NewsMcCutchen, Jones Bucs' award hopefuls
Pittsburgh pair each have eye on NL Rookie of Year
By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com
11/11/09 3:05 PM EST
PITTSBURGH -- Tuesday officially begins a two-week period in which Major League Baseball hands out its postseason awards for 2009. Gold gloves were handed out Tuesday and Wednesday, and the awards season ends with the naming of both leagues' Most Valuable Player winners.
For Pirates fans eager to see if Andrew McCutchen or Garrett Jones will be honored for their breakout seasons, the date to keep circled is Monday, Nov. 16. Both the American League and National League Rookie of the Year Awards will be announced that day.
McCutchen, who has already been tabbed Baseball America's 2009 Rookie of the Year, made his big league debut on June 4 and lived up to the hype of being a first-round Draft pick four years earlier. He led all NL rookies with 47 extra-base hits, while ranking second among NL rookies in multihit games (36), runs (74), walks (54) and total bases (204). McCutchen finished third among all NL rookies in stolen bases (22), RBIs (54), slugging percentage (.471) and doubles (26).
McCutchen's 10 outfield assists marked the most by any rookie outfielder since Atlanta's Jeff Francoeur had 13 in 2005.
Although Jones didn't make his season debut with the Pirates until the first day of July, the first baseman and right fielder went on to finish with more home runs (21) and a higher slugging percentage (.567) than any other rookie in the Majors. Jones had 10 home runs in his first 19 games with Pittsburgh to become the fastest player in franchise history to reach 10 homers.
Jones finished the year ranked second among NL rookies in on-base percentage (.372), third in batting average (.293), fifth in total bases (178) and sixth in RBIs (44).
The competition for Rookie of the Year, however, is quite stiff. On the pitching side, Philadelphia's J.A. Happ (12-4), Atlanta's Tommy Hanson (11-4) and Chicago's Randy Wells (12-10) all finished with impressive records. Both Hansen and Happ accumulated more than 125 innings of work and finished with sub-3.00 ERAs. Hansen averaged nearly a strikeout an inning after being called up by the Braves in early June.
On the offensive side, expect Florida's Chris Coghlan and Milwaukee's Casey McGehee to get some consideration, in addition to McCutchen and Jones. Coghlan led all NL rookies with a .321 average, 31 doubles and 84 runs scored. McGehee's 66 RBIs were a league high among rookies.
Pittsburgh is not expected to have any other players in serious contention for any other postseason awards. The Pirates certainly had Gold Glove hopefuls in middle infielders Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez, but both were traded before the end of July.
Jenifer Langosch is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
