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 |
Lets hope he finds a more practical swing, and an attitude for theft, and a place in the hall of fame. They will need to come in that order I would say.
Colby’s batting average at Memphis and in his rookie ML season were the same, .251, if IIRC. This supports my belief that a Memphis average is a pretty good indicator of what someone could do in the majors with the stick, if given a chance.
Memphis is about the stingiest PCL stadium, so if a guy hits there, he can project this to the majors.
Perhaps the overriding consistency was that Rasmus was injured in both 2008 and 2009, which likely depressed both years’ numbers. I will be very surprised if Rasmus ends up being a career .250 hitter in the majors.
Colby’s overall minor league BA was only .277. (By comparison Freese and Craig are both over .300). 2007 Springfield .275, 2006 Palm Beach .254. He was around .300 way back in Quad Cities and Johson City. I wouldn’t be especially surprised if a guy with those numbers hit 250 or so in the bigs. Hopefully he’s a late bloomer and will live up to the hype. Do you have some backstory or something?
Not trying to be a Colby apologist, but perhaps I am more sensitive about the issue as I have read at least two sabermetric-oriented articles from national bloggers about him in recent weeks. They drew numbers-based conclusions about Rasmus without even acknowledging the list of physical problems he has battled each of the last two seasons.
Prior to his lost 2008 season, Rasmus was a career .285 hitter in the minors, covering his first three years.
Those guys don’t count momentum either. Tony also seems to disregard both momentum and health issues.
He has been obsessed with enhancing his power numbers it seems. As gifted as he is, he didn’t win the job this year, Ankiel just didn’t show up, save the first 2 weeks of the Holiday occupation. Easily, his best at bats happened in the playoffs. He showed that he could take the ball deeper and do a few things with it. I think it was a conscious choice during the year to just press for the long ball or missing with a top spin double. He was an easy target for ML pitching. Watching Utley, you can see that a long swing isn’t necessary to hit Hr’s. Matsui is another lefty that can commit early and just hang his hands in the zone for ever. If Colby is paying attention, he can become a great player. I’m not so sure thats not the problem. He needs a Pinella style coach, anybody but Tony for that matter. MM being in the dugout and in his face is going to push him one way or another.
Just to clarify, I did not say anything about Rasmus’ ML career hitting potential. I only made a comment about the first year transition from Memphis to the majors.
Some fans were astounded when Chris Duncan or Schumaker hit about the same in the majors as at Memphis. The more amazing thing is their surprise. If a guy gets enough play in the majors, a huge factor, then he should tend toward his Memphis level of offensive productivity, regardless of age.
WC – “He has been obsessed with enhancing his power numbers it seems. ”
Not enhancing, but continuing what he has been since little league. The only times he has struggled in his career is when someone has tried to revamp his approach, or he feels the need to try to be something different. And it takes place every year. Just because he is fast doesn’t mean he is going to be a slap hitter. Every hitter needs to continue to try an improve his game in every way but not by taking a BMW and hammering it into a VW bug. You can try to improve a swing but not change it entirely.
A five hour hitting session, with TLR present for a little bit of it in the cage at Busch, after the last regular season game, and he hit the ball well during the playoffs. Its easy when you use a players strengths and stop trying to recreate the wheel.
WC – “Ankiel just didn’t show up, save the first 2 weeks of the Holiday occupation. Easily, his best at bats happened in the playoffs. He showed that he could take the ball deeper and do a few things with it. I think it was a conscious choice during the year to just press for the long ball or missing with a top spin double.”
There was never a chance to win the starting job, this was learned the year prior. The coddling of Rick Ankiel was a bit comical to me. One would have to have 3 shrinks on staff to have allowed Rick to show up.
WC – “He was an easy target for ML pitching. Watching Utley, you can see that a long swing isn’t necessary to hit Hr’s. Matsui is another lefty that can commit early and just hang his hands in the zone for ever. If Colby is paying attention, he can become a great player. ”
Nobody is going to copy Utley’s swing, its as unique as Lincecum’s delivery. If Rick is not resigned I expect Colby to have a much better year, long swing and all. With Rick around, Colby was on an island by himself, which would be tough for anybody, much less a young kid.
WC – “I’m not so sure thats not the problem. He needs a Pinella style coach, anybody but Tony for that matter. MM being in the dugout and in his face is going to push him one way or another.”
TLR and I spoke during that hitting session Colby and I had about what I look for when Colby is struggling. TLR stated to me that he wanted to be able to figure out what Colby was doing wrong in order to get him right next year. It sounded like to me that TLR was trying to get more involved with his players hitting approaches and wanted to be more involved this next year, that Tony was looking for how to keep Colby where he is good, and not trying to change him.
