course MVP has been top 10 for a long time.
"Yeah, and I have an enchanted jock strap." -- Karl Karlson
I also blog about weird statistics at JunkStats.
Follow @junkstats
by Jacob Peterson on Nov 14, 2011 2:30 PM EST up reply actions
In that case...
Quite frankly, I’m shocked that Freeman had so many votes.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for Freeman, but as you say, this was a deep class. For the two Bravos to dominate the top two spots is something, especially since I thought some would drop Freeman once they voted for Kimbrel, not splitting votes, per se, but simply looking to players from different teams.
"Don't go ninja'n nobody that don't need ninja'n!" ~ Kung Fu Hillbilly.
/threadjack
we’re talking about you in the busy day thread. Could you repost your article on the outs based defensive stat you were working on?
http://sportsandgrits.com/
Question
I can (maybe) see ranking Freeman 4th after your list of pitchers but what is your reasoning for putting him behind Ramos & Espinosa?
Freddie: .282/.346/.448/.795 21HR 76RBI plus an impressive 20 game hitting streak.
Ramos: .267/.334/.445/.779 15HR 52RBI
Espinosa: .236/.323/.414/.737 21HR 66RBI
Freddie & Espinosa were both workhorses (FF 157 GP & 571 AB / Espinosa 158 GP & 573 AB). Except for the HR’s, FF’s numbers were better.
Ramos played less games & thus less AB’s (GP 113 AB 389). I guess his stats could be looked at as comparable to FF when you take into count the less games played?
I know you’re pretty good @ the stat stuff so I was just wondering what your thought process was.
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." Rogers Hornsby
the argument would be that ramos is a catcher and espinosa a ss, so they put up those numbers while playing much more important defensive positions
Didn’t keep up with alot of the Nats roster moves over the season, but ESPN stat page has Espinosa as 2B & Ian Desmond as SS. Did he move over to SS? That being said, Freddie has a pretty good offensive stat line & if his infield position is “devaluing” then it seems he would have to post outer-worldly offensive numbers to even out the deficit caused by his infield position. This seems unfair IMO. Not saying it’s not the case. Just that it seems unfair.
Freddie (along w/Uggs) practially carried this team offensively during his 20 game hit streak. Except for Kimbrel, I don’t recall a rookie having that kind of “team support impact” on his team. I’ll preface that statement by saying,however, that I spend most of my baseball viewing hours watching the Braves.
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." Rogers Hornsby
It's not unfair...
You have to remember that WAR is calculated relative to a replacement player. Replacement 1Bs are still going to be competent with the bat, generally speaking. It should be noted that offensive numbers are judged the same regardless of position, however. The reason that it’s harder for a 1B to accrue WAR is that 1B is also the easiest position on the diamond. You have to adjust value to reflect that.
Espinosa was a 2B, though, not a SS.
-C
It’s rough to sit through these games and not have someone that can’t hit a Ball?
by cthabeerman on Nov 15, 2011 10:55 AM EST up reply actions
Isn't WAR adjusted for position?
Though I believe they haven’t really perfected the adjustments for 1B and LF yet.
If we can land [Stephen Drew], I will give FW a bj.
~justincredubil02
by king of games on Nov 15, 2011 11:06 AM EST up reply actions
I think the only real adjustment
is that they use different defensive numbers for certain positions (catchers don’t have UZR factored in, for example).
Most people use statistics the way a drunk would use a lamppost—for support, and not for illumination.
www.duwanis.com
There’s a positional adjustment that allots a value for positioning, based upon the number of innings played at each position.
A player gets a prorated value based upon the amount of innings they spend at each position they play during the year. The max value (162 games, 9 innings each, or 1458 innings) is worth this much RAR (10 RAR = 1 WAR), by positon:
C: +12.5
SS: +7.5
2B, 3B, CF: +2.5
LF, RF: -7.5
1B: -12.5
DH: -17.5
Some detailed info here: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/explaining-win-values-part-three
Let’s say Prado plays all season long, every inning, at various positions – 1B for 18 innings, 2B for 63 innings, 3B for 180 innings, and LF for 1197.
His positional value would be: -12.5 x (18/1458) + 2.5 x (63/1458) + 2.5 x (180/1458) – 7.5 x (1197/1458).
