The VORG’s 2014 “Rookie of the Year” Awards

If you’re new to the VORG, please note that we give out our awards not necessarily to the BEST player for each honor, but for the most NOTABLE player. For example, Jose Abreu and Jacob deGrom are the likely and deserving favorites for the Rookie of the Year awards. However, those two gentleman didn’t distinguish themselves in the slightly warped, silly, odd world of the VORG.

Instead, the VORG is proud to present its American League Rookie of the Year to pitcher Aaron Brooks of the Kansas City Royals, and the National League award to Jumbo Diaz of the Cincinnati Reds.

AMERICAN LEAGUE – AARON BROOKS

In 2014, Brooks became the first player taken in the ninth round of the 2011 draft to make the Majors. Not only does he have namesakes in the NBA and NFL, he compiled quite the stat line in his first shot at “The Show”. Brooks became the first pitcher to ever compile a 43.88 ERA in a season. He also set a record for the highest ERA in a season with a minimum of 24 batters faced:

Player	ERA	Year	Tm	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	FIP	HR	BF
Aaron Brooks	43.88	2014	KCR	2.2	12	13	13	3	2	12.13	1	24
Joe Paterson	37.12	2012	ARI	2.2	15	11	11	3	0	16.22	2	26
Les McCrabb	31.50	1942	PHA	4	14	14	14	2	0	11.17	2	29
Joel Johnston	29.70	1994	PIT	3.1	14	12	11	4	5	5.53	0	30
Mel Queen	29.70	1952	PIT	3.1	8	12	11	4	3	11.99	2	25
Jim Brady	28.42	1956	DET	6.1	15	21	20	11	3	12.79	3	43
Anthony Claggett	27.00	2009	TOT	3.2	13	11	11	4	3	15.37	3	28
Matt Perisho	27.00	1998	TEX	5	15	17	15	8	2	13.54	2	40
Duane Ward	27.00	1995	TOR	2.2	11	10	8	5	3	7.60	0	25
Irv Medlinger	27.00	1949	SLB	4	11	13	12	3	4	6.01	1	26

 

No prior hurler ever had a multiple of 2.2 innings and 13 earned runs allowed. Behold his statline for the year:

W	L	ERA	G	GS	GF	IP	PA	AB	H	R	ER
0	1	43.88	2	1	1	2.2	24	18	12	13	13
2B	3B	HR	TB	BB	SO	HBP	GDP	SF	BF	ERA+
4	0	1	19	3	2	2	1	1	24	10
FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BABIP
12.13	5.625	40.5	3.4	10.1	6.8	0.67	0.667	0.708	1.056	1.764	0.688

What makes Brooks’ accomplishment so much more fascinating is that he got through the first inning of his May 3^rd debut yielding only a two-out double, while striking out one.

Date	Opp	Batter	Score		Inn	RoB	Out	Play Description
5/3	DET	Victor Martinez	0-3	Out	t8	—	0	Flyball: RF (Deep CF-RF)
5/3	DET	Torii Hunter	0-3	Out	t8	—	1	Groundout: 3B-1B (SS-3B Hole)
5/3	DET	Austin Jackson	0-3	2B	t8	—	2	Double to LF (Ground Ball)
5/3	DET	Nick Castellanos	0-3	SO	t8	-2-	2	Strikeout Swinging

From that point on, he faced 20 batters, allowing 13 earned runs on eight singles, three doubles, one homer and three walks, while also hitting two batters.

