Judge, Bellinger unanimous rookie winners
The only major question was whether it would be unanimous — and it was.
Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger were named baseball’s Rookies of the Year on Monday after their recordsetting home run binges eliminated any reasonable competition for the honors. Judge led the American League with 52 homers, the most ever by a rookie. Bellinger hit 39 and had to settle for the National League’s rookie record.
Judge and Bellinger received every first-place vote available from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Judge became the first Yankees player to receive this award since Derek Jeter in 1996. Bellinger gave the Dodgers a record 18th Rookie of the Year winner.
Boston outfielder Andrew Benintendi finished second in the AL vote. St. Louis infielder Paul DeJong was the NL runner-up.
“Watching him from the West Coast, what he did on the East Coast was awesome,” Bellinger said of Judge. “I was a big fan of his and met him during the All-Star Game, and he’s a humble dude.”
Beltran says goodbye: Carlos Beltran, who finally played on a World Series winner with Houston in his 20th season as one of the most distinguished and respected players in baseball, revealed his decision to retire in an essay posted on the Players’ Tribune website.
The announcement capped a career that Beltran, who played for seven teams (including 44 gamed with the Giants in 2011), finished with 2,725 hits, a .279 batting average and a .837 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.
Beltran, an outfielder, was an impressive combination of contact, power, speed and fielding. Only five players have both 400 home runs and 300 stolen bases in a career: Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Willie Mays, Andre Dawson and Beltran.
“Whether (the Astros) won or lost Game 7, I would have still been happy with my career. But it still feels nice to have a ring,” Beltran wrote in his announcement.
Ex-Dodgers exec to Atlanta: The Braves hired former Dodgers and Blue Jays executive Alex Anthopoulos as their general manager and executive vice president in control of baseball operations, giving the team a young but experienced leader to provide stability amid a crisis.
Anthopoulos, 40, succeeds John Coppolella, who was forced to resign Oct. 2 after an investigation by Major League Baseball disclosed violations by the Braves in the international player market.
Giants’ addition: San Francisco named Steve Fanelli vice president of ticket operations and services. He spent the past 22 years in charge of the A’s ticket operations.