Dodgers Dustin May Ranks Near the Top in NL Rookie of the Year Power Rankings
The Dodgers have a long history of players winning the Rookie of the Year award in the National League. In fact, 18 of their guys have taken home the award since the inaugural season in 1947. Jackie Robinson took home the honors that year in his first year with Brooklyn.
The Dodgers also won it four years in a row from 1979 to 1982 and five years in a row from 1992 to 1996. More recently, Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger took home the award in 2016 and 2017.
According to Baseball America, the Dodgers once again have a great opportunity to win the award once again. They listed Dustin May as number two in the power rankings of players likely to win it in 2020 for the National League.
Our Rookie of the Year power rankings:
AL
1. Kyle Lewis
2. Luis Robert
3. James KarinchakNL
1. Jake Cronenworth
2. Dustin May
3. Devin WilliamsRisers + sleepers here: https://t.co/lGqvjqlV4Z pic.twitter.com/upvT8FhkOU
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) August 28, 2020
The only real competition to the Dodgers is the Padres’ Jake Cronenworth. The outstanding rookie infielder is slashing.360/.415/.605 with 13 extra-base hits and a 1.3 WAR just 27 games into the year. He basically leads NL rookies in most of the major offensive categories. He also happens to be playing decent defense as well, at least at first base.
Dustin May wasn’t even supposed to be a part of the Dodgers’ starting rotaiton in 2020. Injuries to Clayton Kershaw and an opt out by David Price literally changed that within a matter of days, and he got the Opening Day start. All he has done since then is put up a 2.83 ERA in seven starts and limited hitters to a 1.172 WHIP. May has also put up a +0.6 WAR in his six appearances.
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May was pitching well last night. The umpire was squeezing May on the lower strikes. You could see that May was hitting the target and according to the target on the Screen those lower pitches were 99 mph strikes. When are they going to start using the automated system. Having an umpire blind to a precisely thrown pitch must be maddening for a pitcher and changes the result in many games.
If the umpire calls those pitches strikes last night May does not allow a run.
I hope they are grading the umpires on their inaccuracies despite their union.
May and Gonsolin are huge wins for the Dodgers this year as they are getting the experience every young pitcher has to get before becoming great. We will have to wait to see if or when Urias can find his control if so the Rotation of the Future could be Buehler, May, Gonsolin, Urias and several other incredible young arms like Gray, Gonzalez, Ferguson etc.