Date	Opp	Batter	Score			Inn	RoB	Out	Play Description
5/3	DET	Bryan Holaday	0-3	1B		t9	—	0	Single to CF (Line Drive to Deep CF)
5/3	DET	Danny Worth	0-3	2B		t9	1-	0	Double to CF (Fly Ball to Deep CF-RF); Holaday Scores
5/3	DET	Rajai Davis	0-4	1B		t9	-2-	0	Single to 3B (Bunt to P’s Right); Worth to 3B
5/3	DET	Ian Kinsler	0-4	Out		t9	-23	0	Flyball: CF/Sacrifice Fly (Deep CF); Worth Scores; Davis to 3B
5/3	DET	Miguel Cabrera	0-5	1B		t9	3	1	Single to CF (Line Drive to Deep CF); Davis Scores
5/3	DET	Victor Martinez	0-6	1B		t9	1-	1	Single to RF (Ground Ball thru 2B-1B); Cabrera to 2B
5/3	DET	Torii Hunter	0-6	HR		t9	12-	1	Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF); Cabrera Scores; Martinez Scores
5/3	DET	Austin Jackson	0-9	SO		t9	—	1	Strikeout Swinging
5/3	DET	Nick Castellanos	0-9	Out		t9	—	2	Groundout: SS-1B
5/31	@TOR	Jose Reyes	0-0	BB		b1	—	0	Walk
5/31	@TOR	Melky Cabrera	0-0	HBP		b1	1-	0	Hit By Pitch; Reyes to 2B
5/31	@TOR	Jose Bautista	0-0	2B		b1	12-	0	Double to RF (Line Drive to Deep CF-RF); Reyes Scores; Cabrera to 3B
5/31	@TOR	Edwin Encarnacion	0-1	BB		b1	-23	0	Walk
5/31	@TOR	Adam Lind	0-1	1B		b1	123	0	Single to RF (Ground Ball thru 2B-1B); Cabrera Scores; Bautista to 3B; Encarnacion to 2B
5/31	@TOR	Brett Lawrie	0-2	HBP		b1	123	0	Hit By Pitch; Bautista Scores; Encarnacion to 3B; Lind to 2B
5/31	@TOR	Juan Francisco	0-3	2B		b1	123	0	Ground-rule Double (Line Drive to Deep CF-RF); Encarnacion Scores; Lind Scores; Lawrie to 3B
5/31	@TOR	Dioner Navarro	0-5	BB		b1	-23	0	Walk
5/31	@TOR	Anthony Gose	0-5	Out		b1	123	0	Ground Ball Double Play: P-C-1B; Francisco to 3B; Navarro to 2B
5/31	@TOR	Jose Reyes	0-5	1B		b1	-23	2	Single to LF (Line Drive to Short LF); Francisco Scores; Navarro to 3B
5/31	@TOR	Melky Cabrera	0-6	1B		b1	1-3	2	Single to CF (Ground Ball thru SS-2B); Navarro Scores; Reyes to 3B

 

NATIONAL LEAGUE – JUMBO DIAZ

Born Jose Rafael Diaz, the 30-year-old spent 12 seasons in the minors before finally making his big league debut on June 20. He had a respectable year in the pen, with a 3.38 ERA and a 2.64 K/BB ratio in 33.2 innings.

But the VORG loves him because he goes by “Jumbo,” and rightfully so. Both Baseball Reference and the Reds website list him at 6’4” and 315 pounds. He thus became the heaviest pitcher in baseball history, by 20 pounds! Here are the hurlers tipping the scales at 275 pounds or greater.

Player	Wt	From	To	G	GS	CG	SHO	W	L	SV
Jumbo Diaz	315	2014	2014	36	0	0	0	0	1	0
Jonathan Broxton	295	2005	2014	542	0	0	0	35	30	118
Jumbo Brown	295	1925	1941	249	23	7	2	33	31	28
Jon Rauch	290	2002	2013	556	11	0	0	43	40	62
Bartolo Colon	285	1997	2014	442	436	35	12	204	141	0
CC Sabathia	285	2001	2014	423	423	37	12	208	119	0
Tyler Robertson	285	2012	2013	42	0	0	0	2	2	0
Jeff Niemann	285	2008	2012	97	92	4	3	40	26	0
Chad Paronto	285	2001	2009	177	0	0	0	6	12	1
Jose Ceda	280	2010	2011	25	0	0	0	0	1	0
Adam Russell	280	2008	2011	85	0	0	0	8	3	0
Renyel Pinto	280	2006	2010	244	0	0	0	8	10	2
Carlos Silva	280	2002	2010	316	180	6	2	70	70	2
Seth McClung	280	2003	2009	177	51	0	0	26	34	6
Bruce Rondon	275	2013	2013	30	0	0	0	1	2	1
Carlos Zambrano	275	2001	2012	354	302	10	5	132	91	0
Bobby Jenks	275	2005	2011	348	0	0	0	16	20	173
Sean West	275	2009	2010	22	22	0	0	8	8	0
Chris Britton	275	2006	2008	78	0	0	0	0	3	1
Heath Phillips	275	2007	2007	6	0	0	0	1	1	0

His BMI (body mass index) is 38.3, also a Major League record, edging out Walter Young (6’5″, 320, 37.9 BMI). Ortiz also faced the 260 pound Matt Adams twice during the year, with their combined 575 pounds more than likely being a record for the heaviest pitcher-batter matchup of all-time.

Congrats to both players!