2018 AL Rookie of the Year: Why Yankees’ Miguel Andujar could beat Shohei Ohtani

by Felix Pantaleón

There’s a (small) case to be made that Yankees third baseman Miguel Andujar should be Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani for the 2018 MLB American League Rookie of the Year award.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — The 2018 American League Rookie of the Year award isn’t necessarily Angels star Shohei Ohtani‘s to lose.

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There’s a case to be made for Yankees third baseman Miguel Andujar, too.

The Baseball Writers Association of America announced both Andujar and Ohtani — and Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres — as finalists for the award Monday night.

Of course, Ohtani will likely win. And it is hard to argue that Andujar should take it over him. But it’s not completely unreasonable.

If you’re Team Andujar, there’s plenty to which you could point. In no particular order:

The 22-year-old was a driving force in a Yankees offense that got through the AL Wild Card Game and into the AL Division Series, where it lost in four games to the Red Sox.
Andujar had a better batting average (.297) than Ohtani (.285).
Andujar played more games (149) and had more plate appearances (606) than Ohtani, who suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament and played in just 114 games with 367 plate appearances.
And Andujar at least was an everyday defender — albeit a terrible one — while Ohtani was a designated hitter 82 times.

See? It’s not nuts.

But it doesn’t mean Andujar is particularly likely to beat Ohtani, who more than proved he was worth the hype as baseball’s first consistent hitter-pitcher since Babe Ruth.

Ohtani hit .285 with 22 home runs, 61 RBI and a .925 OPS in 104 games. That’s not too far off what Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner produced (.312 BA, 14 HR, 52 RBI, 103 games).

And, by the way, Ohtani was electric on the mound. In 10 starts, he went 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA, striking out 11 batters per nine innings.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.