Florida's Chris Coghlan and Oakland's Andrew Bailey were named the recipients of the 2009 Rookie of the Year Award in their respective leagues today.
Coghlan finished the 2009 campaign with a .321 average and 84 runs scored for the Marlins. He also added six home runs and 47 RBI. Bailey finished with a 1.84 ERA while saving 26 games for the Athletics.
Bailey seemed to be a clear-cut choice in the A.L. as none of the other candidates stood out at the end of the season. Elvis Andrus struggled at the plate for Texas, and Rick Porcello had a rather high era of 4.00 with a 1.34 WHIP for Detroit.
Bailey's teammate Brett Anderson would have been the best choice in my opinion.
The National League was a tighter race at the top, with Philly's J.A. Happ finishing second behind Coghlan. Happ was 12-4 with a 2.93 ERA, a 145 ERA+ and finished with 110 strikeouts in 35 games, starting in the bullpen before finishing the season in the rotation. Atlanta's Tommy Hanson finished a distant third behind Coghlan and Happ.
Personally, I felt Happ should have won in the N.L. over Coghlan, and even over Hanson. Happ put up nearly identical numbers as Hanson while pitching for a playoff team and doing it in one of the premiere hitter's parks in the league. Not to downplay Hanson's achievements of putting up the same numbers in 13 less games and 40 less innings, but Happ's numbers just stood out as more impressive.
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