Rays slugger Randy Arozarena is your 2021 American League Rookie of the Year. Runner-up was Astros hurler Luis Garcia, who enjoyed a marvelous debut season (excluding a September cameo in 2020) for the American League Champs, compiling a dominant 3.30 ERA with 167 strikeouts in 155 1/3 innings (9.68 K/9). Arozarena’s selection was a controversial one considering the 141 combined playoff and regular-season at-bats he posted in 2020. The Cuban outfielder set postseason records for home runs (10), hits (29) and total bases (64) last fall while leading Tampa Bay to its second AL pennant and first since 2008.
League rules stipulate that, to be eligible for Rookie of the Year, a position player cannot have logged more than 130 at-bats in their previous seasons. And though Arozarena technically meets that criteria on the basis of his 84 regular-season at-bats prior to 2021, many on social media scoffed at the notion last year’s ALCS MVP would qualify as a “rookie.”
Arozarena enjoyed a noteworthy 2021, contributing 20 home runs, 20 steals and seven defensive runs saved in left field (he was named a Gold Glove finalist but wound up losing to Andrew Benintendi) for the Rays, who cruised to a franchise-best 100 regular-season wins and a second straight AL East title. Those are strong numbers to be sure, but was Arozarena truly deserving of his award, or were voters influenced by his past performance, delivering a postseason for the ages in 2020?
While the Astros and their collective fan base shouldn’t expect much sympathy after compromising the sport’s integrity with an elaborate sign-stealing scheme that spanned multiple seasons, you can see why many felt Garcia got a raw deal, losing Rookie of the Year honors to a player who A) probably shouldn’t have been lumped in with other rookies and B) arguably coasted off his 2020 accomplishments.
Garcia, an electric arm with a bright future in the Astros’ starting rotation, probably isn’t sweating the snub. After all, his team made it further than the Rays, who were bounced by the Red Sox in last month’s ALDS. But there’s certainly a case to be made that voters, many of them subconsciously swayed by Arozarena’s postseason heroics the year prior, backed the wrong horse, at least in this instance.
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