Baseball Writers Association picks the ROY's

The writers got the Rookie of the Year winners correct, but they left a couple of guys off every ballot in the National League that may end up being the biggest stars of the Class of 2010.

Here's the actual NL tally. One writer in Pittsburgh had both Walker and Tabata on his ballot -- go figure. The guy with the Pirates that he left off of his ballot was Pedro Alvarez. The other guy was some pitcher from Washington...Sidd Finch, something like that. I hear he may come down off TJS Mountain late next season, but look for 2012 before the hype machine starts again, and the echo of "Mark Prior" is heard?

National League Rookie of the Year Award voting

Player 1st 2nd 3rd Pts
Buster Posey, SF 20 9 2 129
Jason Heyward, ATL 9 20 2 107
Jaime Garcia, STL 1 1 16 24
Gaby Sanchez, FLA 2 1 5 18
Neil Walker, PIT 1 3
Starlin Castro, CHC 3 3
Ike Davis, NYM 2 2
Jose Tabata, PIT 1 1
Jonny Venters, ATL 1 1

-Posey wins because he's a catcher on a division winning team, and was outstanding four 4 months.

-Heyward was very steady for a kid, except for one month. If he hadn't hit .181 in June, he probably wins.

-Garcia was excellent for a rookie. In 18 of his of 28 starts when he pitched at least 6innings, he allowed 2 or fewer earned runs.

-Castro gets lost in the shuffle of some great talent, but he played a decent shortstop and hit .300.

-Which two guys voted Gaby Sanchez #1? That's a bit more than off the freakin wall, isn't it?

American League Rookie of the Year Award voting

Player 1st 2nd 3rd Pts
Neftali Feliz, TEX 20 7 1 122
Austin Jackson, DET 8 19 1 98
Danny Valencia, MIN 1 9 12
Wade Davis, TB 11 11
John Jaso, TB 1 3
Brennan Boesch, DET 3 3
Brian Matusz, BAL 3 3

A no brainer here, not only for the BWA picking Feliz, but my lack of brains for forgetting him when I was trying to figure out who'd win, and who deserved to win.

I agree with Jackson at 2, but would have had Wade Davis at 3. He and Brian Matusz may be studs before long.

One number to crunch is that Jackson struck out 170 times last season. Holy Tommie Agee! That's a helluva lot for any hitter, let alone a lead off guy, but he still managed a .745 OPS, which is very good for almost anyone but your 3-5 hitters, and even then, it doesn't suck.