Why Yankees’ Miguel Andujar lost AL Rookie of the Year to Angels’ Shohei Ohtani

Angels star Shohei Ohtani beat Yankees third baseman Miguel Andujar and second baseman Gleyber Torres for the 2018 MLB Rookie of the Year award Monday.

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Third baseman Miguel Andujar surprised most people, especially the Yankees, when he proved ready to handle the majors leagues in April. He surprised them more with the potency of his bat, though his defense wasn’t good.

He couldn’t pull off a final shocker, though.

Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani beat Andujar and Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres for the 2018 American League Rookie of the Year award Monday. Torres finished third in the vote.

Ohtani got 25 out of 30 possible first-place votes.

The Baseball Writers Association of America denied the Yankees their second straight ROY winner. Right fielder Aaron Judge won it last season.

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Yankees manager Aaron Boone had a lot of good things to say about Torres on Monday.

“It’s hard to find two guys who were more impactful for us, more consistent,” Boone said on the MLB Network. “For Gleyber, he gets called up at some time in April, when we’re still kind of finding our way, and he comes in right away and is a difference-maker. The offensive production he brought right away. The defensive production in the middle of the diamond at one point later in the season, when Didi down for a couple of weeks, he was able to slide over and be our shortstop. The game comes very easy to Gleyber Torres on both sides of the ball. There’s just an ease that he plays the game with.”

Andujar’s huge season at the plate couldn’t overcome the excellence of Ohtani on the mound and with the bat.

Ohtani became the first player since Babe Ruth to make 10 starts and hit more than 20 home runs in a season.

The 24-year-old Japanese star 24-year-old Japanese star went 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA over 51 2/3 innings before a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. The injury didn’t keep him out of the batter’s box, though. In 104 games, he hit 22 bombs with 61 RBI and a .285 batting average. He also had a .925 OPS.

The Yankees had hoped to sign Ohtani last offseason but he didn’t want to play in a big market, he said, ruling them out of the bidding process early.

But there was at least an argument to be made that Andujar deserved the award more.

Andujar outhomered Ohtani (27) and posted more RBI (92) in more games (149). And though Andujar was mostly regarded as a poor defender, he manned third base all season for the Yankees, who lost Opening Day starter Brandon Drury early due to headaches and blurred vision. Eventually, with Andujar locking down the starting job, the Yankees traded Drury and outfield prospect Billy McKinney to the Blue Jays in exchange for lefty starting pitcher J.A. Happ, who proved a huge acquisition, going 7-0 with a 2.69 ERA in 11 regular season starts in pinstripes.

Torres started the season hot but cooled off and finished with an impressive .271 batting average, 24 homers and 77 RBI. A top prospect as a shortstop throughout the minors, it was Torres’ first full season at second base.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.