Geovany Soto Named NL Rookie of the Year

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Link written by Kary Booher with contributions from Bruce Miles, The Daily Herald in Arlington Heights, Ill.

 

Remember the awkward girl back in high school who seemed cute enough to ask for a twirl at the Friday night dance? And years later at the class reunion that girl has everybody asking, "Who is that!?"

 

Such has been Soto's journey.

 

An 11th-round pick in 2001 out of a Puerto Rico military academy, Soto converted from the corner infield to catching in 2003 at high Class A Daytona.

 

At the time, the Cubs had not developed a catcher with staying power since Joe Girardi (1989) and Rick Wilkins (1991) and that June exhausted third- and fourth-round picks on college catchers Jake Fox and Tony Richie.

[OleMissCub]

Geovany Soto

 

 

Kid's a stud. Looking forward to seeing him play again.

[Little Slide Rooter]

damn straight

[SouthSideRyan]

Any truth to the rumor that Geo will decline the award?

[manbearcub]

Disappointing I cant even get excited for something like this.

[Guest]

BA's Top 20 Rookies:

 

1. C Geovany Soto, Cubs

Between his solid glove, above-average bat and steady-as-she-goes demeanor with a veteran pitching staff, Soto was both the best and the most valuable rookie of the Class of '08. He put his experience in Triple-A (three seasons worth) and in two previous extended big league callups to work, hitting .333/.427/.621 in April and never looking back.

2. 3B Evan Longoria, Rays

3. 1B Joey Votto, Reds

4. RHP Jair Jurrgens, Braves

5. 2B Alexi Ramirez, White Sox

6. SS Mike Aviles, Royals

7. RHP Joba Chamberlain, Yankees

8. OF Denard Span, Twins

9. RHP Brad Ziegler, A's

10. RHP Armando Galarraga, Tigers

11. 1B/3B Chris Davis, Rangers

12. RHP Hiroki Kuroda, Dodgers

13. RHP Nick Blackburn, Twins

14. RHP Jose Arredondo, Angels

15. RHP Chris Volstad, Marlins

16. OF Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox

17. LHP John Lannan, Nationals

18. LHP Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers

19. OF Jay Bruce, Reds

20. LHP Greg Smith, A's

[SouthSideRyan]

NSBB ranked them like this(not true rankings as RotY voting has you only vote 3 per league and Soto, Votto, and Jurrjens drew every NL vote.

 

1. Soto 45

2. Longoria 43

3. Votto 21

4. Ramirez 16

5. Jurrjens 15

6. Span 9

7. Aviles 8

8. Chamberlain 2

9. Ellsbury 2

10.Galaragga 1

[Jehrico]

Remember when we wondered if Geo would be able to beat Kosuke out for it? Now he's not even in the top 20.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Remember when we wondered if Geo would be able to beat Kosuke out for it? Now he's not even in the top 200.

 

fixed

[wvcbxl]

A well-deserved honor for Geo.

[BCVM22]

The Sporting News and the Player's Trust followed suit, both of them naming Geo their NL Rookie of the Year today. There's absolutely no question that all three of these awards are precursors to the real deal next month.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/awards/pa/rookie/nl;_ylt=Ar5QmQcWHBRpYQ.T_wM0WrLavrYF

 

Nice Geo interview here.

[Brett]

The Sporting News and the Player's Trust followed suit, both of them naming Geo their NL Rookie of the Year today. There's absolutely no question that all three of these awards are precursors to the real deal next month.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/awards/pa/rookie/nl;_ylt=Ar5QmQcWHBRpYQ.T_wM0WrLavrYF

 

Nice Geo interview here.

 

Very well-deserved. Votta had nice numbers, too, but it really isn't close.

[Guest]

That's quite a bit of Soto on one page:

 

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/5223/lotsofgeotx3.jpg

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3693255

[jersey cubs fan]

what's with the 2 blank boxes? Freaking ESPN.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

That's quite a bit of Soto on one page:[/img]

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3693255

sexiest page on the interwebs

[Derwood]

somehow Edinson Volquez received some 2nd place votes despite not being a rookie

[Guest]

Screw BA, Geo wins the NL ROY: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081110&content_id=3672838&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb First Cub to win it since Kerry Wood 10 years ago.

 

Eva wins the AL ROY.

[fromthestretch]

That's quite a bit of Soto on one page:

 

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/5223/lotsofgeotx3.jpg

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3693255

 

Wow. John Kruk actually got something right.

[Guest]

Soto was one vote away from a unanimous choice. That vote went to Joey Votto.

 

Evan Longoria was a unanimous selection.

[Slugger_16]

That's quite a bit of Soto on one page:[/img]

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3693255

sexiest page on the interwebs

 

I need a cigarette and nap after seeing that page.

[erik316wttn]

Geovany Soto

[laurens]

Congrats to Geo, god knows he deserves it.

[Jehrico]

Soto was one vote away from a unanimous choice. That vote went to Joey Votto.

 

Evan Longoria was a unanimous selection.

How is it that Geo got 31/32 votes, yet Longoria was unanimous with 28 votes? Did some people abstain from voting on the AL?

[CubColtPacer]

Soto was one vote away from a unanimous choice. That vote went to Joey Votto.

 

Evan Longoria was a unanimous selection.

How is it that Geo got 31/32 votes, yet Longoria was unanimous with 28 votes? Did some people abstain from voting on the AL?

 

They probably give the ability to vote to 2 writers from each market, and then you only vote for whichever market (NL or AL) you're in. Since there's 2 extra teams in the NL, there's also 4 extra votes.

[daske17]

Soto was one vote away from a unanimous choice. That vote went to Joey Votto.

 

Evan Longoria was a unanimous selection.

 

Marty Brenneman strikes Cubs fans again!