Billy Butler for AL rookie of the year?

Question

Is it feasible for Billy Butler to win the AL rookie of the year award? He has been nothing less than stellar since he was called up a few weeks ago. Dice-K is really the only other legitimate candidate in the AL right now, and he hasn't exactly been the ace that he was hyped up to be. I personally haven't been impressed with him at all.

And remember, Ryan Howard only played half a season when he won the award for the NL.

Answer 1

I think it's possible, but doubtful. I don't think he can keep up the way he's playing for the rest of the season, and playing on the Royals makes it harder. In my paper (I live in Florida) they said the top three contenders at the all-star break were Dice-K, Pedroia, and Okajima. Frankly, I think it will be Dice-K.

Answer 2

It's feasable but unlikely, the fact that Daisuke Matsuzaka (11-7, 3.99 ERA, 131 K's) is on a contender making a huge impact makes him a more worthy candidate. The same thing could be said for Hideki Okajima (2-0, 0.92 ERA, .171 opponents batting avg, best setup man in baseball) and Dustin Pedroia (.320 avg, 39 Runs Scored, .992 fielding %).

While Butler has also been an extremely good player this year (.333 avg, 26 RBI in only 34 Games) the team he plays for will hinder his chances. Voters for ROY will vote for the player they've seen more often and in this case the Red Sox have 3 viable candidates and LOTS more media coverage.

For the record, I think Butler's a heck of a player and I'd like to see more like him in KC to bring the franchise back to what it once was with Brett, White, and Wilson.

As far as ROY goes, he still has a chance, but he needs to greatly outperform the other candidates from the more major markets and be far and away the clear choice.

Side Note: It will also still stick in voter's minds that the last KC player voted ROY was Angel Berroa who since then has been a bust. Unfair, but true.

Answer 3

Right now Butler is sitting on 333-3-26 and only 120 at bats. He probably will not wind up with 300 at bats, less than 60 RBI, and under 10 homeruns. On the other hand, Dice-K could possibly win 20 games for the Red Sox. Therefore, I would give Butler two chances at AL rookie of the year, slim and none.

Answer 4

Dice-K seems to be talked about too much for his own good. His 3.79 ERA pales in comparison to Jeremy Guthrie's 2.88. What he has is wins (12 compared to Guthrie's 6) and strikeouts (136 to 84).

However, the award will most likely go to a hitter, as they generally gather more in the way of hype. And because hitters do not rely on anyone else for their stats, their win column does not suffer.

While Butler does have good stats in his 36 games, his bat doesn't have the pop Howard's did. Nor is his team in any kind of playoff race. The Phillies' being in the playoff race got Howard airtime because he had the power to hit lot's of game-winning shots. Unfortunately, Butler doesn't have that opportunity. Personally, I think the award will be going to Los Angeles' Reggie Willits, Boston's Dustin Pedroia, Tampa Bay's Akinori Iwamura, or possibly Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie.

Answer 5

Being a Royals fan myself (hard to admit that sometimes), I doubt that he would get it. Kansas City just does not get the exposure like some of the other candidates. I mean he plays everyday almost but you look at ESPN.com and rarely do you see highllights of their games, even when they play Boston or Detroit. They hype for Dice-K has will be just too much to overcome.
We can always hope for that he does win to give more meaning to our season. At least we're not in the basement alone(at least for today) anymore.