Pineda and Ackley finish 5th and 6th in ROY balloting

Update…My guess that both of Ackley’s votes came from Seattle was wrong. According to Larry Stone on Twitter, Ackley’s lone first place vote was on the ballot of Charley Walters, a columnist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press who just happens to be a former MLB pitcher.

Michael Pineda and Dustin Ackley picked up votes but it was Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson who took away the Rookie of the Year Award as voted by members of the BBWAA.

 

We discussed the award on the postgame show in the second half of the season and my feeling was that Hellickson would win if he stayed consistent through the remainder of the season. As impressive as Pineda was, Hellickson appeared to be more polished, more consistent, more of a finished product.

On the flip side, I thought that Pineda’s ceiling was higher. The very fact that he could achieve more polish, add another pitch, pitch smarter and in the end pitch better was worth more than a Rookie of the Year Award.

It was a very successful rookie campaign for Pineda, who had his sights on the Rookie of the Year Award after the first half of the season. On returning to Seattle from the All-Star game he admitted that it would be great to win it but also that he needed to concentrate on getting better. He realized that hitters would get more comfortable with him the more they saw him and he wanted to stay ahead of that. He knew that at just 22 years of age he was still a work in progress.

Ackley, who played just over a half of a season, received two votes, a first and a third which gave him a total of six points. Two writers in each league city received ballots so there is a good chance his votes came from Seattle. I don’t think either writer would have a hard time justifying their votes, although there was some debate at the end of they year which rookie contributed more, Ackley or Mike Carp.

The award and the rookie season is now behind these players and the important thing is that they take the next step. There have been big expectations on both Ackley and Pineda from the start and the very fact that they were able to make it to the big leagues this year and not just survive, but be key contributors is a victory for the organization. They are part of the foundation and now we wait to see what is put around them.