Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena joined a select group of players for the franchise Monday, becoming just the fourth player in team history to win the American league Rookie of the Year award.
Arozarena received 22 of the 30 first place votes, and was left off just two ballots, the fewest of any player that received a vote.
Houston Astros pitcher Luis Garcia and Arozarena’s teammate Wander Franco finished second and third respectively in the voting, each receiving a pair of first place votes.
Each American League chapter has two members fill out a ballot. In Tampa Bay, both Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times and Adam Berry of MLB.com had Arozarena first and Garcia second. Topkin had Baltimore’s Ryan Mountcastle third on his ballot, while Berry went with Texas Rangers outfielder Adolis Garcia.
Tampa Bay was the only team to have more than one player receive a vote, with three. Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan also received a second place vote.
The full voting, based on a 5-3-1 system is below, with first place votes in parentheses.
American League Rookie of the Year
Randy Arozarena, Rays (22) — 124 points
Luis Garcia, Astros (2) — 63 points
Wander Franco, Rays (2) — 30 points
Adolis Garcia, Rangers (3) — 27 points
Emmanuel Clase, Indians (1) — 11 points
Ryan Mountcastle, Orioles — 10 points
Shane McClanahan, Rays — 3 points
Alek Manoah, Blue Jays — 2 points
Steve Carney is the founder and publisher of St. Pete Nine. One of the people most associated with baseball coverage in Tampa Bay, he spent 13 seasons covering the Rays for flagship radio station WDAE, first as producer of Rays Radio broadcasts, then as beat reporter beginning in 2011. He likes new analytics and aged bourbon, and is the owner of one of the ugliest knuckleballs ever witnessed by baseball scouts.
