Bellinger, Judge unanimous picks for Rookie of Year
The only major question was whether it would be unanimous and it was.
Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger are baseball’s Rookies of the Year for 2017 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 New York 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, followed by Baltimore slugger Trey Mancini. St. Louis infielder Paul DeJong was the NL runner-up, with Pittsburgh first baseman Josh Bell finishing third.
Judge is also a finalist for the MVP award. Ichiro Suzuki in 2001 and Fred Lynn in 1975 are the only players to win the AL MVP and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season.
Bellinger is the second straight Dodgers player to win Rookie of the Year. Shortstop Corey Seager did it last year.
This is the first time both Rookie of the Year awards were unanimous since 1997, when Nomar Garciaparra of Boston and Scott Rolen of Philadelphia won.
A’S BLOCK YANKEES FROM SPEAKING TO MELVIN » The Yankees were able to pry ace Sonny Gray from Oakland this summer, but the A’s reportedly won’t allow them to touch their manager.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported the A’s turned down the Yankees’ request to speak with Bob Melvin about filling Joe Girardi’s shoes in New York.
While the Yankees were denied access to Melvin, they will interview new Giants bench coach Hensley Meulens, according to the New York Post. Meulens was elevated from hitting coach to bench coach during a Giants coaching staff shakeup last month.
The Yankees have interviewed two candidates already to replace Girardi, whose 10-year run in New York ended when he wasn’t retained after his four-year, $16 million contract expired in October. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has interviewed Yankees bench coach Rob Thomson and ex-Mariners manager Eric Wedge.
There was also speculation that former Yankee Carlos Beltran, who announced his retirement Monday, could be a potential fit in New York.
Melvin, who finished his seventh season with the A’s, signed a contract extension near the end of a disappointing 75-87 season that binds the former Cal product to Oakland’s dugout through 2019.
The 56-year-old Melvin, born in Palo Alto and raised in Menlo Park, has led the A’s to a 537-534 record since taking over in June of 2011. BELTRAN ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT » Carlos Beltran is retiring at age 40 after winning his first World Series title in his 20th major league season.
The outfielder made the announcement 12 days after the Houston Astros beat the Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series.
Beltran is a nine-time AllStar who won the 1999 AL Rookie of the Year award and three Gold Gloves.
His production dropped dramatically this year. He hit .295 with 29 homers and 93 RBIs for the New York Yankees and Texas in 2016. He then batted .231 with 14 homers and 51 RBIs for Houston.
He finishes with a .279 average, 435 homers, 1,587 RBIs and 312 stolen bases. He also has played for Kansas City, the New York Mets, the Giants and St. Louis.
DODGERS, PADRES TO PLAY MEXICAN SERIES » The Dodgers and San Diego Padres will play a threegame series at Monterrey, Mexico, from May 4-6.
The games had been originally scheduled for San Diego’s Petco Park, and the shift to Estadio de Beisbol was announced Monday. The Padres will remain the home team.
This will be the third regular-season series in Monterrey. Colorado beat San Diego 8-2 there in Major League Baseball’s season opener on April 4, 1999, and the Padres won two of three games against the New York Mets from Aug. 16-18, 1996.
BRAVES NAME ANTHOPOULOS AS GENERAL MANAGER » The remake of the Atlanta Braves’ management was completed when Alex Anthopoulos was named general manager and John Hart was removed as team president.
Anthopoulos, a former Dodgers and Blue Jays executive, will have autonomy of baseball operations.