The Top Rookie in the National League

Chris Coghlan has won the MLB National League Rookie of the Year Award. That’s the 3rd in franchise history, with Dontrelle Willis winning it in 2003 and Hanley Ramirez winning it in 2006.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Okay, back to some seriousness.

CC hit .321/.390/.460 in what was arguably the best offensive season ever by a Marlins rookie. His .321 BA, 390 OBP, and 122 OPS+were both the best by a Marlins rookie ever and the best by an NL rookie this year.

While his offense won him the award, his defense almost might have cost him. One thing some people had against him was how his hitting compared as a left fielder and his defense in LF. Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen’s lead in WAR was used as proof by some that he was a better player than CC. I contended that it’s wrong for a few reasons, one being that CC is not a LFer, he’s a second baseman temporarily being positioned in LF.

CC’s other main challenge had nothing to do it him, it had to do with two fantastic NL East pitchers in the Phillies’ J.A. Happ and the Braves’ Tommy Hanson.  In the end it came up extremely close between Happ and CC, with CC getting 105 points (17 1st place, 6 2nd place, 2 3rd place) over Happ’s 94 points (10, 11, 11).

I think there is one important thing to think about here: Which Marlin is getting the ROTY in 2012?