Cronenworth, Lewis Win IBWAA Rookies of the Year

Jake Cronenworth and Kyle Lewis are the winners of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) Rookie of the Year awards in their respective leagues.

In the National League, Cronenworth, second baseman for the Padres, got 468 points, besting Brewers reliever Devin Willians (212) votes and Alec Bohn (162) of the Phillies. I don’t want to criticize my fellow IBWAA writers, but I am baffled by this. Cronenworth hit .285 with four homers and 20 RBIs in 192 at bats in the shortened season. Those are perfectly adequate rookie numbers. However, Williams was one of the best relievers in baseball — an impossible 0.33 ERA in 27 innings with 53 strikeouts. He was not a closer, so maybe that’s why he was overlooked. I did not overlook him — he got my vote, with Bohn (he hit .338 with four homers and 23 RBIs in 180 at bats — better than Cronenworth, in my opinion) second and our own David Peterson, who led all NL rookies with six wins to go along with a very respectable 3.44 ERA, third.

Things were much more straightforward in the AL. Lewis got 468 points to beat out Luis Roberts (384) and Javier Christian (33 points). I had the top two, with Ryan Mountcastle third.

Stay tuned all week for the IBWAA winners.