I have stated time and time again that Colby is having to really try to adapt his love for the game to fit TLR’s management style. He hasn’t been able to have alot of fun playing these last two years since he stumbled into AAA and the no fun, no laughing, no smiling approach took hold. Hopefully with a year under his belt this will get better. He insists he is not going to worry about anyone next year and is going to be himself. Man I hope so, it will be nice to see a kid playing the game with a little of the fire and enjoyment he once had, not the bored , complacent look on his face every game. yuck!.
I knew Colby would have a hard time fitting into a TLR team and that is why I mentioned him being traded was probably best for the cardinals and him a year or so ago. My reasoning was Colby may never do as well as he could in this situation and that being the case both the cardinals and Colby would lose out in the long run. So your managerial reference has some merit in my eyes. But Colby insists he will not be the laid back type he was this year in 2010. We’ll see.
RC, I for one appreciate you taking the time to make such a detailed post. It seems clear that relationships are growing and evolving, which has to be an important success factor.
Colby should be able to go into 2010 without either injury or injustice providing an excuse.
Contrasting Colby and Brendan Ryan is one of my favorite pass-times. I’m a big Brendan fan and lukewarm on Colby, but even so was surprised than Our Brendan out hit (and out OPSed) the more than adequately hyped Colby in 2009. Both came into ‘09 as something other than the everyday starter. Both blocked by non-performing injured head cases. Colby had a Tony fav with a lot of time and $ invested guy to compete with, a no-win as RC points out. Brendan had a guy earning a lot who Tony had as the opening day cleanup hitter, yikes. Colby must have found it frustrating, but didn’t do much to help his own cause. Brendan outplayed all contenders, was undaunted by Albert’s bullying, and established himself. The same reason Colby could never pull off the stirrups and ’stache thing explains why he he is still where he was.
RC, I am a big fan. It is the “potential magic” in kids like Colby that could change everything here.
What I think is true:
It is exhausting going 162 plus – infront of 40 thousand plus. Rookies get punch drunk. Thats to be expected.
The competitive aspects of this game as defined by Pitching – hitting – and leverage with the use of speed effecting both. Once you hit the show, the best players are the ones to adapt, to make adjustments, to change within this dynamic environment. I’ve watched Utely up close, he has adapted every year. You have to. The scouts are good. The pitchers are accurate.
Hitting the ball hard………….represents one choice a hitter selects ( Jeter ). If you have speed, and are a threat to neutralize a pitchers off speed and location objectives, you will get a pitch to hit hard, to hit out. The negotiations happen around 300………not 250.
Rick Ankiel and Colby have essentially the same swing. It will drive Colby crazy too unless he learns this simple truth……..it takes a few different swings to be successful. Learning to hide which one your preparing is the game. Its what good hitters do. Matsui just gracefully starts a swing to a probable location. If he starts picking up the ball as a positive, he become more aggressive to match speed and contact zone. If its all good, he turns them over with a little attitude. Thats hitting……extension, timing, bat head flexibility. And he knows he likely has to more cutting, if that didn’t work out. Good hitters learn to adapt, and its that quality that reduces the pitchers options by half.
The confidence and skills it takes to learn this aspect of the game is what makes players great.
I would guess that now that Colby has hit the bigs, he thinks there is know way back down. If he hits 250 over and over, with no base stealing chops, he will learn a difficult lesson.
to more cutting…………is actually two more cuts. Nice proof read.
BB -”Colby should be able to go into 2010 without either injury or injustice providing an excuse. ”
There was no injury to speak of IMO. The stomach issue was a direct result of the stress that went along with being alienated(he felt) by his own teammates, and trying to fit in, in his eyes. Colby is the ultimate teammate(should have gone to college where that is a great trait to possess if he wanted to feel the warmth of loving teammates
and has had to figure out that that is not the way things work in the big leagues. The big leagues are a cut throat, I hate my teammates job and it takes some longer than others to develop the skills needed to not care about anyone but yourself. But I hope he is there.
BB – “Contrasting Colby and Brendan Ryan is one of my favorite pass-times. I’m a big Brendan fan and lukewarm on Colby, but even so was surprised than Our Brendan out hit (and out OPSed) the more than adequately hyped Colby in 2009. ”
Much easier to produce when nobody thinks you are worth much, as was the case for Brendan going in. Heck it was even talked about that Brendan was on the way out, and then voila, Khalil starts rubbing the meat off of his knuckles between at bats, then his arms. Here you go…….Brendan. When you see the end coming it tends to get one to go balls to the wall. Which Brendan did. And I like you am a huge Brendan Ryan fan.
