Rasmus ties for eighth in NL Rookie of the Year vote


For a period early in the season, St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Colby Rasmus was called the frontrunner for the National League Rookie of the Year award by some watchers. An uneven campaign followed, during which he suffered through 20-30 pounds of weight loss due to a hiatal hernia and dealt with an ongoing foot problem.

As a result, Rasmus, 22, fell out of contention to the point he received just a single third-place vote in the balloting announced Monday. Eleven players received votes as Rasmus tied three other rookies for eighth place. The winner was Florida’s Chris Coghlan.

Baseball writers representing each of the 32 MLB clubs received three votes: one first place (worth five points), one second place (worth three points) and one third place (worth one point).

Rookie Club 1st 2nd 3rd Points
Chris Coghlan Florida Marlins 17 6 2 105
J.A. Happ Philadelphia Phillies 10 11 11 94
Tommy Hanson Atlanta Braves 2 6 9 37
Andrew McCutchen Pittsburgh Pirates 2 5 25
Casey McGehee Milwaukee Brewers 1 3 4 18
Randy Wells Chicago Cubs 1 3
Garrett Jones Pittsburgh Pirates 2 2
Everth Cabrera San Diego Padres 1 1
Dexter Fowler Colorado Rockies 1 1
Gerardo Parra Arizona Diamondbacks 1 1
Colby Rasmus St. Louis Cardinals 1 1

Here is a quick look at the offensive stats of the eight position players receiving votes. Leaders are in bold. Rasmus played in the most games of the eight, 147, and was among the youngest at 22 years of age. The Cardinals outfielder posted the lowest batting average (.251) and on-base percentage (.307) among the eight vote-getters.

Rasmus was one of ten rookies to appear with the 2009 Cardinals.

Age G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+
Coghlan 24 128 565 504 84 162 31 6 9 47 8 5 53 77 0.321 0.390 0.460 0.850 122
McCutchen 22 108 493 433 74 124 26 9 12 54 22 5 54 83 0.286 0.365 0.471 0.836 122
McGehee 26 116 394 355 58 107 20 1 16 66 0 2 34 67 0.301 0.360 0.499 0.859 127
Jones 28 82 358 314 45 92 21 1 21 44 10 2 40 76 0.293 0.372 0.567 0.938 147
Cabrera 22 103 438 377 59 96 18 8 2 31 25 8 46 88 0.255 0.342 0.361 0.703 98
Fowler 23 135 518 433 73 115 29 10 4 34 27 10 67 116 0.266 0.363 0.406 0.770 96
Parra 22 120 491 455 59 132 21 8 5 60 5 7 25 89 0.290 0.324 0.404 0.729 85
Rasmus 22 147 520 474 72 119 22 2 16 52 3 1 36 95 0.251 0.307 0.407 0.714 88