Garrett Crochet, Roman Anthony Named Award Finalists

[Matthew Lenz]

While the Boston Red Sox as a team didn't bring home any hardware, two of their players may need to make room on their mantles for individual awards.

The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWA) announced its award finalists on Monday, including Garrett Crochet as a Cy Young award finalist and Roman Anthony as a Rookie of the Year award finalist. Detroit Tigers Starting Pitcher Tarik Skubal is the favorite to win his second Cy Young in as many seasons, and Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz is the favorite for Rookie of the Year.

Crochet, in his first season with the Red Sox, started 32 games, throwing a career high 205 1/3 innings. He posted a 2.59 ERA (2.89 FIP) and a 25.6% K-BB rate. Relying more heavily on his sinker than in years past, it proved to be the perfect pitch to counteract one of the best sweepers in the league. Opponents batted  .226 and .126 against the sinker and sweeper, respectively.

The 21-year-old Anthony made his big league debut on June 9th against the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway Park. After collecting just two hits in his first nine games (.064 batting average), he turned things around, finishing the season with an .859 OPS, eight home runs, and four stolen bases. Though he had an elevated strikeout rate of 27.7%, he also sported an elite 13.2% walk rate. This all accumulated to a 140 wRC+ in 303 plate appearances. On the defensive side of the ball, he accumulated 6 Outs Above Average (OAA) in just 55 games, which would rank him 12th in baseball amongst other outfielders had he had the innings to qualify.

Do you think either player will take home their respective awards? Let us know in the comments!

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[Hugh2]

Nick Kurtz is going to win ROY and it shouldn't be close. 

Skubal should win CY, but that race is a little closer. 

[mvp 78]

Just now, Hugh2 said:

Nick Kurtz is going to win ROY and it shouldn't be close. 

Skubal should win CY, but that race is a little closer. 

Kurtz 99% to win

Skubal 65% to win