With the hype comes resentment by teammates and the like. Much tougher gig. Colby didn’t write the articles but got blamed for their content. Colby didn’t fare well with it which is a weakness he inherited from his mother. My other kids could give a rip if you like them or not. Colby is an ol softy.
BB – “Both came into ‘09 as something other than the everyday starter. Both blocked by non-performing injured head cases. Colby had a Tony fav with a lot of time and $ invested guy to compete with, a no-win as RC points out. Brendan had a guy earning a lot who Tony had as the opening day cleanup hitter, yikes. ”
Its all about seized opportunities isn’t it. Brendan grabbed the reins and put himself in the discussions about who’s the best defensive SS’s in the game today. He is one of those guys now. Colby on the other hand, didn’t do much of anything other than outperforming a player who performed worse than he did. Just better than bad, but not good.
BB – “Colby must have found it frustrating, but didn’t do much to help his own cause. Brendan outplayed all contenders, was undaunted by Albert’s bullying, and established himself. ”
Agree that Brendan did a great job of taking advantage of Khalil’s issues and is now considered a GG contender in the years to come.
Rick didn’t play SS so there was no reason for Albert to give a rats pettuti about Brendan. And I don’t consider Albert a bully. But if Albert is against you, everyone is against you.
BB – “The same reason Colby could never pull off the stirrups and ’stache thing explains why he he is still where he was.”
This is so right on and made me laugh. Colby cares about how he is perceived and tried to fit in where Brendan could care less. It is a key to success and why Brendan is one of my favorite people. I consider myself to be similar in how I operate in this life. Those personality traits are rare I would argue though.
WC – “I would guess that now that Colby has hit the bigs, he thinks there is no way back down. If he hits 250 over and over, with no base stealing chops, he will learn a difficult lesson.”
Well, my hope is that TLR puts Colby somewhere in the 6, 7, 8 range and lets him go. The stop sign every time he was on base last year makes one play the game too passively and you lose your edge. Putting him in front of Albert and telling him to play the game like a 50 year old fat man is not a good situation to find oneself in. He may not find his way above the .250 mark until he finds himself in a more suitable environment, who knows?
Westy: “Rick Ankiel and Colby have essentially the same swing. It will drive Colby crazy too..”.
Are you saying Ankiel wasn’t already crazy? Come on. Colby’s personality wouldn’t allow him to be driven crazy in that way. He is able to dial back his intensity to match what he percieves to be his station in life, thus avoiding frustration.
BB, Rick was coddled to the point of making him a mental cripple. I’m betting good money that Rick has 4 or 5 good years if he signs somewhere other than St. Louis. He will know that he will have to stand on his own two feet and that he can’t count on someone feeling sorry for him if he doesn’t do well. Kind of like your Brendan situation. Brendan was on the way out, he knew it so what has he got to lose by throwing caution to the wind. Rick will be this way next year…….watch. I’m predicting a big year for Rick. Hoping for one as well.
BB- “He is able to dial back his intensity to match what he percieves to be his station in life, thus avoiding frustration.”
Phenomenological reality, that what it be Bling
Agree with Westy about the potential magic. Not just Colby. Freese and Craig would be a lot more interestig than the driftwood they replace. (on the roster, not necessarily by position). Same as to the pitching staff, Welly and Thompson could be described as driftwood there. Lot of potential magic in all the young arms. It should not be assumed that Brendan doesn’t have even more magic yet to be seen. Has Skip topped out. Its enough to make one forget about the Holliday issue.
By the way, let us not forget that I previously suggested Our Brendan hitting behind Albert. I know, I hear the yuks. He would make ‘em pay.
Excellent hand eye by both of you………..
Rick has some things he’s working through. Lets hope he finds his way.
While I’m a big fan of Brendan Ryan as well, remember that he played in St. Louis a couple of years before this one and is four years older than Colby Rasmus. I’m not sure that they make for the best of comparisons. Colby has been a very highly ranked prospect for a reason and shouldn’t be expected to have everything figured out at 23 years of age.
Good point Nut, the potential magic factor mentioned by WC shouldn’t be overlooked, nor Ryan’s greater maturity (gad, I can’t believe I said that) and greater experience (gad again).
I characterized Ryan as a bushy tailed Grey squirrel all year. A tiny bit skidish….. He covers his position well and seems to respond to roles he’s given though. I always laugh when in a game situation, if he has a free swing, he goes fishing for the long ball with that little upper cut that he uses. A team can carry only one player of this temperament…………….. unless they buy hamster wheels for the dugout……….to tire them out.
Good one Westy. More than once I expected to see Brendan bolt out of the dugout, throw Yadi over his shoulder and run him down to first.