Ohtani, Acuna take home rookie of the year honors
Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani has been voted American League Rookie of the Year after becoming the first player since Babe Ruth with 10 homers and four pitching wins in the same season.
Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. was an overwhelming pick for the National League honor, easily beating Washington outfielder Juan Soto.
Ohtani, a 24-year-old right-hander who joined the Angels last winter after five seasons with Japan’s Nippon Ham Fighters, received 25 first-place votes and four seconds for 137 points from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in balloting announced Monday.
A pair of New York Yankees infielders followed. Miguel Andujar was second with five firsts and 89 points, and Gleyber Torres next with 25 points.
Ohtani was 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA and 63 strikeouts over 512⁄3 innings in 10 starts, limited by a torn elbow ligament that required surgery on Oct. 1. As a designated hitter, he batted .285 with 22 homers and 61 RBI and a .925 OPS.
“I was just kind of disappointed I wasn’t able to play a full season,” he said through a translator. “I feel like every player should be able to play a full year and help out the team. So that’s something I need to work on, and that’s going to be one of my goals, to stay healthy for a long full season and be able to the team win from day one.”
He is the first Japanese player to win a rookie honor since Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki in 2001 and the fourth overall, joining the Dodgers’ Hideo Nomo in 1995 and Seattle’s Kazuhiro Sasaki in 2000. Ohtani became the first player with 15 homers as a batter and 50 strikeouts as a pitcher in the same season.
The 20-year-old Acuna received 27 first-place votes and three seconds for 144 points. Soto got two firsts and 89 points, and Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler was next with one firsts and 28 points.
Acuna started the season at Class AAA and made his debut on April 25, the youngest player in the majors then at 20 years 128 days. The Venezuelan hit .293 with 26 homers, 64 RBI and 16 steals with a .917 OPS. He set a Braves record with eight leadoff homers this season and tied a franchise mark by homering in five straight games from Aug. 11-14.
The AL and NL Manager of the Year will be announced Tuesday. Milwaukee’s Craig Counsell is among the finalists for the NL award.
Mauer officially retires: Joe Mauer is leaving the playing field after a 15-year career, but not Minnesota or the Twins.
Mauer, 35, formalized his goodbye to the game at a news conference packed with people he’s close to.
He said he’ll stay connected to his hometown team in some capacity and will raise his kids in Minnesota. Mauer joined the organization in 2001 as the first overall pick in the draft out of Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul.
Mauer’s eyes watered and his voice cracked as he thanked then-general manager Terry Ryan for taking him. He was even more emotional when mentioning his gratitude to family members.
Ryu staying put: Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu was the only player to accept among the seven given $17.9 million qualifying offers by their former teams on Nov. 2.
Ryu accepted the offer before Monday’s deadline. He is just the sixth to accept among the 80 qualifying offers made since the process began in 2012.
A 31-year-old left-hander, Ryu was 7-3 with a 1.97 ERA in 15 starts, sidelined from May 2 to Aug. 15 by a groin injury.
Among those who didn’t accept were outfielder Bryce Harper (Washington), closer Craig Kimbrel (Boston), lefthanders Patrick Corbin (Arizona) and Dallas Keuchel (Houston), outfielder A.J. Pollock (Arizona) and catcher Yasmani Grandal (Dodgers).