Rookies of the Year

The 2008 Rookies of the Year have been announced today. The Tampa Bay Ray's Evan Longoria earned American League honors. The Chicago Cub's Geovanny Soto earned National League honors.

Longoria, the Ray's third baseman, hit .272 with 27 HR and 85 RBI in 122 games as a rookie. He had a .343 OBP and .531 SLG to give him a .874 OPS. He scored 67 runs and stole 7 bases.

Soto, the Cub's everyday catcher, hit .285 with 23 HR and 86 RBI in 141 games. Soto scored 66 runs. He had an OBP of .364 and an SLG of .504. He had a .868 OPS.

Longoria beat out the White Sox's Alexei Ramirez for the award. It was unanimous as Longoria received all 28 first place votes giving him 140 points. Ramirez received 59 points, and the Red Sox's Jacoby Ellsbury received 26 points for third place.

Soto was almost unanimous. He earned 31 first place votes, and 1 second place vote to finish with 158 points. Soto beat out Joey Votto of the Reds, who finished second with 76 votes. Jair Jurrjens of the Braves finished third with 34 votes.

The NL Rookie of the Year should have been closer than it was. Votto finished the year with a .297 AVG, 24 HR, and 84 RBI in 151 games. He also scored 69 runs. His OBP was .368, his SLG was .506, giving him a .874 OPS. The first baseman Votto's stats very close to Soto's, but just barely better. However, Soto sits with the ROY trophy.