-0.154 for 1B
+0.108 for 2B
+0.309 for 3B
-6.157 for LF
-5.894 overall
Basically, Prado’s time in LF comes at a big negative in value, as the position is not very difficult to play. His actual value from last season was -4.0, because he spent more time at 3B and less time in LF than in my hypothetical case.
-C
It’s rough to sit through these games and not have someone that can’t hit a Ball?
by cthabeerman on Nov 15, 2011 12:13 PM EST up reply actions
Very nice.
Thank you.
If we can land [Stephen Drew], I will give FW a bj.
~justincredubil02
by king of games on Nov 15, 2011 1:05 PM EST up reply actions
Agreed
Thanks C for taking the time to reply. You always post good info. In this case it leaves me with more questions. Based on your WAR info, should FF be ranked as high as he is? If not, why is he ranked as high as he is?
Is the voting body a bunch of old codgers that don’t value WAR & other saberstats as they should? Are they placing more weight on the “old stats” (Wins, BA, ect.). Is it some subjective seeing eye test & who creates the most buzz during the season?
Really don’t expect an answer. My mind starts to running trying to get a handle on this stuff. Again, thanks for the info.
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." Rogers Hornsby
From what I can tell it’s still mostly old stats guys, but there has been a growing infusion of advanced stats guys the last few years that are starting to swing things the other way. I think it started with the Greinke Cy Young.
If we can land [Stephen Drew], I will give FW a bj.
~justincredubil02
by king of games on Nov 15, 2011 2:33 PM EST up reply actions
I think the adjustments are fine.
1B and LF are the two easiest positions on the field, so I’ve no real bone to pick with their values. I think RF should have a smaller negative value than it does. I think CF should probably be a little higher than 2B and 3B.
In the end, these adjustments to the formula would only account for maybe 2 RAR over the course of an entire season, so it’s not really throwing anything off by much. In the end we’re looking at 0.2 WAR in very extreme cases, with any normal adjustment made accounting for 0.1 WAR.
-C
It’s rough to sit through these games and not have someone that can’t hit a Ball?
by cthabeerman on Nov 15, 2011 12:17 PM EST up reply actions
DARWIN BARNEY!!!!!!!!!1
Thought he was going to remain nameless?
"Reach down in there...TURN THAT DAMN THING UP!" - Coach Paul Johnson
by TBuzz on Nov 14, 2011 2:12 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Hope Keith Law doesn't jump
Hates Barney, along with anyone else that wasn’t drafted in the first 5 rounds.
Well obviously if they haven’t developed by 21 they never will right?
"Reach down in there...TURN THAT DAMN THING UP!" - Coach Paul Johnson
by TBuzz on Nov 14, 2011 6:37 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
BlitzCraig
Congrats to the kid!!
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that." George Carlin
Am not surprised that BlitzCraig won...
I am surprised that it was unanimous. That is awesome. It is duly awesome that Freddie Freeman was the absolute lockdown second place winner.
What is less awesome is that Brandon Beachy failed to receive a single vote. That seems a bit unfair.
All while Fredi is surrounded by a bunch of orangutans, trying to teach them how to bunt the rocks and coconuts that angry 300 lb gorillas are throwing at them,
by royhobbs on Jul 29, 2011 11:20 AM PDT
Strong Side / Weak Side: Chipper Jones
http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/chipper-jones,8431/
I guess Beachy...
Will just have to win the darn Cy Young next season to prove them wrong!
Seriously, our future is crazy bright.
Congrats to Kimbrel and Freeman!
"Don't go ninja'n nobody that don't need ninja'n!" ~ Kung Fu Hillbilly.
I just hope Heyward turns it around. Talk about two sides of the coin for his two seasons...
God typed "iddqd" before creating Jason Heyward.
Congratulations to Craig, who deserved it.
The voters got the top spot right, at least, even if the rest of the voting was very weird. Like how Worley got as much support as he did while Beachy was shut out completely. How on Earth does that happen? Or how more people had Darwin Barney in their top 3 than Danny Espinosa (with an “s” not a “z”, by the way).
"Yeah, and I have an enchanted jock strap." -- Karl Karlson
I also blog about weird statistics at JunkStats.
Follow @junkstats
Again, it's tougher for a 1-3. I'm betting that if someone thinks that guy A should be in the top group but is borderline, but he figures that Guy B will get a lot of votes, he may throw Guy A a bone and give him the spot.
