:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/3125697/20120703_jel_aq4_110.0.jpg)
Just ahead of the BBWAA awards, the SB Nation awards begin with each league's Rookie of the Year award. A couple of grounds rules: we had two ballots for the site; ours were submitted by Andrew Mearns and Tanya Bondurant. They voted only for AL winners, so we didn't muddy our hands with any Senior Crcuit stuff. Otherwise, the procedure here is the same as the official award, with the top three candidates being named.
The results:
| Player | Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Trout | Los Angeles Angels | 26 | 130 | ||
| Yu Darvish | Texas Rangers | 16 | 7 | 55 | |
| Yoenis Cespedes | Oakland Athletics | 9 | 10 | 37 | |
| Jarrod Parker | Oakland Athletics | 1 | 6 | 9 | |
| Jesus Montero | Seattle Mariners | 1 | 1 | ||
| Matt Moore | Tampa Bay Rays | 1 | 1 | ||
| Wei-Yin Chen | Baltimore Orioles | 1 | 1 |
Our PB voters were just a little out of step with the the general mood. As the unanimous selection of Trout would suggest, both Andrew and Tanya named him tops on their ballots, but each had Yoenis Cespedes second and Yu Darvish third. We were not the site that listed Jesus Montero.
The NL ballots:
| Player | Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bryce Harper | Washington Nationals | 26 | 9 | 157 | |
| Wade Miley | Arizona Diamondbacks | 8 | 21 | 5 | 108 |
| Todd Frazier | Cincinnati Reds | 1 | 4 | 9 | 26 |
| Norichika Aoki | Milwaukee Brewers | 14 | 14 | ||
| Zack Cozart | Cincinnati Reds | 1 | 2 | 5 | |
| Andrelton Simmons | Atlanta Braves | 1 | 1 | ||
| Anthony Rizzo | Chicago Cubs | 1 | 1 | ||
| Lucas Harrell | Houston Astros | 1 | 1 | ||
| Mike Fiers | Milwaukee Brewers | 1 | 1 | ||
| Yasmani Grandal | San Diego Padres | 1 | 1 |
The NL had its own teenage phenom in Bryce Harper, and perhaps a deeper group overall, but no one with a season as historically significant as Trout's. Harper's season was great by the standards of his age, but it wasn't great overall. As such, there was a little more room for disparate opinions among the voters.