Unanimous choice. Kyle Lewis won the 2020 American League Rookie of the Year award. He’s the fourth Mariners player who won the Rookie of the Year award, the other three winners from the Mariners are Alvin Davis, Kazuhiro Sasaki and Ichiro Suzuki. Among these 4 ROY winners, Kyle Lewis is the only unanimous winner. Alvin Davis won the 1984 rookie of the year award and was also an All-Star. In 1984, Alvin Davis received 25 first-place votes. Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett and 7-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens did not receive any first-place votes in the 1984 Rookie of the Year voting. Alvin Davis played 152 games and hit .284/.391/.497 with 27 home runs and 116 RBI in the 1984 season. HOFer Kirby Puckett played 128 games in 1984 and he batted .296/.320/.336 with 31 RBI. Kirby Puckett did not hit a homer in his rookie season. Roger Clemens made 20 starts and had 1 relief appearance in his rookie season. Clemens threw 133.1 innings and earned 9 wins. His ERA was 4.32 and he posted a WHIP of 1.31.
After spending 10 seasons in NPB, Kazuhiro Sasaki joined the Seattle Mariners in 2000. He’d been incredibly reliable in the Mariners bullpen. He collected 37 saves in 2000 and his ERA was 3.16. He also posted a 1.16 WHIP and opponents only hit .184 against him. Sasaki received 17 first-place votes, Terrence Long from the Oakland A’s received 7 first-place votes and Mark Quinn received 4 first-place votes. Barry Zito, who later became the 2002 Cy Young winner, did not receive any first-place votes. He earned 7 wins and posted a 2.72 ERA in his rookie season.
Mariners fans definitely remember that 2001 season, a historic season that the Mariners won 116 games. Ichiro Suzuki’s legendary MLB career began from 2001. In 2001, Ichiro slashed .350/.381/.457. He had 242 hits and 56 stolen bases, both leading in the majors. He not only won the Rookie of the Year award but also won the 2001 AL MVP. In the Rookie of the Year voting, he received 27 first-place votes and CC Sabathia received 1 first-place vote. Sabathia won 17 games and had a 4.39 ERA. Sabathia made 33 starts in 2001, and, in total he threw 180.1 innings. Sabathia won the Cy Young award in 2007 and threw more than 3000 strikeouts in his career. We will soon see Ichiro and Sabathia become HOFers.
In this shortened season, Kyle Lewis hit .262/.364/.437 while Luis Robert from the White Sox hit .233/.302/.436. They each crushed 11 homers. Luis Robert had 31 RBI and Kyle Lewis had 28 RBI. Luis Robert only hit .136/.237/.173 in September, his September slump tells us why he can’t win the award. However, Kyle Lewis and Luis Robert will be two most exciting outfielders to watch.
Rookie of the Year award is a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ thing. Winning the award indicates that you are an outstanding rookie player and will probably have a bright future in the MLB. Alvin Davis, Kazuhiro Sasaki and Ichiro Suzuki all experienced being an All-Star. Kyle Lewis showed his potential in this shortened season and it will be really interesting to see how he will finish in the future and whether he will be an All-Star.
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