Beachy was probably 5-6 for most people. Also, it’s just what you see too. If you’re not watching the guy every day, then you’re not going to form the same opinion…
God typed "iddqd" before creating Jason Heyward.
And that’s probably why Espinoza seemingly fell off the face of the earth, too… around June, he was the dark horse who was gonna sneak in and steal it from … somebody in a Braves uni.
"Forget Roy Halladay or Clayton Kershaw or Cliff Lee, the NL Cy Young Award should go to O’Ventrel." - David Schoenfield, ESPN.com, 8/19/11
Vance Worley was superficially much better
His ERA was .67 runs lower, he went 11-3 compared to Beachy’s 7-3, and he pitched in only 10 fewer innings. Voters don’t care about xFIP and SIERA.
My buddy and I just decided that the braves would be set if we could get Matt Kemp, Jose Reyes, and Albert Pujols.
by willlinn on May 17, 2011 2:13 PM EDT
First glance at this comment
I saw “Vance Worley was superficially much better” in response to “Congratulations to Craig…” and was about to call for your head.
Most people use statistics the way a drunk would use a lamppost—for support, and not for illumination.
www.duwanis.com
Gotta wonder if he truly deserved this.....
HAHAHAHA!!!! Of course he did. Excellent start to what we all hope is a long and productive career!
It was a particularly small egg...thats why I asked.
by thenightstallion on Nov 14, 2011 3:08 PM EST reply actions
Was there ever a question? Nice job Kimbrel.
Now imagine what his numbers would have been if the team didn’t have that ‘crash and burn’ September…
by michaeldlee1480 on Nov 14, 2011 4:06 PM EST reply actions
hate to be a Buzz Killington
Kimbrel was part of that ‘crash and burn’. Blowing a few games down the stretch didn’t help.
"Kill my boss?! Do I dare live out the American dream?" - Homer Simpson
Look Vizzini…don’t sour the mood when 2 of those games were won so inconceivably…
1-when Chipper lost Bonifacio’s grounder in the lights, and then Imhotep takes a high and in 96-mph fastball out of the yard for a walkoff…
2-Pujols, in the bottom of the 9th with the bases jacked, gets so fooled on a Kimbrel slider but gets the nub on it enough to line it Oppo down the 1st base line and in for a 2-run 2B to tie it up
"Reach down in there...TURN THAT DAMN THING UP!" - Coach Paul Johnson
If he would have just notched the saves that mattered....
then i would be happy, I still cant get over that epic collapse.
and if only our offense hadn’t gone on vacation the month of september we’d definitely still be happy
by drumzalicious on Nov 14, 2011 8:53 PM EST up reply actions
aaaaaaaaaand scene......
the exponent in the equation is a matter of preference and "fit" it can vary depending on what the user believes to yield the curve that best predicts a team’s ability to win games.
by Ivan the Great on May 20, 2011 12:31 PM VET
great atricle on fangraphs about our ROY
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/craig-kimbrel-is-nasty/
Spring Training is the greatest thing that can't end soon enough
Congrats Craig!
All while Fredi is surrounded by a bunch of orangutans, trying to teach them how to bunt the rocks and coconuts that angry 300 lb gorillas are throwing at them,
by royhobbs on Jul 29, 2011 11:20 AM PDT
Strong Side / Weak Side: Chipper Jones
http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/chipper-jones,8431/
by Santaklose11 on Nov 15, 2011 5:50 PM EST up reply actions
Kimbrel ROY?
How … expected.
Q: If not us, who? If not now, when? A: The Batman. And "when you least expect it."
by Lennox on Nov 15, 2011 3:42 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
Yay Craig!
Well-deserved, and FFF has a strong showing too. ’Tis a good sign for years to come.
Slightly off-topic
but did anyone see that Fredi got 4 3rd place votes for manager of the year?
We did win 89 games with 2.5 of our top 4 players massively underperforming and a super young bullpen.
If we can land [Stephen Drew], I will give FW a bj.
~justincredubil02
by king of games on Nov 16, 2011 4:35 PM EST up reply actions
No votes for Beachy is a damn shame
and a joke as well.
"Jason Heyward was a Greek philosopher reincarnated as a baseball player." - Don Sutton
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