Spring Break
AL's Longoria, NL's Soto Win Rookie of Year Award
Eric Sternberg
Issue date: 11/13/08 Section: Sports
Despite all of the young talent throughout Major League Baseball, the Rookie of the Year awards in both the American League and National League were no contest.
Evan Longoria, the third baseman for the American League Champion Rays and Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto both ran away with the awards that were announced on Monday.
Longoria won the AL honor with a unanimous vote, receiving all 28 votes from the Baseball Writer's Association of America. This award is also the first time a member of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays or newly named Rays organization has won a national honor.
This is an extremely rare feat, however rarely has a young player been as impressive as Longoria. Despite missing 30 games due to a fractured wrist, he led all rookies with 27 home runs and a .531 slugging percentage and led AL rookies with 85 RBI and 60 extra-base hits. Defensively, he impressed as well.
"This is where, as a baseball player, I wanted to be," Longoria said via conference call to MLB.com from his California home. "If I told you two years ago I knew I'd be in this situation, I'd be lying. This is a dream come true and what you always dream of as a kid."
Chicago White Sox second baseman Alexei Ramirez, who batted .290 with 21 home runs and 77 RBI, finished a distant second behind Longoria. Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury finished third in the voting.
Soto, who this season became the only rookie catcher in National League history to start behind the plate in an All-Star game, hit .285 with 23 home runs and 86 RBI for the NL Central Champion Cubs.
His 23 homers were a Cubs' rookie catcher record, and he also pounded out 35 doubles becoming the first rookie catcher ever to hit over 20 home runs and 30 doubles in a season.The last winner from the Cubs was Kerry Wood, who recieved the award 10 years ago.
Soto is also the first NL Rookie of the Year backstop since Mike Piazza in 1993. "I wouldn't be doing the things I did this year if it wasn't for Henry Blanco," Soto said to MLB.com of the Cubs' backup catcher. "He helped me a lot and talked to me every single day, all day. He treated me like a small brother. It felt good to have a veteran guy help me the way he did on catching and game calling. He was huge for me this year. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be doing the things I was doing this year."
Evan Longoria, the third baseman for the American League Champion Rays and Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto both ran away with the awards that were announced on Monday.
Longoria won the AL honor with a unanimous vote, receiving all 28 votes from the Baseball Writer's Association of America. This award is also the first time a member of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays or newly named Rays organization has won a national honor.
This is an extremely rare feat, however rarely has a young player been as impressive as Longoria. Despite missing 30 games due to a fractured wrist, he led all rookies with 27 home runs and a .531 slugging percentage and led AL rookies with 85 RBI and 60 extra-base hits. Defensively, he impressed as well.
"This is where, as a baseball player, I wanted to be," Longoria said via conference call to MLB.com from his California home. "If I told you two years ago I knew I'd be in this situation, I'd be lying. This is a dream come true and what you always dream of as a kid."
Chicago White Sox second baseman Alexei Ramirez, who batted .290 with 21 home runs and 77 RBI, finished a distant second behind Longoria. Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury finished third in the voting.
Soto, who this season became the only rookie catcher in National League history to start behind the plate in an All-Star game, hit .285 with 23 home runs and 86 RBI for the NL Central Champion Cubs.
His 23 homers were a Cubs' rookie catcher record, and he also pounded out 35 doubles becoming the first rookie catcher ever to hit over 20 home runs and 30 doubles in a season.The last winner from the Cubs was Kerry Wood, who recieved the award 10 years ago.
Soto is also the first NL Rookie of the Year backstop since Mike Piazza in 1993. "I wouldn't be doing the things I did this year if it wasn't for Henry Blanco," Soto said to MLB.com of the Cubs' backup catcher. "He helped me a lot and talked to me every single day, all day. He treated me like a small brother. It felt good to have a veteran guy help me the way he did on catching and game calling. He was huge for me this year. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be doing the things I was doing this year."
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