ROOKIE MONSTERS

Award voting a signal the Yanks’ youth movement is going well

S ince 1980, voters for the Rookie of the Year awards have been allowed to pick a first-through-third on their ballots rather than just a winner.

In that time, the Yankees have managed two winners — Dave Righetti in 1981 and Derek Jeter in 1996 — but only once in the near four decades have they had rookies receive votes of any kind in consecutive years. That occurred, fittingly, in 1995 (Andy Pettitte, third) followed by Jeter the next season, as the Yanks began to form the cornerstones of their Core Four dynasty.

The Yanks are trying to assemble the building blocks to another sustained run of greatness, and Gary Sanchez finished second in the AL Rookie voting last year. And if the first few weeks of this season are an indicator, Aaron Judge is going to be a factor for the 2017 award.

In fact, if Judge and Jordan Montgomery were somehow both to get votes, it would mark just the second time that has happened for the Yanks since the award originated in 1947 (won by Jackie Robinson at a time when there was just one honor for both leagues). In 2014, Dellin Betances f inished third and Masahiro Tanaka fifth.

But if the early going is symbolic of where this race is headed, it would be tough for Montgomery to bust a top three of Judge, Boston’s Andrew Benintendi and Seattle’s Mitch Haniger.

Going i nto the weekend, Haniger actually led the majors in Baseball Reference’s version of Wins Above Replacement (WAR). Judge was 11th in the stat, which tries to encompass hitting, baserunning and defense. Benintendi, the preseason favorite, was hitting .322 with an .838 OPS.

Benintendi has the best pedigree in the bunch. He is one of just three position players drafted in 2015 playing in the majors (he was the seventh-overall pick). The first pick, Atlanta’s Dansby Swanson (first pick by Arizona), is the NL Rookie of the Year favorite, and the second pick, Houston’s Alex Bregman, exceeded the eligibility minimums for Rookie of the Year last season.

Also early on, Haniger’s Seattle teammate Taylor Motter, Baltimore’s Trey Mancini and Chicago’s Matt Davidson have provided rookie power. Davidson is a particularly intriguing case as a once top prospect who fell precipitously in 2014-15 and now at 26 is trying to honor once sizeable expectations.

“He really played well [at Triple-A] last year, and I thought we were onto something, we called him up and he fouled a ball off his foot and broke the foot in his first at-bat,” White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said.

The whiff worries that have plagued Davidson, though, continue to haunt the righty-swinging third baseman, who had five extrabase hits (three homers) in his first 36 plate appearances, but also 17 strikeouts and just one walk.

Haniger also had 17 strikeouts, but 11 walks, four homers, five doubles and a 1.029 OPS. He was viewed as one of the other names in a Nov. 23 five-player trade in which the headline was Taijuan Walker going to the Diamondbacks and Jean Segura heading to the Mariners. Seattle envisioned putting Segura atop the order ahead of Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager, and improving an already very good offense.

But though Segura has been on the disabled list with a hamstring injury, this has become the Haniger trade, as he has hit second and scored an AL-high 15 runs. Seattle officials, though, have insisted from the outset that the rightyswinging right fielder always was key to the deal. The Mariners were emphasizing getting more athletic to cover their big outfield. They saw Haniger’s agility plus his 2016 minor league breakout when he hit .325 at Double-A and Triple-A with 64 extra-base hits (25 homers), 12 steals and a minor league-best .999 OPS. They also saw that the Diamondbacks were overstocked with outfielders and might be willing to surrender the late bloomer (he is 26 also).

“We felt the combination of swing alterations, adjustments, physical ability and on- f ield results and what we perceived as major league readiness were pretty attractive,” Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto wrote in a text. “From there we did a fair amount of background work and felt he checked all the boxes. Obviously, he’s been terrific to start the season and we couldn’t have expected this type of dynamic performance so quickly. That said, he has five tools, excellent instincts and great makeup. He’s very easy to like and I’m glad he’s a Mariner.”

And the Yankees are pleased that they did not give into so much sentiment that Judge’s strikeoutheavy cameo in 2016 defined him. He whiffed in 44.2 percent of his 95 plate appearances. It was 28.3 this year, which remains above league average (21.3), but is totally acceptable if Judge is going to consistently deliver timely, massive homers as he has so far.

The word on Judge was that he was smart and adaptable, and that he got better at each minor league level after initial difficulties. He lowered his leg kick this year to better stay on breaking stuff from righties and the results — to date — have been impressive. It will be interesting to see how the league adjusts to him and how Judge reacts.

But if this continues, Judge could become the first position player drafted by the Yankees to even receive Rookie of the Year votes for the team since Jeter in 1996 (Austin Jackson finished second for the Tigers in 2010). For Judge — first round, 2013 — has made an opening statement to further suggest the Yankees’ youth movement is working.