Kim, Ryu named Rookie of the Year and Cy Young candidates

Kim Kwang-hyun of the St. Louis Cardinals has been named a “rising” rookie by Baseball America (BA), which boasts the highest authority and history in player eval‎uation.

While reporting on this year’s National League (NL) Rookie of the Year race on Friday, BA wrote that Kim has been the strongest starting pitcher in the entire Major League Baseball (MLB) since he ascended to the Cardinals rotation on Wednesday. It also added that Kim has allowed only one earned run in 27 1/3 innings as a starter, and it was his debut game where he gave up that one earned run. The magazine went on to say that Kim pitched seven shutout innings against the Brewers on Tuesday after returning from a kidney ailment, extending his scoreless inning streak to 24 innings.

BA, however, ranked Jake Cronenworth (Milwaukee), Dustin May (LA Dodgers), and Devin Williams (Milwaukee) as their top 3 Rookie of the Year candidates, putting them ahead of Kim.

“Blue monster” Ryu Hyun-jin of Toronto received a mixed eval‎uation. The MLB Network included Ryu in their five American League (AL) Cy Young candidates. Ryu was also ranked No. 5 as the AL Cy Young favorite by Canada-based online media theScore.com. The MLB.com on Sept. 18 released the result of its Cy Young poll, which asked its reporters to rank their top choices, but Ryu was not in the top 5. Instead, he was included in “others receiving votes.”

The season is not over yet so both Kim and Ryu still have time to catch up. Kim will seek his third win of the season against the Pittsburgh Pirates. According to MLB.com, Kim is scheduled to start in away game against the Pirates on Sept. 20. The Pirates have the lowest winning percentage among 30 MLB teams with 15-34 (0.306).

Ryu is likely to start on the same day in away game against the Philadelphia Phillies according to the rotation. Ryu has been strong against the Phillies, going 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA in 18 1/3 innings in three games.


Kyu-In Hwang kini@donga.com