Myers, Fernandez are baseball’s top rookies

Outfielder Wil Myers of the Tampa Bay Rays was named American League Rookie of the Year and pitcher Jose Fernandez won National League honors, Major League Baseball announced on Monday.

The 22-year-old Myers, acquired before the season in a trade with the Royals for pitching ace James Shields, lived up to expectations with Tampa as he hit .293 with 13 home runs and 53 runs batted in after being called up in mid-season.

Myers finished ahead of Detroit Tigers shortstop Jose Iglesias and Rays starting pitcher Chris Archer in the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voting.

The hard-throwing Fernandez, a 21-year-old native of Cuba, won NL Rookie honors by receiving 26 of 30 first-place ballots cast over Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig and Cardinals right-handed pitcher Shelby Miller.

Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers was fourth in the NL Rookie award race, with 10 third-place votes. Ryu is the first Korean pitcher to receive votes for an MLB rookie award.

Fernandez was the only player listed on every ballot and became the first Cuban-born player to win the National League award. Tony Oliva (1964) of the Twins and Jose Canseco (1986) of the A’s were Cuban-born winners in the American League.

Fernandez posted a 12-6 record and his 2.19 earned run average was second in the National League to Dodgers’ ace Clayton Kershaw’s 1.83.

Reuters