Looking back at the month of April when Dustin Pedroia was barely hitting his weight, you wouldn’t have even thought that he could be the AL Rookie of the Year. Then as the season went on when he started hitting around Miguel Cabrera’s weight, you could definitely see him being the rookie of the year.
This afternoon, the BBWAA (Baseball Writer’s Association of America) made it official, Pedroia is your 2007 American League Rookie of the Year. He becomes the first Red Sox rookie to win the award since Nomar Garciaparra did it back in 1997.
Pedroia put up excellent numbers in his rookie campaign. His .317 batting average was the highest ever by a rookie second baseman, breaking the record of Jim Viox set back in 1913 when Viox played for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
He started out the season with a rough April, hitting .182 and Red Sox Nation was calling for Alex Cora to play second base. Terry Francona stuck with the kid and he responded by hitting .405 in May. He continued the trend by hitting. 333 in June, .299 in July, .346 in August and .302 in September. For the season, he hit .317 with 8 home runs and 50 RBIs. He also made only 6 errors on the season which was good for a .990 fielding percentage.
Pedroia will be holding a press conference later in the day today from his alma mater, Arizona State University.
Continue reading to find out the National League Rookie of the Year.
Ryan Braun is your 2007 National League Rookie of the Year. He edged out Troy Tulowitzki from the Colorado Rockies by just two votes. This was the closest vote in the National League since 1980. Braun becomes the first Milwaukee Brewer to win the award since Pat Listach did it back in 1992.
Braun didn’t make his big league debut until May 25th and came up swinging. He hit .324 with 34 home runs, 97 RBIs, and 15 stolen bases. His slugging percentage of .634 broke Mark McGwire’s record of .618 back in 1987 with the Oakland A’s.
